While the pandemic played havoc with travel liberties across the globe, restrictions were somewhat less stringent in certain times and places in the United States. So, while the vast majority of re-opened European markets are enjoying unprecedented Summer demand, appetite has been less resurgent on the other side of the Atlantic. We have analysed Summer occupancy in top US vacation rental markets to identify those performing best and worst.
Summer occupancy in top US vacation rental markets
First, we took the largest 50 vacation rental markets in the US by number of listings. On May 1st we then compared their occupancy on the books for June, July and August with the same from 2019, to gauge their relative performance. Below, we discuss the top 10 and the bottom 10 performers on the list.
Winners
In our first chart you can see those 10 US vacation rental markets with the best current Summer occupancy performance compared with 2019.
At the top we have Atlanta, Georgia whose 2019 on the books Summer occupancy of 14% has increased by 43% in 2022, bringing current occupancy for the Summer to 20%. You’ll notice that this is neither particularly high, nor the highest absolute occupancy on our list. Kissimmee, FL for example was pushing 42% occupancy for Summer back on May 1st. Florida itself finds 5 markets in the top 10 winners list (Saint Augustine, Miami, Naples and Hollywood in addition to Kissimmee), demonstrating the hunger for Sunshine State coastal destinations through the Summer.
However, some of the largest urban destinations attracting tourists and business travellers alike are also performing well. Atlanta, as mentioned, tops the pile for improvement, and New Orleans and Houston also feature. Furthermore, Chicago rounds out our top ten, breaking even with its performance in the Summer of 2019.
Losers
In this section we review the markets from our top 50 with the lowest year on year occupancy levels.
These markets have seen pretty substantial losses on Summer 2019 on the books occupancy levels (between -36% and -67%). This could be for various reasons, including a shift in demand values post pandemic, or perhaps supply has expanded. It is important to remember however, that absolute occupancy is still relatively strong in some cases – up to 38% in North Myrtle Beach.
For context, the bottom market, Ocean City in Maryland, is currently seeing a 67% loss on 2019. Yet its actual on the books occupancy on May 1st was 18% – only 2% shy of Atlanta, which tops our list. So, while looking at data relative to a previous period can give excellent awareness of performance from a benchmark, it has limitations. Therefore you can find the absolute on the books occupancy table below.
Summer occupancy in top US vacation rental markets
Whilst above we have those markets that have seen significant improvement over pre-pandemic Summer occupancy, the below table shows markets with highest occupancy on the books on May 1st.
Hawaii, Florida, and to a lesser extent, South Carolina, are our big hitters, with up to 44% of occupancy already recorded for the next 3 months through Summer. It is also true that while the differences aren't generally too pronounced, all but two of the markets (Kissimmee, New York) are achieving lower Summer occupancy in 2022 than 2019 as of 1st of May. However, I think we can all agree, just the fact that we're talking about occupancy exceeding 2019 levels is pretty good news!
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