This year has been an eventful one for short-term rentals around the world: The boom-bust saga and seeming unending fights about new regulations.
06.12.2023 - 04:31 / skift.com / Srividya Kalyanaraman
The ‘Airbnbust’ debacle, which saw one short-term rental data vendor showing plunging host revenue way deeper than its peers, went viral. However, it does call for some introspection and interrogation (on my part) to understand the data I get from different vendors that often is a bedrock for any story.
And I figured if I am to trust and use the data provided to me and then exhibit it to you, it’s a worthy pursuit to understand the methodology and technology and more importantly, where the data might fall short.
When I reached out to AirDNA, Beyond and PriceLabs, I was impressed with their prompt responses and enthusiasm to answer questions. Sure, it’s a chance to boast and give me the standard sales pitch for why their product is the best. But…that’s not what happened. Everyone I spoke to highlighted the problems first. Second, the challenges the industry faces as a whole and third, which took me most by surprise, they all knew what they lacked and who was better at it than them.
To summarize, no one claims to have 100% coverage or accuracy of the data given the fragmented state of the industry. Everyone agrees that there needs to be some standardization of the metrics being analyzed and sold and lastly, not every company can be the best at everything — nor is it feasible or worth it commercially to be. What matters is what the users of the data need to run their business effectively.
American Express Travel is launching Select Homes + Retreats, what it describes as a premium vacation rental program. Launched as a pilot, the program is currently available to a small group of U.S. consumers and small business platinum cardholders. The program has launched with partnerships with Vacasa, Moving Mountains, Island Escapes, BlueWater, Casiola, Panhandle Getaways, Maui Paradise, East West Hospitality in following markets: San Diego County Beach Area, Vail & Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Florida Panhandle, West Coast of Florida, Maui, Park City, Cape Cod and Orlando.
Sonder and Kalimian Equities have joined forces to oversee the management and operation of The Merchant hotel, a recently built 98-key property in New York City that will open in the fall. The hotel will offer guests the convenience of contactless check-in through the Sonder app, enabling them to bypass the front desk. Additionally, guests can make special requests like early check-in or late checkout through the same app. As of Q1 2023, Sonder managed around 18,200 active and contracted units worldwide.
Albuquerque is following the lead of other cities across the country in considering a restriction on short-term rentals, such as those sold on Airbnb and Vrbo, to prevent housing units from being taken out of the long-term rental market. On
This year has been an eventful one for short-term rentals around the world: The boom-bust saga and seeming unending fights about new regulations.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green has asked for 3,000 condos and homes operating as short-term rentals to be converted into long-term housing for those displaced by this summer’s wildfire in Lahaina.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green said he is ready to “drop the hammer” or go “nuclear” on short-term housing rentals on Maui.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour made headlines even before it began — by overwhelming booking platform Ticketmaster and drawing attention even from the U.S. Senate.
Dealmaking has kept short-term rental businesses in Europe busy. The past few months have seen an uptick in activity — be it mergers, or acquisitions or rebrandings.
Booking Holdings Chief Financial Officer David Goulden said this week that the flagship Booking.com brand launched its short-term rental business as a supplement to hotels “15-plus years” ago, which is roughly around the time Airbnb got going in San Francisco.
This is not a story of “Airbnbust,” but instead we’re talking about a correction of the “Airbnboom” that has taken place since the highs of the pandemic.
Happy Thanksgiving, folks! I know you’d rather carve a turkey than open your inbox, so we will keep this brief.
You read it here first: We’re halfway into the year, and the short-term rental industry has been buoyed by summer travel picking up, despite prevailing economic uncertainty.
Stat of the Day: Thinking that you, like us, are wondering what’s happening to occupancy levels this summer, we had some numbers crunched for us by data analysis firm Beyond Pricing and this is what it found: U.S. occupancy for July is pacing about 5 percentage points down year-on-year, from 37 percent in 2022 to 32 percent in 2023.
New This Morning: Following extensive discussions within the community spanning almost four years regarding short-term rental homes, the Dallas City Council implemented zoning limitations to prohibit their presence in single-family neighborhoods last week. However, as a middle ground, short-term rentals will still be permitted in commercial areas and multi-family neighborhoods.
If you’ve seen a tweetstorm about the alleged “Airbnb collapse” and are wondering if the data seems too dramatic – you’re not alone, or even wrong.