Vacation Rental Data

Vacation rental data provides property managers with a competitive insight into vacation rental properties. It is necessary that property managers look at data in order to help them better understand their market. This empowers them to make more educated decisions on revenue, distribution and investment. Property managers must implement strategies, track and analyse data, and then tweak their approach to optimize revenue in their vacation rental home.

▶ Why use vacation rental data?

The 2018 European Vacation Rental Survey showed that 33% of property managers update their prices everyday. Property and revenue managers must base their decisions on data.

In the absence of data analytics, property managers would have to base their prices on out-of-date data. This method is not only unsustainable, but also time-consuming.

With data, they can understand the current state of the vacation rental market in their chosen region and get vital information on all vacation rentals, looking at competitors to identify which dates are overpriced or underpriced.

Why is vacation rental data important?

  • Property managers can compare their daily rates with competitors
  • They can analyse demand and upcoming events
  • They can monitor the supply and improve pricing

▶ Pricing

It is crucial that you look at data to see whether your rates are fair, above or below average. This data allows you to decide whether your rates need updating in order to increase bookings or whether you should attract lower occupancy but higher revenue.

▶ Supply and Demand

The relationship between the supply and demand of vacation rentals determines how to price your property to optimize revenue.

An increase in the demand without a change in the supply will lead to property managers increasing the price of their listing. On the other hand, a decrease in the demand without a change in the supply will lead to a property manager decreasing the price. Property managers and revenue managers must understand the supply and demand principle, and use it on a daily basis, to analyse their own demand and supply.

Supply

An oversupply in any given market will result in aggressive rate competitiveness, especially during low season or when there is low demand.

Demand

Data analysis is particularly important when looking at the demand due to the variety of external factors:

  • Events
  • Seasonality
  • Weekends/weekdays - depending on the purpose of the vacation rental. For example, if the target visitor is a businessman, weekdays may be busier, but for a holidayer, weekends often are
  • The economy and foreign exchange rates may increase or decrease the number of visitors from outside the given country

▶ Occupancy

Once property managers gain a better understanding of the supply and demand of the vacation rental industry, they can use this data to accurately forecast the performance of the market and set rates accordingly. It is necessary to rely on data to have an accurate occupancy forecast for your vacation rental property, which, in turn, will maximise your revenue. Tracking data allows you to see how well you are doing. Once you know your occupancy rate, you can compare it with competitors to see how you are performing.

Additionally, understanding occupancy rates in advance allows property managers to come up with other strategies before lowering their prices. For example during periods of low demand, property managers may have to focus on their marketing strategy to prevent them from having to lower their rates. This can be through offering promotions to attract visitors or targeting a certain audience.

Vacation rental data allows property managers to see their pricing errors, which, in turn, may have led to lower occupancy rates. On the other hand, if they have been successful, they can strategically ensure that they continue to be.

▶ Pick up

Pick up is a measure of the number of listings that switch from available to unavailable in a certain period. Pick up is particularly important as it provides property managers with crucial data that shows the nights that have the highest demand. Property managers can make then informed decisions on their pricing strategy. They can keep their rates high when pick up is high and, when it is low, they can be more flexible with their rates, possibly decreasing them.

▶ Conclusion

According to the European Vacation Rental Survey, only 13% of professional vacation rental property managers buy market data.

Property managers that collect data and are aware of the external factors that affect the supply and demand of their bookings can better understand their market. They can monitor their performance and decide on a pricing structure to maximise their revenue.

Why Transparent?

Transparent tracks more than 26 million vacation rental listings across all the main vacation rental platforms. Our software tracks public data, providing property managers and revenue managers with data and analytics, so that they can better understand their market and see their competitors rates and occupancy. The easy-use Transparent dashboard Transparent dashboard allows them to gain insight at a single glance.

If you are a professional vacation rental property manager or revenue manager looking to optimize your revenue and better understand your market, schedule a demo today.

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