With a wide range of lodging options available to travelers from around the world, the short-term rental market has grown to be a significant force in the global tourism industry. The most recent Top 100 City Destinations Index from Euromonitor International lists Paris, Dubai, Madrid, Rome, and London as the top five cities with the most short-term rental outlets. In this article, we explore the latest market trends and predictions for short-term rentals in 2023, covering topics such as regulation and transparency, successful stories, record performances by key players, features to prevent parties, and policies for leisure travel and remote employment.
Regulation and Transparency
Portugal has restricted the issuance of new licenses to short-term rental providers in order to address the housing crisis brought on by the popularity of short-term rentals in popular travel destinations, and more locations may follow suit. To help local governments manage the short-term rental market more effectively, the European Commission is recommending greater industry transparency. This includes the largest service providers, like Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor, publicly disclosing information on guest nights.
Dubai’s Story of Success
Thanks to clear legislation, taxation policies, and significant regional events like Expo 2020 and the World Cup 2022 in Qatar, Dubai has made significant progress in the short-term rental market, moving up over 30 positions in the rankings since 2019. Dubai will hold the ninth position among all the cities included in the City Destination Index in terms of short-term rental outlets in 2022.
Record Performances by Key Players
Having a 50% global value share in 2022, Airbnb is the market leader in short-term rentals. In Q3, the company posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue results, and the year’s net income of nearly USD 2 billion made 2022 the company’s first profitable year. In 2022, VRBO, the second-largest player with a 17% value share, also had a successful year.
Loyalty Increases Sales
The use of loyalty programs, which were previously primarily developed by hotel chains, can be a successful tactic to keep customers’ attention during the challenging economic period. In 2023, VRBO will join the single Expedia Group loyalty program, One Key, which includes all of the group’s services. Although it has been on Airbnb’s radar to start its own loyalty program for a while, this is not one of its current strategic goals.
Feature to Prevent Parties
Both Airbnb and VRBO have introduced a party booking prevention feature that enables hosts to operate a more sustainably and show more concern for the neighborhood. While Airbnb can also request more thorough guest identity verification in addition to reservation screening, VRBO uses a unique risk score generated for each booking to identify potential disruptive events.
Policies for leisure travel and remote employment
Many employers have adopted flexible remote work policies, creating new possibilities for work-life balance. Consumers are prepared to take advantage of these newly available remote employment opportunities, making vacationers one of the focus groups. Bookings for long-term stays of 28 nights or more accounted for 21% of all bookings, and in Q4 2022, bookings for stays longer than one week increased.
Conclusion
Despite the uncertain economic environment, there is good news for the short-term rental market because international travel is still on the upswing. With the appropriate regulations, taxes, and loyalty programs in place, the industry will keep growing and contribute to the expansion of travel.
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