These last two months we’ve witnessed short-term rental property management companies and hosts worldwide adapting to the new normal that COVID-19 created. Whether that be incorporating extended stays into their business models, promoting drive-to destinations (have you seen Airbnb’s ‘Go Near’ campaign?), or mixing up their marketing strategies by catering to new travel personas (like the digital nomad with a flair for the great outdoors), we’ve witnessed their resilience first-hand.
During this time, we’ve also seen users and members of the vacation rental ecosystem at large looking towards various levels of recovery depending on location, while also preparing for potential travel bubbles to take effect. Though there is still a level of uncertainty in the world of travel, one thing’s for sure: this community knows how to face a challenge head-on and is fast-moving.
Below are the main trends and data points that we noticed in May and June 2020. To capture these insights, we analyzed the data from our platform which encompasses reservations across all major booking channels – Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Agoda and more.