Short-term accommodation rentals approaching pre-pandemic levels

Short-term accommodation rentals are approaching pre-pandemic levels, according to a study spanning 15 urban and 12 regional markets around the world by STR, a global market data analytics company for the hospitality industry, and AirDNA, a global provider of vacation rental data and analytics.

In the short-term accommodation category, revenue per available room (RevPAR) was down just 4.5% from the same time last year while RevPAR was down much more, at 64.8% from last year in the hotel category.

Just before the pandemic, the accommodation industry had an annualised global hotel occupancy exceeding 66% for a record 58 consecutive months. The study shows the introduction of global travel restrictions hit hotels hard.

The short-term rentals industry had just completed five years of nearly 300% total revenue growth before the pandemic hit, but although performance indicators plummeted during the global lockdown it was not as severe as it was for hotels.

“Aparthotels have shown decade-long growth because they offer far more value for money than conventional hotel accommodation,” says Phillips.

It’s this steady growth, along with typical factors of an aparthotel product like greater living space, more amenities, better locations and now enhanced social distancing and sanitisation, that may suggest why property developers and investors are seeing how the aparthotel market will offer more sustainable return on their spend.

According to the study, short-term rentals that offer full-service amenities and longer-term stays have become more popular as families looked for spaces to retreat, which is why the average length of stay increased by 58% during the crisis.

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