Experts have been telling us for years that vacation rental guests are taking shorter vacations and that the average length of stay is shrinking. As you may have read in the article, “18 Months in Review,” we haven’t seen data supporting this claim, but we haven’t had access to actual data spanning a multiple-year window to prove—or disprove—the theory . . . until now.
Today, Key Data Dashboard provided end-of-year data for our report, “3 Years of Vacation Rental Performance (2017 – 2019),” which will be published in the upcoming issue of VRM Intel Magazine.
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In the markets we analyzed, there has been almost no change in the overall length of stay for professional vacation rental managers.
Average Length of Stay, 2017 – 2019 (in days)
Source data provided by Key Data Dashboard, January 2, 2020
With minor exceptions in North Carolina’s coastal destinations between 2018 and 2019, and the South Carolina coast and Lake Tahoe regions between 2017 and 2018, the average length of stay has remained unchanged over the last three years.
The findings are important because vacation rental managers in these markets have been told (erroneously, at least in these markets) that new policies should be implemented to address the trend of vacationers taking shorter vacations, including reducing or eliminating minimum stay requirements.
Look for the report “3 Years of Vacation Rental Performance (2017 – 2019),” in the next magazine. The report will also provide ADR, occupancy rate, RevPAR, and booking window trends in these markets.
I’m in the Colorado market and even though 4 nights stays has been the trend for the past few years, ten years ago we saw an average of 5, and fifteen years ago it was closer to 6. In my opinion/market, there is still a downward trend, it’s just not as visible in a short range.
As always, love your content and data. We had what I would call a blip last Summer up in Maine. Historically, week long vacations are assumed. We experimented with some properties that were filling up slower than others with 4-5 day stays in towns that allowed it and received some shockingly fast conversions on the bookings. I certainly hope it’s not a trend – which your report above says it definitely isn’t. But our market wasn’t in your data. Something to think about, all the different regions, where people are headed, etc.
Happy 2020!
Who would have known…the “shorter stay” trend was fake news all along. This is very helpful info. Thanks for sharing!