Short-term Rental News Digest – September 2022

The short-term rental industry has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years. It has grown from simply offering vacation rentals in traditionally popular destinations like seaside towns, to including unique stays and nearby attractions like vineyards. 

And now, even one of the richest men in the world is looking to enter the market. 

The golden thread that runs through this month’s headlines is that the travel industry is becoming more inclusive. While property owners are busy breaking down physical walls to create open spaces ideal for entertaining, industry leaders are using policies, technology, and innovative strategies to allow more people to enter the market. Whether it’s by making it easier to invest in a property or to rent one, this month’s news is a gentle reminder that we should continuously strive to make this world a better place for all. 

iGMS Listed as Airbnb’s Preferred Partner — Again

iGMS has been named as one of Airbnb’s Preferred Software Partners for the second year in a row. What makes this achievement even more impressive is that there are fewer than 30 vacation rental software solutions to have made this prestigious list. 

Airbnb evaluated iGMS over the span of six months by looking at the minimum standards, feature adoption, integration quality, and performance targets. iGMS ticked all four of these boxes, with its feature offering and integration quality receiving an “Excellent” rating. 

Vrbo Reveals Top US Beach Destinations

Life’s a beach when you’re lucky to have a rental property that’s a five-minute stroll to the ocean. 

While the prices in several hot beach destinations across the United States are expected to drop during the so-called shoulder season, Vrbo’s data on vacation rental demand has revealed these to be the most popular beach destinations:

• Outer Banks, North Carolina
• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Fort Walton Beach, Florida
• Panama City Beach, Florida
• Ocean City, Maryland
• Gulf Shores, Alabama
• South Padre Island, Texas
• Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
• Corpus Christi & Port Aransas, Texas
• Miramar & Rosemary Beach, Florida 

US Hosts in Wine Country Generated $270+ Million 

If you don’t have a rental property listed in one of these trending beach destinations, it’s not necessarily something to whine about. Not all travelers are flocking to seaside towns for a break. Some prefer to break bread over a glass of wine instead. 

Airbnb’s Vineyard category, which was introduced in May, is already proving to be popular. As of May 2022, it boasted over 120,000 listings across the globe. What’s more, Airbnb data reveals that hosts who offer stays near vineyards in the United States generated over $270 million collectively in Q2 2022. To put this success into better perspective, according to the platform’s data, a US Airbnb host with a listing in the Vineyards category earned over $8,000 more on average over the same period. 

The US cities with the most listings in this category are: 

• Branson, Missouri
• North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
• Sevierville, Tennessee
• Davenport, Florida
• Ithaca, New York 

While California has only one city that made the Top 10 list of cities with the most listings near vineyards, it’s the state where hosts with properties in this lucrative category earned the most — a whopping $61 million just in Q2 2022. 

And, who exactly might be interested in booking this type of stay? Airbnb’s data suggests that basically everyone. That said, it’s more popular among Gen X travelers and families. 

It’s a Different Kind of Space Race

Jeff Bezos isn’t only interested in exploring space. He’s also expanding his horizons to the vacation rental market. Arrived Homes, a real estate investment startup that’s backed by Bezos, has shared that it has included vacation rental properties on its platform. 

What sets this platform apart is that it lets investors buy shares in rental properties, helping to lower the entry barrier to the real estate market. According to online data, there are about 10,000 users who are currently actively investing, and, on average, between 200 and 300 investors own shares in each property. 

With the help of crowdfunding, investors can buy shares in a rental property for as little as $100. The company will then take care of all the real estate operations, like property maintenance. 

Zumper Jumps Into Short-term Rentals

Zumper, a privately owned rental marketplace, will be entering the short-term rental market industry. According to online sources, their new inventory will include over 500,000 short-term listings. 

Their chief experience officer, Shalin Amin, explains that they will be targeting trendsetters, digital nomads as well as people interested in in-between leases or looking to build up a rental history. 

Considering that Zumper attracts nearly 180 million visitors per year, it can be a great alternative to other mainstream platforms like Airbnb, especially for hosts wanting to target traveling nurses.

Expedia Reveals New Social Impact and Sustainability Strategy

Sustainability is becoming more important to consumers. To help meet this need and ensure that the travel industry is doing its bid to become more responsible and accessible, the Expedia Group has revealed a new strategy. 

The strategy will build on its Open World technology platform. It will aim to address inequalities in travel and create meaningful change for travelers and communities faster all while ensuring our planet becomes healthier. 

It, for example, plans to partner with the Travel Foundation to train destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to become key figures in climate change. Other plans include offering grants to institutions that can remove travel barriers for under-served communities.