The evolution of the vacation rental industry & the opportunity ahead

Post-pandemic, all forms of travel are returning to normal levels. The good news is vacation rental demand is still above hotels and other lodging types (see chart above), but the challenge is vacation rental supply also greatly increased. From 2019 to 2022, the number of vacation rental listings and the number of hosts grew significantly, pulling down short term rental occupancy rates, and making it now one of the most competitive times in the industry.

Although vacation rental competition has grown immensely over the last few years, many new hosts are inexperienced, which provides a unique opportunity for professional vacation rental property managers to shine.

Experience and reputation matter.

We anticipate the number of hosts and listings to shift downward over the coming months and years as the market corrects. Online travel agencies like Vrbo will start to delist inexperienced hosts who have low acceptance and high cancellation rates, and guests will seek out experienced and reputable hosts through 5-star reviews and repeat bookings.

Leverage the best vacation rental software to get ahead.

The right technology helps experienced professionals get a leg up on the competition. That’s why Escapia has been laser focused on providing the best vacation rental software functionality to help property managers excel in this competitive market. New Escapia features include a centralized hub for guest communications, vacation rental pricing tools for more dynamic pricing, and new ways to delight guests.

Escapia helps prioritize guest communications.

With Escapia’s new Communications Hub, you can send, receive, and track traveler communications in one place with a unified inbox built into Escapia. This allows you to seamlessly manage your guest communications no matter where the booking comes from. With email, 2-way SMS, the ability to schedule messages, and use templates—you can reach the right person, at the right time, in their preferred channel…all from one central place!

New functionality coming to Escapia includes unified inbox, text templates and scheduling, email templates and scheduling, template preview, and 2-way text messaging to ensure communications with your guests are easier than ever before.

Proactively set rates with Escapia’s latest pricing tools.

A competitive market makes pricing a bigger challenge. Your rates have to be competitive, but you certainly don’t want to leave money on the table! As the market evolves, being responsive with rate changes will help you optimize occupancy. Setting rates is a breeze in Escapia’s new Rates Manager, and you can now also view availability at a glance with the Reservation Overlay screen to see booked dates and opportunities to fill gaps in one view. Personalized coupon codes are simple to make in Escapia, and can be a great tool to help secure bookings and drive repeat guests.

Provide great traveler experiences and keep them coming back.

We know that providing a great guest experience is at the heart of what you do so we’ve been focused on making your technology work harder for you. New features coming like Call Forwarding allow you to be more accessible to travelers so they can now reach you with 2-way text messaging or via a phone call at the number you choose.

Escapia users can also now serve prospective guests better by providing quotes for multiple properties to choose from with the new Multi-Quote functionality coming to Escapia, which is easily accessible in the Communications Hub. Responding to inquiries with multiple vacation rental options makes travelers more likely to book with you.