Lisbon, an extraordinary example of short-term rental development
The charming Portuguese capital, Lisbon, is one of Europe’s must-see cities. Anyone who has spent time in this incredibly charming city knows that Lisbon is a fascinating place to discover. The combination of innovation and charm, where traditionalism meets modernism, has made it one of Europe’s trendiest destinations.
The romantic charm of the yellow and blue painted façades and the avant-garde atmosphere, make Lisbon a truly unique place, attracting celebrities and artists, such as the pop singer, Madonna, and movie stars, such as Monica Bellucci and Michael Fassbender, who have decided to buy properties in the city.
The increase in popularity has led to an exponential growth in residential properties and tourist demand in recent years, not to mention the rapid development of the short-term rental industry.
How the short-term rental industry changes Lisbon Tourism?
The ever-changing short-term rental industry has played a key part in shaping tourism in Lisbon in recent years. The rapid increase of demand for short-term accommodation, combined with a shortage of rooms in hotels and B&Bs has led to a surge of people subletting their apartments, increasing the number of short-term rental businesses.
It is crucial that local stakeholders monitor tourist statistics to anticipate and understand future challenges. For example, this is evident in the variation of occupancy and average prices in the hospitality industry during large events.
The Web Summit Event: how an event impacts occupancy rates
The technology conference, Web Summit (4-7 November 2019), takes place annually in Lisbon and is considered to be one of the largest tech events in the world. This large-scale conference covers topics on internet technology, emerging technologies and venture capital, and speakers have included CEOs, subject-matter experts, celebrities and politicians, such as Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Al Gore and U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.
Large-scale events, such as Web Summit, are useful for DMOs because they show the growth of tourist demand and average prices for short-term properties during the days of the event.
Transparent has analysed the data to demonstrate the increase in occupancy during the week of the event. We compared 4-8 November 2018, which coincided with Web Summit 2018, with the following week, 11-15 November 2018. During Web Summit, the average occupancy was 79.42%, whereas the following week, occupancy rates decreased to an average of 57.60%.
How Transparent can enhance DMOs’ research
Transparent empowers DMOs with the necessary data to understand and anticipate the evolution of the tourist demand. Through a combination of proprietary data aggregation, data science and aggregation of publicly available data, Transparent develops insight on market conditions, such as supply growth, demand patterns, average daily rates and occupancy. This gives all the necessary information to DMOs so that they can successfully monitor supply and demand of the short-term rental market.
As a bonus, Transparent can help DMOs anticipate tourist demand of the short-term rental industry, so that they can better manage their destination by preparing in advance.