how to do market research for airbnb

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Airbnb market research for profitable investments, key takeaways.

Diligent Airbnb market research and analysis is at the core of every successful short-term rental investment. While location is important for all real estate investing decisions, it’s absolutely crucial for vacation rentals. The market determines every aspect of the feasibility of an Airbnb business, including the daily rates, the occupancy rate, the rental income, the ROI, and the legality.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps of the Airbnb market analysis and research you need to implement for profitable investments. We’ll also look at the best tools to support you throughout the journey. 

Finding an Airbnb Market

The first step in investing in an Airbnb rental property is choosing the right market. With thousands of potential destinations across the US market, you need to conduct careful, data-driven research to locate the best place for your specific needs and aspirations.

The best short-term rental markets have a lot of features in common. For example, they attract numerous domestic and foreign visitors throughout the year, which drives high Airbnb occupancy rates. In addition, they are established markets with active listings which are not oversaturated yet, allowing for good nightly rates and rental revenue. They also offer affordable property prices to push up returns.

This is a lot of information to factor in, which randers the question:

How do you find the best Airbnb markets for investing?

The answer is:

With the help of the Awning Top Markets tool.

What Does the Awning Top Airbnb Markets Tool Do for Investors?

The Top Airbnb Markets tool available on the Awning platform allows investors to find the top locations for investing in short-term rentals for sale at the moment. The tool uses nationwide, up-to-date data from Airbnb as well as Awning’s proprietary algorithms to help investors make data-driven decisions.

There are two main things that Airbnb investors can do with this tool.

First of all, when you open the tool, you get a list of the 100 best Airbnb markets across the entire US. This means the 100 US cities that bring the highest ROI for vacation rentals. You can change the filter to rank the 100 best Airbnb markets based on other important criteria including:

• Highest ROI : This is the most straightforward way to search for profitable markets. However, they might be beyond your budget.
• Highest revenue : With this, you can concentrate your analysis on the locations that’ll make you the most money month after month. But property values are also likely to be high due to the standard of living, so the return might be suboptimal.
• Highest price : These markets might be appropriate for experienced investors with a lot of capital and access to the best Airbnb financing . These locations will benefit from less competition than more affordable places.
• Lowest price : This lists the most affordable Airbnb markets that are good even for beginner inventors.
• Highest number of Airbnbs : This allows you to look for well-established vacation rental markets with multiple opportunities.
• Lowest number of Airbnbs : This helps you focus your Airbnb market research on locations where supply is low and the market is not oversaturated.

Using these sorting features, investors can get a preliminary idea of what markets make sense for their specific budget and aspirations.

The second thing that investors can do with the Awning Top Airbnb Markets Tool is to focus their search on markets with certain features and characteristics.

How Investors Use the Awning Top Airbnb Markets Tool

The best way for Airbnb investors to use the Top Market tool is to start off by setting up their preferred values in the available filters. The tool provides the following options:

• State : You can choose as few or as many states as you’d like to consider for your short-term rental investments. In this way, your Airbnb market research can focus on the states with the most tourists and the best regulations.
• Market size : You can choose between a small market (less than 100 Airbnbs), medium market (100-500 Airbnbs), and large market (more than 500 Airbnbs). You can decide whether you prefer to invest in a market with more supply or less supply of short-term rental listings.
• Average Airbnb price : You can set up the minimum and maximum purchase price that matches your budget and financing options. Both cheap and expensive Airbnb markets have their pros and cons. Lower property prices might enhance the ROI as it’s present in all ROI formulas, but competition might be too fierce. Higher home values result in lower returns, but there will be fewer competitors, making Airbnb investments more feasible. In any case, make sure you don’t exceed your pre-calculated budget as that’s a guaranteed way to fail in real estate.

With the help of these filters, you can customize your Airbnb market research to match your exact situation as an investor. As soon as you set up any or all of the criteria, the list of the 100 top markets that meet these requirements will be updated. Then you can sort it by the filters mentioned in the section above.

Understanding Airbnb Market Data

Using solid Airbnb rental market data is a must for savvy investors. However, there are so many numbers that are not always intuitive and don’t always make sense, especially for beginners. Here we’ll take a look at the Airbnb data and analytics that you need to focus on when performing your vacation rental market analysis.

After you’ve identified a few potential Airbnb markets with the Awning Top Airbnb Markets tool, you can use another Awning feature for the next step of the process: The Airbnb market analysis. The tool is the Awning Airbnb Market Data.

Using the Airbnb Market Data tool on Awning is easy. All you have to do is to enter the name of any of the markets you identified during your initial research. Then, the tool will provide you with all the Airbnb market data that you need to decide if this is the best location for your investments.

What Analytics the Awning Airbnb Market Data Tool Provides

Investors get immediate access to:

• Overview : Awning offers a short description of the general Airbnb investment opportunity at the city level and lists the main factors affecting the vacation rental market.
• ROI : This is the average annual return on investment which active Airbnb hosts are able to achieve in the city. This is an excellent indicator of how good or bad a market is for short-term rental investments. Of course, individual properties might achieve significantly higher or lower results.
• Revenue : This is the average Airbnb rental income which hosts get per year. Rental revenue is one of the main determinants of ROI, together with the property price. By clicking on the Revenue tab in the Awning Airbnb market analysis, investors can see the average income breakdown by rental type (entire home vs private room vs shared room) and the number of bedrooms (from a studio to 5+ bedrooms). Moreover, there is a monthly breakdown of revenue over the past 12 months so that investors can understand vacation rental seasonality in the local Airbnb market.
• Average Airbnb price : This indicates the current average listing price in the city, indicating how affordable the market is. Investors should focus their Airbnb market research on markets within their budget to avoid a foreclosure due to the inability to cover the monthly mortgage payments.
• Market size : This Airbnb data point shows whether a city comprises a small, medium, or large Airbnb market in terms of the number of active listings for rent. A bigger market might signify more opportunities (after all, investors go to the highest ROI), but it also implies more competition from existing hosts.
• Number of Airbnbs : This shows the number of active Airbnb listings in the local market and helps you evaluate exactly how many competitors you’ll face.
• Average daily rate (ADR) : The ADR measures the average nightly rate across the entire city. It is calculated as the average of all active listings, which is based on the number of days for which a property is available for rent, not all days in a year. The average daily rate is one of the two factors determining Airbnb revenue, together with occupancy. By clicking on the Rates tab, investors can see the ADR per rental type and by number of bedrooms. They can also check how daily rates change month by month to reflect seasonality in the local Airbnb market. In this way, you can get an idea of when you’ll be able to increase your listing rate to maximize income and when you’ll need to lower it to not lose guests.
• Occupancy : The Airbnb occupancy rate is one of the most important data points when analyzing the potential of a short-term rental market. Along with the ADR, it impacts the rental income that a vacation rental can bring. When doing Airbnb market research and analysis, it’s good to focus on cities with an average occupancy above 50%. The occupancy rate measures how many nights a property is reserved out of the total number of nights for which it is listed for renting by the host. As such, it is the most direct measure of demand. The Occupancy tab on the Awning Airbnb Market Data tool shows the breakdown by rental type and number of bedrooms. Monthly breakdown is also available.
• Listings by bedroom count : This is a visual representation of the distribution of all Airbnb listings by the number of bedrooms. This gives investors an idea of what property size is the most popular in the local Airbnb market.
• Amenities : The amenities section of the Awning Airbnb market analysis focuses on the two most popular and sought after extras on the Airbnb platform: swimming pools and hot tubs. Specifically, it shows how much more rental income listings that have a pool and a hot tub are able to generate per year. This is a good indicator if it’s worth buying a property with these amenities in a particular location or adding these amenities to an existing property.
• Rental type : This part of the analysis breaks down the total number of active listings by rental type including an entire home, a private room, or a shared room. If rooms are popular, it might be worth considering renting out an extra space in your primary home. If most listings comprise entire homes, you’d need to purchase an investment property to rent out on Airbnb.
• Top Airbnbs : The Top Airbnbs tab provides investors with a list of the most profitable short-term rentals in the city. While these properties are not necessarily available for sale, analyzing their features, amenities, listing information, and data points will give you insight into what to look for when buying your own vacation rental in this market. You can organize these top performers by increasing or decreasing revenue, daily rate, and occupancy.

Where Awning Gets Airbnb Market Data

All the short-term rental data available on the Awning platform comes directly from the Airbnb website. It reflects how actual listings perform and what results they are able to provide. This makes the Airbnb market analysis highly accurate and reliable.

Moreover, both the Top Airbnb Markets and the Airbnb Market Data tools are absolutely free of charge. You can research and analyze as many vacation rental markets as you want, without having to pay anything. You don’t even need an account.

Researching Airbnb Laws in a Market

Another important step in the process of finding the best Airbnb markets is researching the local short-term rental regulations. Unlike long-term rentals, Airbnbs face a lot of different restrictions at the state, county, and city level. The regulations vary from simply having to register your Airbnb business, all the way to being strictly prohibited from listing entire homes or non-owner occupied rentals. Thus, before working on buying an investment property of this type, you have to know what rules you will need to follow.

To begin with, you can check out the short-term rental laws in some of the best states and cities for this rental strategy right here on Awning.

The best source for further research on states and cities not included in our guides is the official website of the local government including the municipality website or the city hall website. In case the city code does not mention anything about short-term rentals, you should visit the county website. In some markets, the regulations are imposed at the county level, not the city level. In very rare cases, there are state-level regulations as well, with the only noteworthy example being the Florida short-term rental laws .

The Airbnb website also provides some basic information on local regulations in major cities. However, the data is not always comprehensive and updated. It’s meant to provide initial guidance, but it’s not meant to serve as legal advice.

When researching the Airbnb laws that apply to your selected market, keep an eye on the following:

• Legality of non-owned occupied short-term rentals
• Restrictions on the number of nights to rent out per year
• Limits on the number of guests per bedroom/property per night
• Safety regulations and device requirements
• Short-term rental licenses and permits as well as renewals
• Business registration and license
• Tax license
• Transient occupancy tax, sales tax, and other taxes and fees

Learning About Airbnb Guests

To run a successful Airbnb business, your research should also look at the number and type of visitors who come to your market every year as well as when they come. It makes a difference whether you need to cater to the needs of US families with small children visiting to enjoy a beach vacation or foreign business people attending work functions.

Ideally, you want to focus your efforts on a location with a lot of visitors who come year-round. The best Airbnb markets have no low season, allowing hosts to continue generating income every month.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a single one-stop-shop place where you can obtain all the tourist and visitor information that you need for any and every Airbnb market. Thus, you need to conduct your research using a number of different sources. The best ones include:

• Local city websites : The majority of US cities have a website dedicated to attracting visitors to the location that is run by a non-profit organization or for-profit enterprise. Usually the website is called something like Visit Dallas or Discover Los Angeles . In most cases, these websites will have the best tourism information you can find including the total number of visitors per year. Moreover, based on the types of activities and attractions that they highlight, you can draw conclusions about the types of tourists that come to the city. If the website promotes theme parks, it’s likely that a lot of families with small kids come over. If the website advertises walks on the beach and wine tours, your target guests are likely to be older couples.
• Local newspapers : Local online newspapers frequently publish articles with updates on the state of tourism in the city and county. These can contain a lot of useful information, such as recent trends in the number of visitors, breakdown of the kinds of tourists, the most popular attractions, what visitors are looking for, etc. To find this information, all you have to do is to enter a relevant search on your favorite online publication.
• NeighborhoodScout : The Economics & Demographics section of the city page on the NeighborhoodScout website has a breakdown of the major industries in each market. Airbnb hosts can use this data to understand if there are a lot of business travelers coming to the city.
• Airbnb : Yet another source to learn about the kind of guests that come to a certain short-term rental market is the Airbnb platform itself. You can search for listings in the area that you’re analyzing and read through guest reviews. This will paint a pretty good picture of the typical renter in the market. Moreover, you’ll get to know what they like and what they don’t like about rentals and experiences. In addition, you can filter the listings with the highest overall ratings and check out the amenities and extras that they offer. This will give you an insight into the preferences of your future target guests.

How to Use the Airbnb Guest Information to Your Advantage

Once you’ve gathered data on the kinds of guests that come to your selected Airbnb market, you need to integrate this information into your strategy.

You should consider the following steps:

• Choose the right property type and size : You should go for the property type that will attract the most guests based on the visitor profile you’ve depicted. For instance, business people would rather stay in a studio in the downtown part of the city, while families with children would prefer a single-family home close to tourist attractions.
• Add the top amenities : Amenities are one of the most important factors to grab the attention of interested guests and get bookings. Consider providing the amenities that are sought after in the area.
• Furnish your rental appropriately : The furnishing of your property and the experience that it provides should match what visitors are looking for. For example, if you want to cater to the needs of traveling business people, you should provide a small home office with high-quality internet. If you want to host college students on spring break, you need to provide inflatable mattresses and extra sleeping spaces.
• Focus your listing : The photos and the language of your Airbnb listing should be targeted towards the guests you’re trying to rent out to.
• Target your marketing efforts : Similarly, for marketing and advertising your listing, you need to focus on the platforms where your target guests are and use copy that will appeal to them.

Pros and Cons of Airbnb Market Research and Analysis

Now that we have the Airbnb market research and analysis simplified, it’s important to know what advantages and disadvantages this brings to short-term rental property investors:

Airbnb Market Research and Analysis Pros

The main pros include:

• Data-driven decisions : Real estate investing is a numbers business. You cannot make profitable decisions without having the right numbers, or at least the chances for success are too slim.
• Low-risk investments : As you already know the market-average ROI figures, your investment is much less risky. You know what you can expect before even getting started.
• Optimal ROI results : Conducting Airbnb market research and analysis allows you to choose the top location where a property will generate the best returns.
• Competition outperformance : By finding out what property type to invest in and what visitors to cater to in the local market, you are already a few steps ahead of competitors who don’t use the best Airbnb market analysis tools.
• Legal compliance : When you check out the Airbnb laws and regulations, you can avoid legal troubles and complications.

Airbnb Market Research and Analysis Cons

Some cons to consider include:

• Time needed : Performing diligent vacation rental market research and analysis takes time. It requires a lot of data collection, analysis, and calculations. But you can solve this problem by getting access to the best tools, described below.
• Cost : Rental data costs money, not to mention the time it takes to collect it and analyze it, and time is money in real estate investing. Once again, this challenge can be addressed by getting the right tools, many of which are free.
• Tools required : Conducting quality research and analysis necessitates the use of tools. Otherwise, you cannot be as efficient and as successful as your competitors who use the right tools.

Best Airbnb Market Research Tools

While performing diligent Airbnb market research and analysis is a must for successful investments, it’s a very time-consuming and potentially expensive endeavor. As experienced investors testify, you need to spend a couple of months collecting qualitative and quantitative data, entering it into Excel spreadsheets, organizing it, cleaning it, and making calculations. Not to mention that manual Airbnb data collection and analysis are prone to human error which can quickly multiply across a spreadsheet.

Thus, you need to get access to the best Airbnb market research tools to be able to make smart and fast vacation rental investment decisions. We’ve reviewed the most popular Airbnb tools on the market and ranked the top ones for your convenience:

Awning Top Airbnb Markets and Airbnb Market Data

As described above, the Awning platform has two tools to help hosts with their Airbnb market research and analysis: The Top Airbnb Markets and the Airbnb Market Data. Together, these tools allow investors to find the best US cities for short-term rental properties, reflecting both nationwide market trends and each investor’s own unique situation.

The provided data includes all must-have Airbnb analytics, such as the ADR, occupancy, rental income, and property prices. All data comes from reliable sources and is verified. Moreover, access to this tool is completely free and unlimited, across the entire US market.

AirDNA MarketMinder

The AirDNA MarketMinder is considered one of the top Airbnb market research tools that combines both Airbnb and Vrbo data. A major drawback of this tool is that it doesn’t have the functionality to search for the best short-term rental markets. Instead, it allows investors to analyze the potential of locations that they have already selected using other sources.

The available analysis focuses on revenue, daily rates, and occupancy. The data is broken down by rental type and number of bedrooms and goes back 5 years. This allows investors to track the historical performance of a market, even before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Another disadvantage to keep in mind is the subscription price. The fee starts at $12/month for a single neighborhood or city and exceeds $299/month for the entire US market.

Mashvisor Market Finder

Another recent tool for researching and analyzing vacation rental markets is the Mashvisor Market Finder. When first launched, the Market Finder provides you with a list of the top 10 US cities for this investment strategy, based on the Mashmeter Score, rental rate, cap rate, or crime rate.

Next, the tool gives hosts the option to search for a market that meets their requirements using different filters such as the Mashmeter Score, school rankings, regulatory environment, home values, property type, monthly rental income range, occupancy rate range, and cap rate range. Then, investors can see Airbnb market analysis for each suggested market.

What sets the Mashvisor Market Finder apart from other Airbnb market research tools is the Airbnb cap rates data. However, access requires a paid subscription, with quarterly and annual plans ranging from $24.99/month to $119.99/month.

Rabbu Market Data

The Rabbu Market Data tool offers comprehensive market analysis by zip code, city, or county, with a lot of important data points. Nevertheless, it does not allow investors to search for the top locations, so it’s a good choice for those with some experience in the industry.

Rabbu provides both historical performance data (ADR, occupancy, revenue, and listings) and future projections. The latter includes many Airbnb data analytics like the daily rate, the occupancy rate, seasonalized revenue per available night, seasonalized monthly and annual revenue, active listings, and active hosts. There are different filters that investors can use to narrow down the analysis to the type of properties that they are mostly interested in, such as number of bedrooms, amenities, and number of reviews on the Airbnb platform.

Using the Rabbu Market Data tool is free.

AllTheRooms Market Overview

The Market Overview tool available on the AllTheRooms website helps investors analyze the performance of locations but not find the top cities for this strategy. They can see the expected average daily rate, occupancy rate, and monthly revenue as well as the available supply of Airbnb listings, broken down by rental type, property type, number of bedrooms, and amenities. There is both historical performance and future data.

Full access to this tool is paid and costs $19/month for 12 months of historical data and 1 month of future data and $49/month for 49 months of historical data and 6 months of future data.

PriceLabs Market Dashboard

Similar to the AirDNA MarketMinder, the PriceLabs Market Dashboard provides access to Airbnb and Vrbo data. The Airbnb market data analytics include estimated annual revenue, occupancy rate, ADR, number of active listings, number of bookings, and average length of stay.

PriceLabs allows investors to look at entire markets, professionally managed Airbnbs, and Airbnbs with 20+ reviews to see how vacation rental management and reviews by guests affect performance. However, hosts are not able to search for the top locations for short-term rentals with this platform.

The price of subscriptions to the PriceLabs tool starts at $9.99/month.

Now you know the four most important steps of the Airbnb market research and analysis: 1) Find a market; 2) Analyze the market rental data; 3) Study the legal regulations; and 4) Learn about the guests. Each of these steps brings its own value, which makes it an important part of the process. Meanwhile, manual research and analysis has become obsolete amid the recent growth in real estate technology. 

To analyze markets and make better investment decisions than your competition, you need access to the best Airbnb market tools. The Awning Top Markets tool and Airbnb Market Data tool, coupled with some free, publicly available resources, are able to meet the needs of all short-term rental property investors.

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How To Perform An Airbnb Market Analysis

Research – airbnb market analysis.

Understanding your market is the first step to professional vacation rental management . It is important to become a destination expert, analyze your competitors, and educate yourself on the unique regulations of your market. The more you understand your market the better positioned you will be to compete and the higher the chances of your success.

Market Research Tools

Airdna is a great tool we recommend to analyze your competitors and formulate a better understanding of the revenue potential of your market. The software offers a free and paid version. The free version will allow you to do basic market research and is the best starting point for a beginner. If you’re really serious about a market and want a deeper look into the analytics you can purchase a subscription for your town. Most towns cost between $10.00 – $50.00 per month. Read our Airdna review here .

Among the most useful and actionable tools that we make use of with Airdna is the Rentalizer tool aka the Airbnb Financial Calculator. This tool allows us to narrow down on a specific address and get a 12 month forecast. See below for an example that narrows into a specific Venice, California studio.

Hosting Groups

Joining short term rental Facebook groups are another great – and free – way to learn more about a specific market. Some of the groups have thousands of people who have real world experience running and managing vacation rentals.

Lifty Life in fact operates a number of local hosting Facebook groups.

• Join the BC Short Term Rental Hosts Facebook Group
• Join the Alberta Short Term Rental Hosts Facebook Group
• Join Central Okanagan Airbnb Host Community

Destination

Analyzing your market requires you to understand seasonality. When is it peak season? When is the low season? Whistler for example has peaks during both the Winter and Summer seasons, although Winter remains stronger. In order to maximize my ADR during these dates I keep prices high and allow the occupancy of the town to increase. As these peak dates approach supply in the town drops and demand increases. As such I can maximize my ADR by being patient. The off-season in Whistler happens to be Fall and Spring. During these periods my strategy is to keep my prices very competitive. In order to be among the first to book these dates and ensure I keep a strong occupancy rate.

You will also want to be aware of all major holidays and events. Heightened demand during these key dates allows you to increase your rates. In addition to major holidays such as New Years and Christmas it is extremely important to be aware of local events. Utilize the city website to get a sense of major events or simply google events in your town. Events to look out for are conferences, major sports events, long weekends, concerts, cultural events, etc. Major events in Whistler for example include Cranxwork, The World Ski and Snowboard Festival, Tough Mudder, Wanderlust, The Ironman Triathlon, and the Whistler Beer Festival, to name a few. I keep careful track of the dates of these events to ensure I maximize my nightly rates.

Beyond understanding important dates it is extremely beneficial to be knowledgeable of the best places to grab coffee, dinner, sight-see, park, etc. Guests frequently request local suggestions for things to do or places to eat in your city. If you ever get a request for a recommendation that you aren’t really sure about don’t hesitate to check out reviews online. Guests will really appreciate that extra effort. The difference between a great host and a mediocre one is how much value they provide their guest. Local knowledge is both free and one of the most important services you can provide your guests. I make sure to list all my favourite places such as Mount Currie Coffee which happens to be directly across from the unit on a guide that I make available to guests.

Competitors

In conducting an Airbnb market analysis you should find a few similar properties to benchmark against. There is no point in comparing yourself to a 4 bedroom home with top shelf finishings if your property is a 1 bedroom apartment furnished by Ikea. Make sure to compare yourself to your closet competition.

Look for competitors:

• In the same neighbourhood or closeby

• Properties with the same configuration (same number of bedrooms, beds and bathrooms)

• Properties with comparable finishings and amenities

The questions you should be asking are:

• How many direct competitors are there? What marketplaces are they listing on?

• How are they pricing themselves and how much of the calendar is still open?

• How many reviews do they have? What is their overall rating?

• How do their amenities and furnishing compare to my own? Are they providing unique amenities such as an espresso machine or use of their bikes?

After comparing yourself to the market you should reconsider your strategy. Is your pricing too high compared to the market? Do competitors have a lot more reviews than you? If so perhaps you need to follow up with your guests and request they review you with a 5 star. Should you consider what unique amenities will help make your property standout. There is a lot of insight that can be learned when comparing yourself to others however it is a mistake to simply copy your competition. Always be looking for ways to improve on what others are doing and optimize your listings to be the best in the market.

Airbnb Guests

Consider the types of guests that visit your destination. You can use Airdna to use a sense of where guests are coming from and some demographic details on them.

• Do guests of this market have the income to support your business?
• Is there enough guest demand in your market to keep occupancy high enough?
• Is their an identifiable target market that you can market your listing towards?

If you need help to identify your target market, utilize our Airbnb Target Market complete guide to help you through the process.

Regulations are one of the most overlooked aspects of a short term rental. Always consult with your municipality and ensure that your property is properly zoned for tourist accommodation services. Whistler for example has very complex zoning regulations that restrict self-managed vacation rentals. If you launch a STR and find out a few months later that it is illegal, your business will suffer significant losses.

Regulation is further placed on short term rentals by stratas or HOA’s. Most apartment buildings are cracking down on short term rentals and the fines can often be extremely expensive. We do not suggest defying the bylaws passed by your strata or HOA. Illegal rentals increase the risk to you and often make for a very bad experience for guests. Guests being told “don’t talk to neighbours” or “don’t say your staying at an Airbnb” instantly have a bad impression of your unit before they even step in the door.

Finally consider the implications of running a rental on your taxes. Consult a tax professional on how this will impact you.

With all this research under your belt you’re ready to start dominating your market and providing superior guest service!

Airbnb Market Analysis Summary

• Utilize tools such as Airdna to analyze your market
• Join and interact in community Facebook groups
• Analyze the seasonality of your market (High season/ Low season)
• Look up important local events so that you can price appropriately
• Learn about the best restaurants, bars, and amenities in your town
• Analyze the customer base of the market use our Airbnb Target Market guide to help your through the process
• Benchmark yourself to similar priced and sized listings
• View their calendar to understand booking trends
• Compare their reviews to your own
• Look up government regulations on Airbnb in your market

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About the author: connor griffiths.

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Your questions answered

How do i use airdna.

AirDNA is easy to use and intuitive whether you want to use Rentalizer, analyze a specific market, or access Smart Rates™. First, create a free account and explore the app. Once you’ve got an initial idea of where you’d like to invest or how you’d like to optimize your short-term rental, select your subscription plan. You’ll be able to find details on your desired market, revenue projections, and pricing recommendations.

How does AirDNA gather the data?

AirDNA collects short-term rental data from public and proprietary sources, including Airbnb and Vrbo data. We continuously monitor over 10 million properties in 120,000 markets worldwide. Our team employs sophisticated data analytics to ensure the data is accurate and up-to-date, providing you with reliable insights for your short-term rental decisions. You can learn more here . 

What do I get with an AirDNA subscription?

 An AirDNA subscription gives you access to a suite of tools designed to optimize your short-term rental investments. These include market analysis, Smart Rates™ for dynamic pricing recommendations, and Rentalizer for estimating property revenue. Subscribers also receive detailed reports on market trends, rental analysis, and access to our support team for personalized assistance.

How accurate are AirDNA's market research tools?

 AirDNA’s data is between 95-99% accurate across Vrbo and Airbnb ( Q4 2023 - we were 99% accurate ). This ensures that our market research tools are not only current but also highly accurate.

Can AirDNA's tools help me find new investment properties?

 Absolutely! Our investment insights feature allows you to explore and analyze properties for sale. By using our rental research tool, you can identify lucrative opportunities and make informed investment decisions based on comprehensive rental analysis, including revenue per room, occupancy rates, seasonality and much more.

What support does AirDNA offer for enterprise users?

AirDNA provides advanced solutions for enterprise users, including custom APIs for seamless integration with your systems. Enterprises can boost customer insights, inform investment decisions, optimize revenue management, and receive dynamic pricing recommendations. Our Property Performance Dashboard allows you to manage and track multiple properties effortlessly. For more tailored solutions, speak to our experts .

Vacation Rental Revenue: A Guide to Airbnb Research Tools

Property managers and hosts often use Airbnb research tools and Property Management Systems (PMS) to navigate market complexities, optimize operations, and enhance guest experiences. Some of these solutions offer some insights into market trends, automate essential processes, and provide performance analytics, enabling a strategic property management approach that drives efficiency and profitability. Let's dive into the importance of market research and which tools you can utilize.

The Importance of Airbnb Research Tools

In the fast-paced vacation rental industry, Airbnb research tools are indispensable for property managers aiming to stay ahead. These tools provide critical insights into market trends, competition, and performance metrics, enabling informed decision-making and strategic planning.

Understanding Market Dynamics

Market dynamics in the Airbnb space are constantly evolving, with factors like seasonal demand, regulatory changes, and competitive pricing affecting profitability. For property managers, tools like Key Data offer analytics that help them to understand these dynamics, allowing agile responses to market shifts.

Enhancing Competitive Edge

The competitive edge in the vacation rental market is sharpened through deep insights into how similar listings are performing, understanding guest preferences, and identifying market gaps. Airbnb research tools facilitate this by offering benchmarking capabilities against competitors, highlighting opportunities for differentiation and growth.

Predicting Market Trends

Understanding and predicting market trends is vital for staying ahead in the competitive Airbnb landscape. Research tools offer insights into emerging trends, traveler preferences, and shifts in demand patterns. This knowledge allows property managers to adapt their marketing strategies, adjust their offerings, and anticipate future market movements, ensuring they remain competitive and relevant.

Financial Planning and Investment Strategy

Airbnb research tools are crucial for effective financial planning and shaping investment strategies. By providing detailed analytics on revenue projections, expense breakdowns, and return on investment (ROI) calculations, these tools help property managers and investors make informed decisions about where and when to invest. They can assess the financial health of their current portfolio and strategically plan expansions or divestments based on solid data, optimizing their investment for maximum returns and minimal risks.

Key Tools for Market Analysis and Performance Tracking

Data analytics.

Key Data Dashboard is a pivotal tool for property managers. It provides an integrated platform that combines real-time market data, performance analytics, and competitive insights. It offers granular visibility into key metrics such as occupancy rates, average daily rates (ADR), and revenue per available room (RevPAR).

Key Data's distinguishing feature is its benchmarking capability, allowing property managers to compare their property's performance against local and global competitors, empowering them to identify areas of improvement and capitalize on market opportunities. This tool is especially beneficial for professionals managing multiple properties, as it aggregates data across portfolios to present a holistic view of performance, trends, and growth opportunities.

Dynamic Pricing Tools

Dynamic pricing tools are very useful for property managers juggling a wide variety of units. By using Key Data to understand shifting market trends and a dynamic pricing tool to set your nightly rates, property managers can help to maximize revenue easily.

One of the key features of dynamic pricing is that it saves you time by working with your set price minimums to react to the market and somewhat match competitors. This can be used as a wonderful Airbnb tool to help automate processes.

Optimizing Listing Performance with Analytical Insights

The performance of Airbnb listings can be significantly improved through the strategic use of analytical insights derived from Airbnb tools, focusing on areas such as rental rate optimization, investment property identification, and competitive pricing strategies.

Rental Rate and Income Analytics

Analyzing rental rates and potential income is crucial for setting competitive prices that maximize occupancy and revenue. Airbnb tools provide data-driven insights into pricing strategies tailored to current market conditions. These tools analyze vast amounts of data from similar listings, incorporating variables such as location, property type, seasonality, and local events to recommend optimal pricing.

This dynamic approach ensures property managers can adjust their rates in real-time, responding to market changes to maximize income while maintaining high occupancy rates. The ability to forecast income based on different pricing strategies further empowers managers to plan for profitability.

Competitive Analysis and Pricing Strategies

Understanding the competitive landscape is essential for pricing strategies. By leveraging analytics tools, managers can gain insights into how similar listings are priced, their occupancy rates, and the amenities they offer, which can be crucial for standing out in crowded markets.

This comparative analysis helps identify gaps in the market, allowing property managers to adjust their offerings accordingly. For example, suppose a property manager notices that listings with high occupancy rates offer certain amenities that their properties lack. In that case, they can consider adding these features to increase attractiveness and command higher prices.

Enhancing Property Management and Guest Experience

Enhancing the guest experience and streamlining property management processes are key to success in the Airbnb market. Research tools contribute by offering solutions for digital guidebooks, channel management, and financial planning.

Digital Guidebooks: Hostfully

Digital guidebooks provided by tools like Hostfully enhance the guest experience by offering easy access to property information, local recommendations, and house rules, adding value to stays and reducing the need for direct communication.

Channel Management: Guesty

Channel management tools like Guesty simplify managing listings across multiple platforms, ensuring availability, pricing, and guest communication consistency.

Integrating Property Management Systems in Airbnb Operations

Integrating various Property Management Systems (PMS) into Airbnb operations signifies a pivotal shift toward more streamlined, efficient management practices in the short-term rental industry. These systems play a crucial role in optimizing property performance and improving the overall guest experience by automating routine tasks, enhancing guest communication, and providing in-depth market insights.

Automation of Guest Communications

Property Management Systems revolutionize how hosts interact with guests by automating communications, ensuring no message goes unanswered and every guest feels welcomed. PMS platforms can handle it all, from sending instant booking confirmations and providing detailed check-in instructions to reminding guests to leave a review post-stay.

This automation helps maintain a consistent line of communication, which is crucial for building guest trust and satisfaction. Moreover, it frees up hosts and property managers to focus on more strategic tasks, such as marketing and property enhancement, further elevating the guest experience and operational efficiency.

Streamlining Booking and Payment Processes

The booking and payment process is often the first direct interaction guests have with a rental property, setting the tone for their entire experience. Property Management Systems streamline this process through user-friendly interfaces and secure payment gateways, making it easier for guests to book their stays and for hosts to manage reservations.

By integrating real-time availability updates and direct booking capabilities, PMS platforms minimize the risk of double bookings and simplify financial transactions. This not only enhances the guest experience by providing a smooth, hassle-free booking process but also ensures that the financial aspects of property management are handled efficiently and accurately, contributing to better revenue management and operational reliability.

Detailed Reporting and Revenue Management

One of the most significant advantages of implementing a Property Management System is the access to detailed analytics and reporting features. These systems can track various metrics, from occupancy and average daily rates to seasonal revenue patterns and guest booking behaviors.

Comprehensive data allows property managers to develop informed pricing strategies, identify periods for promotional discounts, and invest in amenities that increase property appeal and value. Furthermore, by analyzing performance trends and comparing them with market benchmarks, hosts can strategically adjust their operations, enhancing profitability and ensuring their properties remain competitive in a rapidly evolving market.

Utilizing Data for Strategic Decision-Making

The strategic use of data is crucial for maximizing the profitability and growth of Airbnb properties. Airbnb tools play a pivotal role in location selection, market research, and evaluating the potential of Airbnb versus long-term rentals.

Evaluating Airbnb vs. Long-Term Rentals for Maximum Profit

Deciding between Airbnb and long-term rentals involves considering expected revenue, occupancy rates, and operational complexity. Research tools provide comparative analytics to help property managers make informed choices based on profitability and market demand.​​

Transforming Insights into Action

Key Data stands out by offering a comprehensive analytics platform tailored for property managers overseeing multiple rentals. It provides real-time data on market trends, occupancy rates, and revenue metrics. By integrating Key Data's insights into their strategic planning, property managers can ensure their properties are competitively priced and positioned, adjust strategies based on market dynamics, and drive growth and profitability.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do airbnb tools enhance property management.

Airbnb tools enhance property management by providing actionable insights, extensive market data, and performance analytics. These host tools help property managers understand market dynamics, set competitive pricing, optimize listing performance, and increase revenue. By leveraging data, managers can make informed decisions on everything from pricing strategies to investment opportunities, ensuring their properties are competitive and profitable.

Can I use these tools for properties in any location?

Yes, most Airbnb research tools offer extensive coverage that spans various locations around the globe. Some tools provide data and analytics for neighborhoods across different cities and countries, allowing property managers to research and optimize properties regardless of geographic location. This global reach ensures that property managers have the insights they need to make informed decisions, whether managing local properties or expanding their portfolio internationally.

What are the costs associated with these tools?

The cost of Airbnb research tools varies widely based on the tool, the range of features it offers, and the depth of data available. For instance, different tools offer different pricing plans that cater to different needs, from individual property owners to professional property managers with extensive portfolios. Users need to assess their specific needs and explore the pricing options of each tool to find the best fit for their budget and requirements.

How can Key Data specifically benefit property managers?

Key Data benefits property managers by providing a centralized platform for tracking and analyzing performance across multiple properties. It offers detailed insights into occupancy rates, average daily rates, and revenue per available room, among other metrics. These insights enable property managers to benchmark their properties against competitors, identify trends, and make informed decisions to enhance their vacation rental portfolio's profitability and growth.

Integrating Airbnb research tools and Property Management Systems represents a pivotal advancement in managing vacation rental properties. These technologies streamline operations, enhance guest satisfaction, and provide the strategic insights necessary for informed decision-making and market competitiveness. For property managers and hosts looking to maximize their rental income, improve efficiency, and scale their operations, investing in these tools is not just strategic but essential. As the short-term rental market grows, leveraging these advanced solutions will be key to staying ahead in a competitive landscape, ensuring long-term success and profitability.

Ready for trusted direct source data?

Connect with our sales team., articles you might also like..., with three-year revenue growth of 575% percent, key data dashboard ranks no. 869 among america’s fastest-growing private companies, attracting guests with vacation rental email marketing, short-term rental occupancy metrics: how are they different and which should you track, u.s. june overview 2024: summer occupancy paces behind while rates are slightly higher, maximizing the impact of vacation rental ads: strategies for success, what the 2024 paris olympics occupancy rates can tell property managers.

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REVIEWS , Top

The complete guide to airbnb data analysis with airdna.

Table of Contents

Intro to airbnb data analysis.

I’ve been using the most popular Airbnb data tool, AirDNA, on and off since I left Airbnb in 2015. Recently, I dove back in to find the best short term rental markets in the USA for my next Airbnb investment.

This blog will be both a review and tutorial of AirDNA, an introduction to alternative Airbnb data tools when necessary, and a guide on rental market analysis in finding your own profitable property.

If you’re outside the USA, my AirDNA tutorial will be relevant because the STR data and dashboard presentation are identical for all countries. My last real estate investment was outside the USA in Colombia, with an ROI of 33% over the first two years.

If you’re new to the OptimizeMyBnb.com blog, I write different for a few reasons.

First, I am a real user, using my own money and months of my time getting to know the AirDNA tool before I publish anything.

Second, my reviews are fully comprehensive. That means everything you see within AirDNA will be discussed below, including the less popular but more valuable Airbnb analytics tool options.

Third, my AirDNA review will be brutally honest, which means I’ll be talking about the negatives just as much as the positives.

My hope is that by the end of this AirDNA review you’ll know whether or not you want to give your time (more important) and money to this Airbnb data tool.

There are three modules once logged into AirDNA: Market Research, Revenue Calculator, and For Sale. I will be covering them in that order.

I am subscribed to the AirDNA Pro level for $85 monthly. Pro is the highest (sort of) access you can pay for. I’ll explain more about that when I talk about AirDNA pricing.

By the way, for those of you looking for an AirDNA free trial, it doesn’t exist. AirDNA discount coupons and promo codes also don’t exist. I asked for something for my readers. But, don’t worry, I’ve got a 50% discount to an AirDNA competitor below.

AirDNA Market Research Dashboard

When AirDNA changed ownership, one of the major updates brought to the platform was a focus on giving user’s access to more market data and reducing the cost. While that was accomplished (lower price/more market data), there are many nuances and much rental market data is still hidden even with the Pro subscription. More generalized data is not all that useful, but I’ll discuss this more in “How to use AirDNA?”

Once logged in, you’ll get a map of the entire world. There’s nothing to do here besides selecting a country. For this blog, I am choosing the United States of America.

You’ll notice that AirDNA has defined hundreds of markets and thousands of sub-markets. A sub-market is a neighborhood. It’s important to note that smaller markets often have no sub-markets identified, so the dashboard data will be pulled from the entire geographical area of the market (ie an entire county or city) rather than a neighborhood. This is an important distinction to be aware of and makes the data less reliable for these smaller markets.

On the screen above, you can sort these markets by one of four filters:

Market Score – An assigned score out of 100 given to a market based on investability, rental demand, revenue growth, seasonality, and regulation as defined by AirDNA. Unfortunately, my search for the details behind how this score is calculated yielded unsatisfactory results. I place no confidence in the number. I explain more in ‘How Accurate is AirDNA?’

Occupancy – As best I can tell, this is some kind of market average occupancy. This is a useless piece of data unless I am planning to be an average host expecting between 50-70% annual occupancy. There are large occupancy variances between rental size. A 1-bedroom may reach 95% for the best hosts, but given so much competition (ie supply), the profit margin is lower than a 3- or 4-bedroom with an occupancy of 75%.

Revenue Potential – Also seems to be a market average which makes it equally useless. In Market A with an AirDNA revenue potential of $50k there will be homes making $10k and probably $150k while in Market B with a revenue potential of $100k there will be homes making as little as $15k and possibly as much as $250k+. You should be able to see from this example that Market B isn’t necessarily better than Market A as long as you buy an STR for $101k annual revenue potential. You’ll learn later that 3-, 4-, and 5+ bedroom homes are generally going to be most profitable.

Key Point: A rental market should be analyzed by size home (number of bedrooms and bathrooms) as each has a unique supply and demand. A man with a family might rent a 3- or 4-bedroom STR on one trip, and rent a studio or 1-bedroom when he returns on a work trip. Two entirely different guest avatars.

Daily Rate – Again, a market average, but, unfortunately, AirDNA doesn’t tell us how it arrived at the number. Is it a true market average? What about if a home was only listed at high rates during the three-month busy season?

Let’s jump into Tulsa, Oklahoma, one market I’m looking at to invest in an STR due to a $2 billion theme park project called American Heartland to be completed in 2026. I examined Houston, Texas in a video as another potential inevitable market due to medical tourism.

By the way, I’m sharing all my vacation rental market research real-time in the forum and on live group calls with my Profitable Properties Program .

AirDNA Market Overview Dashboard

You probably already know that I’m not a fan of any of this data because it’s all market averages, which is not useful to serious Airbnb investors.

The good news is that each of these four metrics has its own module, which we will explore soon.

One thing to note here are the submarkets. Submarkets shown in the AirDNA dashboard can best be described as popular neighborhoods. They are smaller sections of the chosen market. In my newest book, Profitable Properties , I discuss my concept of micro-neighborhoods as the most important part of my vacation rental market analysis.

A micro-neighborhood is a very small part – next to a park, on the east side of a particular road, or even a specific street – of a neighborhood. In your search, you’ll want to get as detailed and specific as possible in finding the most profitable micro-neighborhood of your market. If you make a good vacation rental investment, the rest is easy.

Compare that with the many video consultations I’ve had with hosts who’ve made a bad rental investment. They are going through a lot of discomfort (and for many years to come) because they either did not take this part seriously, were led astray by faux Airbnb experts, or relied to heavily on faulty Airbnb data tools.

For the purposes of this AirDNA tutorial, we’ll stay in the market-level view of Tulsa because there is slightly more data to examine. Regardless, the metrics are the same if I selected a sub-market only with fewer listings.

AirDNA Market Performance Dashboard

Rental market details: listings.

Within your short term rental investment decision are two important metrics: supply and demand. You will need to know, as best you can, both. Supply is easier to get at and is represented by listings—the demand we will discuss with occupancy.

The first thing I notice is a discrepancy between the Total Active Listings (1,594) shown here and the 2,500 STR Listings shown in the Market Overview Dashboard. I will assume the data here is for the Total Active Listings. There are already plenty of assumptions you’ll have to make in the inventing process (ie potential errors) that I don’t want to add in any unnecessary ones so this is not ideal.

The Listings by Rental Channel, Lisitngs by Rental Size, Listings by Annual Availability, and Listing by Rental Type are fairly similar in any market.

The listing growth is interesting and our first piece of actionable data we can use. You’ll often hear from other hosts’ and Airbnb property managers how there are so many more listings this year than last. But this information by itself is useless. It’s just one of the two essential metrics. What if demand grew at twice the rate of listings? That would be a great thing. Demand is much harder to know but occupancy serves to help a lot in making some assumptions around demand.

Unfortunately, when we get down to the AirDNA occupancy metrics, the rental market statistics provided are too general. But, I have another Airbnb data tool that I want to introduce you to.

It’s one that I’ve used more consistently over the years and it’s called AllTheRoms Analytics . Below is just a peak at their dashboard, where they not only present listing growth (purple), but also occupancy (green) so you can visually see how the occupancy (ie demand) has moved in line with the listing growth (ie supply).

You can see that the listing growth has caused a slight decrease to market occupancy. As always, we’ll need to further dig into these numbers which we’ll do in the section on occupancy.

If you want to use AllTheRooms Analytics I was able to convince them to offer a 50% discount off their subscription price for one year to readers of my blog. You must use the code in caps OPTIMIZE50.

I like the short term rental statistics presented below:

Most STR markets will have a similar distribution between cancellation policy and mininmu stay requirements, but when a market doesn’t, this is when the above becomes useful.

I was recently on a consultation call with an Airbnb host in a cleaner-dominated market (ie a market with fewer residents than STRs) who told me his minimum should not only be 7 nights but also with a check-in/out only on a Saturday.

I was like, wait, hold up….excuse me?!?

“Yeah, that’s just how everyone does it here.”

My draw dropped to the floor. Ok. So, let’s definitely not do that then becuase you’d be excluding the following FPGs (Future Potential Guests):

• Anyone looking for a one, two, three, four, five, or six night reservation
• Anyone who wants to check-in on a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday

Cleaner dominated markets are my worst nightmare because you’ll have to pay them more and often the service is worse. Your clenaer can be your greatest asset or your biggest time suck.

If you’re looking for a cleaner, I recommend using the app Turno and their Cleaner Marketplace .

To reiterate, if you notice a significantly uneven distribution on either of the above two metrics (min nights or cancellation policy), then you should think about servicing that gap in the market.

AirDNA Recommended Property Manager Tool

This tool seems cool! At least for some Airbnb market analysis as part of your all-important data gathering to finding your profitable property.

I tested this tool in a secret market I’m looking at. I decided on this secret, Undiscovered Market because it’s a smaller rental market and was curious if AirDNA can only match Airbnb property managers in larger markets (in Part 2: Vacation Rental Market Analysis in my book Profitable Properties, I discuss the differences between Dicovered and Undiscovered markets).

They matched me with three potential property mangers:

I have written up a detailed guide to help you decide whether you even need an vacation rental property manager , and if you decide that you do, how to choose one a good STR property manager .

Back to Tulsa. What’s interesting is that in the Tulsa market, the AirDNA tool provided me the following breakdown (below) of the largest Airbnb property managers with their size and average rating, but did not provide this information for the smaller, secret market above.

Here is what I see for Tulsa, Oklahoma:

If you have experience using the AirDNA recommended property managers tool, please share in the comments below. Thank you!

Airdna Market Details: Occupancy

When I got down to the AirDNA occupancy data, I realized that this tool is catering to non-techical Airbnb hosts. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

These questions in the dropdown are cute. They’re even relevant. But, they’re providing general market data. Even with the filters above, which I’ve dedicated a section to in this AirDNA tutorial, we still don’t know exactly what’s included.

AirDNA has tried to answer the questions, in question format, that the majority (read: average) vacation rental investor might be wondering instead of providing detailed filtering options.

Non-techincal, average Airbnb host: What percentage of the month was occupied?

Techincal Airbnb host: What is the annual occupancy for the 90th percentile of listings?

The more detailed you make your questions, the more relevant your rental market analysis will be and the easier your life as an Airbnb host (not to mention more profitable!).

I’ve echoed that sentiment various times already and will do so many more times. There’s a marketing principle (it’s actually a persuasion principle) that says you have to expose a potential customer to something a annoyingly high amount of times before they start to recognize it. Same here. Be detailed. Be profitable. Be general. Pay me $200 to try and fix your short term rental investment problems. I don’t want your money to fix avoidable problems.

Let’s jump back over to AllTheRooms and see what they have for Tulsa market occupancy data.

AirDNA only shows you that general 46% number which is the market average occupancy. This answers the non-techincal Airbnb hosts, but is not only not relevant, but could lead us to a bad STR investment.

When I go into any vacation rental market, I know that I’ll be the top 10% of listings (or the 90th percentile as is represented by the dotted line above). For this category of hosts, the annual occupancy I can expect looks closer to 90%. That’s what I’m talking about!

My Airbnb, The Belmonte Penthouse , has an occupancy over the past two years of 94%. (and a rating of 4.99 if you don’t mind me indulging myself in some bragging. Hey! It was hard work and I’m proud of it!)

Below is a screenshot from AllTheRooms of the Medellín market occupancy data for entire home rentals, 4 bedrooms, in the very specific Provenza/Parque Lleras micro-neighborhood. The dotted line is the 90th percentile.

If you’re not keeping score..

AllTheRooms Analytics: 2

The best Airbnb hosts, the ones who are following me , are technical or see the value in being technical. Don’t be scared if you’re not a technical host. With my guidance you will be. That’s becusaae I break down concepts into tiny pieces of relatable information.

If you wanted a bit more, I invite you to join my Profitable Propetie Program where you’ll get access to a forum of like minded hosts (one of the threads is dedicated to Vacation Rental Market Analysis), video explanations from me, and an organized syllabus to help you get to a technical Airbnb hosts making tons of money from your profitable short-term rental.

You can join at a lower subscription price, or purchase a lifetime membership which includes an array of bonus materials valued at nearly the cost of the program. Both memberships include access to the forum.

You can also post a comment below and I’ll respond there.

Market Details: Revenue

Good job, AirDNA! I’m seeing percentile ranges here which is very important for me to build out my short term rental investment analysis. A step in the right direction.

There is still one problem, though. I am going to ignore total revenue data in all data analytic tools becuase I’m going to calculate that myself with the following formula:

[365 days * 90th percentile annual occupancy] X [Average daily rate of 90th percentile]

The above formula would give me a specific, but estimated revenue for any listing. As I teach in my books and online course, you should create two revenue estimates, one conservative (ie worst case scenario) and one expected (never create an optimistic scenario). You want both of these estimates to be cautious to insure we’re not making a poor Airbnb investment.

I actually do this revenue analysis per listing bedroom size (see below). Here’s a sneak peak from the Profitable Properties Program. I won’t take your time in explaining the details here, but the most important thing to note is that I’m calculating my own revenue and comparing that to the average home price of the same size. You can see that for this undiscovered vacation rental market, we’d probably want to avoid a 3 bedroom home and focus on a 5 bedroom home.

This is because we have an extra $150k above the average 5-bedroom home value to work with. In other words, we can buy a nicer 5-bedroom home and earn a nicer return on investment.

Airdna Rental Market Details: Rates

The AirDNA market details for daily rates is shown above. The other questions this module answers are:

What was the average daily rate?

What was the average daily rate by bedroom?

What was the average daily rate by day?

What was the average daily rate by price tier?

What are guest willing to pay for future days?

→ How much on average are hosts changing rates?

The last question is the most intriguing, but is only accessible with the Advanced subscription which we’ll talk about below in the Airdna pricing section.

I think it’s the most intriguing because I would love to know which markets are hosts not using dynamic pricing tools. I would enter these markets without much thought.

In fact, one of the heavily weighted factors if I’m going to buy an existing STR in any market is whether or not the host was using a dynamic pricing tool. I know if they were not, I can increase revenue by at least 25%, but sometimes double it. Or more.

That’s why I recently brought back my Revenue Management service . Pricing gives host the most trouble yet it has the most upside in terms of ROI.

It’s an extreme example, but the prior property mangers of The Belmonte Penthouse were charging $500 every day of the year. Their weekends got booked up easily and they were making about $45,000 annually (roughly 8 nights per month). Last year, I made $163,000 with the same property. The owner even sold me it as is, only taking a few things with him.

With the same exact property, I am making 4x from the prior management! This wasn’t all due to pricing, but I do attribute the majority to my pricing strategy.

And to think I was even considering hiring that Airbnb property manager because the prior host said they had a good experience with them! I would have missed out on $100k+ if I didn’t self-manage.

If you are looking for full-service property management, there is one company on this entire planet that I recommend: Midtown Stays/STR Riches. It’s run by a friend of mine and a super successful short term rental host and investor. Click here to learn more about them .

I have the best pricing strategy in the market. I know pricing is confusing for both new and experienced Airbnb hosts alike, but my strategy is also very simple. It’s a two-step strategy that needs reviewing only one per week. After you learn my strategy, each listing you manage will need an average of 30 seconds per week of pricing management.

Step One : Create booking targets with your listings booking lead time

Step Two : Add customizations, if needed.

You have a few options to learn more about my pricing strategy:

Read ‘Part 5: Pricing’ from my STR book Profitable Properties . There you’ll find the five common calendar occupancies and how to deal with each scenario.

Watch my YouTube playlist discussing my Airbnb pricing strategy . I feature PriceLabs here as they’re my only recommended pricing tool.

Join my Profitable Properties Program (many use the Q/A session to dive into pricing).

Book a private, one-on-one video consultation .

I have recently reintroduced my Revenue Management service which has been dormant for 4 years. This decision was made purely due to popular demand and consistent requests over the years.

Market Details: RevPar

What is RevPar? AirDNA says “RevPAR or Revenue Per Available Rental is calculated by dividing total revenue generated by the number of available properties in the market.”

In other words, this metric takes into account unbooked days, or occupancy. RevPar will always be lower than daily rates. The prior owners of The Belmonte Penthouse RevPar was $133 ($4,000 total monthly revenue made up from 8 weekend days at $500 per night/30 days)

My RevPar is $472 ($163,000 annual revenue / 345 available days). My daily rates range from $200 to $1,000+.

If you’re looking for an international short term rental investment, I am selling The Belmonte Penthouse to upscale to even large, more luxurious Airbnbs. The purchase would come with access to my team. Serious inquiries only. Asking $900k.

Regarding the RevPar for Houston as presented by AirDNA, it’s useless because..why? Pop quiz. It’s a general number and we need specifics to make the most profitable investment decision.

Be sure to read my section titled “How Accurate is AirDNA?” for a deeper discussion about numbers and why they’re all wrong. I was a Certified Public Accountant for the start of my career, including at Airbnb. I know numbers.

I do like the below chart, as it gives a nice presentation of demand/occupancy displayed ina fresh and new way I’ve not seen before. You can see that weekends are clearly a favorite. You may have already known that going into the market, but I still like this display. Plus, it shows you which months have less demand, so you can lower your rates early.

Caution: Regardless of a market having a high or low annual occupancy, the below presentation will always show light purple (low demand) and dark purple (high demand). In other words, it doesn’t show how likely these days are to get booked, only at what rates. The light purple will get booked at lower rates but may only be slightly less likely to get booked.

In other words, if the below AirDNA market data were for Medellin (with a yearly occupancy of 90%), then most of these dates would get booked, just at different rates. Weekends high. Weekdays low. I don’t want you to think that weekdays are unlikely to get booked and thus lower your pricing too much. However, if you follow my pricing strategy, this doesn’t matter as your weekly review would catch this booking trend early and allow for adjustment.

Key Dynamic Pricing Tip : When it comes to low demand days whether that’s low season or low days of the week, lower your prices a little more and a little sooner than the competition . One way we accomplish this is with a gradual discount of up to 50% through your booking lead time which is typically around 30 days. I talk more about that in my YouTube video dedicated to PriceLabs customizations . We also go over this pricing customization in my Profitable Properties Program.

AirDNA Market Filters

Rental market listing filters.

AirDNA provides many of the standard filters that any Airbnb analytics tool would provide plus some specific ones. I’ll discuss all of their STR market data filters in this section.

First, the standard filters:

• Type of listing: entire place, private room, shared room
• Type of rental: apartment, B&B, house, or unique
• Bedrooms: from studio to 6+ bedrooms
• Bathrooms: from 1 to 6+ bathrooms
• Number of guests: from 1 to 10+ guests

Changing any of the filters will change the metrics shown in the dashboard. However, it will still show generalized information about whatever filter you’ve chosen.

For example, I’ve just filtered for Entire Place, 4-6+ bedrooms and bathrooms. The Airdna rental data updates, but I only see all the data for all 35 listings in this data set. As a technical Airbnb host, I know that within this data set there are winners and lowers…there are favorable geographical locations, etc. But I am restricted from this data making it less useful.

AirDNA says the average annual revenue is $107,100 for these filters. But I want to know the range. Some are likely making much less and others much more than $107,100. What if all those listings making the most in this data set all were 4 bedrooms? What if all those 4-bedroom rentals were in a specific location? You can see how tremendously important that information would be?

I could filter further by a pre-set neighborhood as defined by AirDNA, but many smaller markets (the Undiscovered Markets) have no sub-markets. Regardless, I prefer using AllTheRooms Airbnb analytics map feature so that the data shown reflects where I’ve zoomed the map. To be honest, a superior option would be if I could manually draw from what geographical location I wanted to pull data.

AirDNA Filters: Performance Metrics

But, again, an equally important consideration, in addition to the physical location or neighborhood, is being able to stratify the percentiles of the Airdna rental data. I’d like to see how well the top 25% of hosts are doing, as well as the bottom 25%.

To get at this question, AirDNA has done something unique. Instead of having the user select the top 90th percentile of hosts, they can choose via how many dollar signs they want.

Upon doing some research on the Airdna website, I understand the following breakdown for each bedroom count:

• Budget is the lower 20% of listings based on the ADR (average daily rate)
• Luxury is the top 20% of listings based on the ADR

Here are the following fitlers that AirDNA allows under the Performance metrics:

• Professionally Managed: both, yes, or no
• Host Unit Count: All, 1, 2-5, 6-20, 21+
• Days Available: All, 1-90, 91-180, 181-270, 271-365
• Rating: <4.0 – 5.0
• Reviews Count: All, 1-10, 11-19, 20-49, 50-99, 100-199, 200+

Regarding the Days Available metric, you should make note to only select to view those listings available 271-365 days per year. That is listings available for 75%+ of the year. Otherwise the data will be more inaccurate. For example, if you are including a listing only available for 1-90 days, in order to present annual numbers, AirDNA has to extrapolate that data to a year. That’s a lot of assumptions! Remember, we want to limit our assumptions as there are already enough in our rental investment analysis.

If there’s not enough Airdna rental data, then continue selecting down (ie 181-270 days) understanding that it’s dirtying your market data.

Finally, one important note about Reviews Count. One of the ways I am analyzing the best US short term rental markets is by summing the total reviews of listings on the first page of the Airbnb search. Why? Join my Profitable Properties Program. Just kidding! But, not really.

The reason I count the reviews is because if many listings have 200, 300, 400, 500, or even 600+ reviews, why do you think that is? There’s only one reason. Profitability! If a listing has 100 reviews, that’s good. A listing with 200 reviews is likely a few years in the market. If you’re seeing various listings at 300+, take note.

I even identified one market with 3,535 total reviews between the 18 listings on the first page of Airbnb search. That’s a whopping 196 reviews per listing!

I can tell you without much doubt this market is very profitable. Wait..

Ok. Back. I just reached out to a real estate agent in that market. I got all excited talking about this vacation rental market. And the homes aren’t even that expensive! I’m seeing plenty in the $250-$750k range. That’s with an annurla revenue of $50-$100k.

Anyways, let’s move on to maybe the most important section of this entire AirDNA review and guide.

How Accurate is AirDNA Market Data?

It doesn’t actually matter. I know that might be surprising to hear, but please let me explain.

Maybe you have heard this uttered: profits are in the details.

Or something like that.

Even if you hadn’t, it’s true. Profits are in the details.

They’re not in general market data or a Market Score number summarizing that genrelized market data.

The more verifiable data you have on your chosen market, the better vacation rental investment decision you will be able to make. The more opportunities you will see. Ultimate, the more profitable property you will buy.

Key word: verifiable.

It doesn’t matter how accurate AirDNA market data is because you will verify it anyway. If you can’t verify it, as you cannot with much of the AirDNA data, then it becomes useless data and not to be relied upon more than to give you ideas to further your Airbnb investing analysis.

Why do I feel this way? Becuase all numbers lie. I know this intimately as a Certified Public Accountant. I worked with numbers every day for years of my life.

Give me a set of data and I could make a poor investment seem like a great one. It all depends on what information I want to include. And how I wanted to filter that information to present my case.

For example, maybe I only look at the top 50% of a market, or the top 25% of a market. Or maybe I only include data from last year or the trailing 12 months. Or maybe I only include all listings or only listings with a 4.7 rating or higher or only listings with 25+ reviews or only listings that are older than 3 months. All of these decisions will change the data I present to you and if I have a pre-exiting bias, as all of us do, then I’ll just choose the filters that further what I want to present.

This is true with all numbers whether it’s crime rates, travel statistics, or Airbnb STR data analysis.

You must verify what’s behind a particular number before you can rely on it. What that means is understanding the methodology used in developing the rental market statistics.

Back to our Tulsa market. I see for Luxury listings with 4+ bedrooms, the market revenue is $145,000 from 49 listings. If I stopped there, I would likely make a bad rental investment. Why?

Let’s dig into the numbers a bit. I see one of the listings have a revenue potential of nearly a million dollars. Whoa!

But with zero reviews…?

But it’s been available for 366 days? With an average daily rate of $6,400? And an occupancy rate of only 36%. I think even a non-technical host would know something wrong here if they knew to investigate the numbers presented.

When you click open this listing, it has zero reviews and has a daily rate of $6,400 with a minimum of 7 nights and a maximum of 8 nights. Zero reviews over the entire prior year. So AirDNA is relying on this listing’s price of $6,400 to determine their revenue potential presented to Airbnb investors. But this listing clearly has no idea what they’re doing.

How much would the $145,000 revenue potential for this market segment change if this listing were removed?

I hope you see why you must verify as much of the Airdna market data as you can. It’s like measuring twice and cutting once for my architects.

How to use AirDNA?

The best way to use AirDNA is by selecting as many filters as possible. You want to avoid general market data in favor of specific listing data.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma that means I would select these filters:

• Listing Type: Entire Place
• Bedrooms: 4
• Bathrooms: 3-6+
• Price Tier: Luxury $$$$$
• Days Available: 271-365
• Rating: 4.7 – 5.0

Here’s what the dashboard shows with these filters. There are only five listings in this data set.

Next, I would click the STR Listings tab. The first thing to catch my attention is that one of these listings has only three reviews. This would be unlikely for a listing available for 271+ days over the past year. The reason is due to a duplicate listing. Middle top tow and bottom-left (below).

One is on Airbnb and one is on VRBO. This calls into question how accurate the AirDNA rental data is if their system can’t match two identical listings with the same photos, but listed on two of the largest OTAs, VRBO and Airbnb.

After some investigation, it looks even worse because AirDNA has an intelligent matching algorithm leveraging 14 factors to address this specific and common issue.

I also noticed that all of the rentals are in different neighborhoods. It’s always good to have an expectation and compare that with what you’re seeing. My expectation was that all these listings (given the tight filters) would be similarly located, but that’s not at all the case.

That seems to be the end of the road with my Pro AirDNA subscription. I need to upgrade to Advanced and pay 50x more to see listing-specific data. Until you buy more Airbnb Boosters or Listing Optimizations , I can’t afford that (: 🙏

Let’s go back to AllTheRooms Analytics and filter the data the same as we had on AirDNA.

I am going to click open each of the listings, starting with the highest revenue.

I found it.

So, let’s click in and see what Airbnb listing data AllTheRooms provides.

We can see this listings is charging something way up at the top of the market. If we can afford it, this should be our aim. One larger vacation rental is better and more proftiable than two smaller rentals.

We already see one potential price optimization. This host does not provide a monthly discount. By providing one, especially in the slow season, could net some extra revenue and a higher occupancy.

HOLD THE PHONE! No freakin’ way folks. I do not believe it.

This listing does NOT use any dynamic pricing tool. Ding ding ding!! I’d buy it tomorrow if it were on sale because I know that with this one change, I could increase revenue by 25% at a minimum! That’s because I’d fill up more low-demand days at lower prices, and I’d fill some of those high-demand days at more than $600.

But I know the host is probably selling it (if they were) based on their actual results which I know to not be optimized. That’s a 25%+ bargain.

I really like this graph (below) showing an overlay of average daily rate and occupancy. Something happened in October of last year, plummeting their occupancy. Maybe new owners?

AllTheRooms assigns a VRPS score to all listings. This one shows a 0 because of no recent bookings. We can see the historical VRPS is only 632. This is bad. The VRPS for The Belmonte Penthosue is 999. Something is wrong with this listing. Maybe STR regulation issues? Maybe the host just doesn’t know what they’re doing? This could very well be an opportunity needle in a haystack.

Actually, I just reached out to this listing, haha. The host had their short-term rental property management company name listed on the profile. Searched Google, and bam.

How Much Does AirDNA Cost?

“If you’re looking for something a little more comprehensive..” said every sleezy saleman ever.

I received this email from AirDNA on January 23rd, a few weeks after I subscribed.

As I thought I already had subscribed to the top tier, I replied to the saleman asking for clarification.

You ain’t got shit son! He said in a more professional tone, requesting me to book a video sales call so he could “understand my needs better”.

After a few more back-and-forths, I insisted on knowing the minimum cost without a video sales call and the sales rep obliged. Talk about sticker shock!

So AirDNA wants me to go from paying $25 per month to $9,600+ per year. Wow.

Not only surprised, but pissed off. So they sold me some incomplete data, which I was already aware of, full knowing their intention of getting a percentage of these customers into their highest tier after they’re unsatisfied with what they already bought.

That reads ‘start from 9,600 USD’. I can image that price easily getting to double, tripe, or quadruple that annual cost for something ‘just a little bit more comprehensive.’

I did not subscribe to that plan and I don’t recommend you do so either unless:

• you know exactly what you’re seeking before going in,
• confirming they have the data and it’s accurate data,
• they have a knowledgeable customer service rep available to help you with any and all doubts rather than forwarding an FAQ article
• and, most importantly, the investment of $10, $20, or $30k+ will be recouped.

AirDNA should be looked at as an investment. At $25 per month, I’m probably recoupoing my investment. At $1,000+, paid annually, I’m not so sure. And only if I was certain would I subscribe to that level.

For the rest of us plebs, having to use peasant data, here are those monthly prices.

I started, as I always do, with the free version and made two upgrades as I needed more data. The free version is nearly useless, as is the Basic paid version, so I suggest if you’re to use AirDNA market data tool to go straight up to the ‘Most Popular’ Pro plan.

My Take: AirDNA Best Places to Invest Blog

Every year, AirDNA releases a blog titled “Best Places to Invest in Short-Term Rentals”. This year, I critically reviewed the article on my YouTube channel.

AirDNA Revenue Calculator (prior AirDNA Rentalizer)

This service used to be called AirDNA Rentalizer, which they have incorporated into the subscription. It’s available for all service areas both inside and outside of the USA. I talked about the Rentalizer in a prior blog post on AirDNA . You’re probably curious how accurate is the AirDNA revenue calculator?

It’s tough to judge the accuracy of the tool. But, it does appear to be decently accurate. At least within the ballpark, but keep in mind the more luxurious and non-standard your Airbnb is, the less accurate this tool will be.

For example, the AirDNA revenue calculator says The Belmonte Penthouse could earn $105,000. That’s twice as much as the last host was making and about 60% of what I’m making. So you see the large variation. I prefer estimating the annual revenue based on the occupancy and daily rates.

Similar with the operating expense estimate. An interesting offering, but you’ll want to get a more accurate number for your specific rental property. You can do that with a spreadsheet I provide to all lifetime purchasers of my Profitable Properties Program .

Did you know that I have an Airbnb revenue calculator ? Answer four questions, and I will provide a low and expected annual revenue estimate as discussed above. Interestingly, here is the estimation for The Belmonte Penthouse. In year one, I made $152k and year two it was $163k.

AirDNA For Sale Module

The properties listed here are not short-term rentals. I think it would be cool if Airbnb worked in a feature where a guest or viewer of the online listing could send the host a notification that they’re interested in buying the rental. But Airbnb has been stagnant for eight years now, one can wish!

The properties don’t update as you move the map. In the case of Tulsa, I’m seeing 1,400 For Sale Properties regardless of where I move the map.

This makes the sorting feature less valuable.

When you click into a rental property, you’re provided with a revenue, occupancy, expense, and cap rate estimate.

The cap rate is a short term rental investing term, and you calculate it as follows:

[Net Operating Income (ie Revenue – Expense)] / Current Market Value OR Purchase Price

A generally accepted good capitalization rate for an Airbnb is between 4 – 10%.

The Belmonte Penthouse has a cap rate of 19%.

Within the For Sale AirDNA module, they provide the zone status. This is useful information. But you’ll want to verify it.

AirDNA Alternative Competitors

The main competitor to AirDNA is AllTheRoom Analytics. Readers of this blog are entitled to a never-before-offered 50% discount for an entire year on any plan.

What I like about AllTheRooms is that all plans include all data. Think of the below prices as the AirDNA Advanced level data.

If you already know what state you want to invest in, then choose STATE subscription. Otherwise, the COUNTRY subscription will be ideal. If you’re open to short term rental investing internationally, like me, please choose GLOBAL.

Click to learn more about AllTheRooms vacation rental market analytics tool . Use code OPTIMIZE50 for 50% off any subscription.

I know of Mashvisor, but you must subscribe there for at least three months at $360 minimum. You also have STR Insights to choose from with a monthly cost of $200.

AirDNA Host Tools

Did you know that AirDNA provides four more tools included with your subscription?

Manager Calendar

Basically, a trick getting you to give AirDNA your listing’s calendar data for free to increase their data accuracy. You must connect your calendar to use the AirDNA Smart Rates™ dynamic pricing tool. My preferred dynamic pricing tool has been PriceLabs since 2018.

Maybe my favorite part of AirDNA. This neat tool allows you to filter more specifically than Airbnb allows to what you believe is your direct competition and then not only see their stats but compare them to your own in the next tool. You should be scouting your competition on Airbnb regardless of this tool and creating a private wishlist on Airbnb to keep tabs on them. The only problem is I don’t see my main competitor in the same building as me on the list of potential competitors and I’m not sure why.

Pacing Data

AirDNA’s Pacing Data is interesting. It allows you to spy on your competition. You can see that I’m rated a 78 up to 100 based on the five direct rental competitors I’ve selected from the Comp Sets tool. And I gotta say, I’m a little nervous.

You can see over the next sixty days that much of my competition is already booked and my July calendar is totally empty. My BLT is 15 days while my competition is closer to 35 days so this is one reason. Nevertheless, I feel a small bead of sweat on my forehead right about now.

Unfortunately, the other three bubbles (above the chart) I have no idea what they mean, and the ⓘ doesn’t show anything when hovered or clicked. Though I will say the design of those metrics remind me of another Airbnb data tool called Intelihost. I’ve recorded an Intelihost video tutorial and a blog review of Intelihost .

Below is a screenshot of the AirDNA Smart Rates™ (purple) compared to my rates (green) compared to my comp set rates (pink). You can see that Smart Rates™ has much less variation between weekdays and weekends and heavily increases prices further out. Both of these preferences are inferior to the PriceLabs algorithm .

This is still a neat chart because it clearly shows that my prices are significantly higher than my competition’s. This is partly why their BLT is much higher (ie they’re much cheaper).

Conclusion: Is AirDNA worth the cost?

Phew! You made it. That is a looong blog post.

If you skipped down here first without reading my AirDNA tutorial, then I’ll say, yes, the AirDNA market data is worth the cost with one big caveat: You must verify all the Airbnb data.

I think that $25 is the appropriate cost for this rental market data. Much more and the use cases would be limited. I’d likely only subscribe for a month when I had a pre-existing set of questions to be answered.

But at $25 per month, it’s in line with many existing subscription based Airbnb analytics tools.

Now you know all about Airbnb data and how to analyze it with both AirDNA and AllTheRooms. I hope you got tremendous value. Thank you for your support.

About Danny Rusteen

Starting in 2012, Danny has been an Airbnb employee, Superhost, and Airbnb property manager. Danny lives in Airbnbs (2,000 nights). As a guest, Danny has traveled to 36 countries and sifted through thousands of Airbnb listings, so he knows what makes a listing stand out and how to offer a world-class experience to your guest.  Follow his journey.

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Understanding Airbnb Market Research For Vacation Rental Hosts: A Guide To Success

Being an Airbnb host is more than merely renting out a property; it’s running a business, an Airbnb business. To stay ahead in this growing industry, it’s crucial to conduct market research consistently.

But how do you go about conducting this Airbnb market research, and how do you use it to ensure your vacation rental is a success?

1. Importance Of Airbnb Market Research

Market research is the backbone of any successful business, and running your Airbnb is no different. Research provides hosts with a wealth of data that can be used to make informed decisions about pricing, occupancy, investors, and services.

This data can provide insights into what guests are looking for, whether it’s a short-term rental or a longer stay, allowing you to create an enticing listing that stands out from the crowd.

2. Understanding Your Market

You must first understand the specific markets you are targeting. Whether it’s a bustling city like San Diego or a tranquil countryside town, market research can reveal the nuances of these different locations.

Tools like the Airbnb calculator can help you get a better understanding of potential revenue based on average daily rates in your city, and the length of stay, whether a short-term rental or not.

3. Identifying Top Listings

Once you have a grasp on your market, take a look at the top listings in your area. These Airbnb listings will provide you with an idea of what guests in your city are looking for. Pay close attention to the amenities they offer.

Are these the best places to go? Do they have a hot tub? What about their pricing? Are their Airbnb nightly rates higher than the average in the city? This kind of data really matters.

4. Understanding Your Competitors

Direct competitors are other hosts who have similar listings to your Airbnb. Examining these other listings can provide a wealth of knowledge about how to position your property for success.

Look at their prices and daily rates, read their reviews, and see what they offer that makes them stand out.

5. Analyzing Seasonality

When you’re dealing with short-term rentals, seasonality is crucial. Peak season and low season can drastically affect your occupancy rate and monthly revenue.

A good Airbnb market research tool will allow you to view data for an entire year, giving you a more accurate picture of the seasonality in your area, all with a simple glance at your browser.

6. Researching Demand

In addition to seasonality, you also need to research the demand for vacation rentals in your area and different markets. Are there any significant events that drive up demand? What is the average occupancy rate during these times?

By having a better understanding of airbnb demand, you can more accurately predict your potential revenue.

7. Pricing Your Property

After doing your market research, you should have a good idea of how to price your property. However, this isn’t a set-and-forget process. You’ll need to continually monitor your market to ensure your pricing remains competitive.

Using the Airbnb calculator can help you understand the potential cash return based on different pricing strategies, and manage your income.

8. Predicting Your Revenue

Predicting your Airbnb revenue is an important part of market research.

With the right tools and data, you can create a more accurate projection of your potential monthly revenue. This will not only help you manage your finances but also give investors a clearer picture of your business’s profitability.

9. Keeping An Eye On Trends

The world of Airbnb and short-term rentals is continually changing, and what worked yesterday might not work tomorrow, even in the best places. Regular market research will help you stay on top of these events and trends, ensuring your property remains competitive.

10. Utilizing Tools For Market Research

There are several tools available to help with your Airbnb market research. The Airbnb calculator, for example, is a great tool that allows you to input your property’s details and see estimated income, expenses, and cash returns.

Similarly, websites with a search bar feature can help you gather data about your competition and top listings in your market.

11. Looking Beyond Your Immediate Market

While it’s crucial to conduct Airbnb market research within your immediate market, don’t limit yourself to just that.

Look at listings in other cities, especially those known as the best places for vacation rentals. Their successful strategies can potentially be applied to your market, providing you with additional insights.

12. Analyzing Review Data

Reviews on Airbnb listings aren’t just for potential guests; they’re goldmines of information for hosts too.

Through a careful analysis of reviews, you can identify what guests loved or disliked about their stay, for example. This feedback can guide improvements to your property or services and potentially increase your occupancy rate.

13. Using A Dynamic Pricing Tool

Dynamic pricing tools adjust your nightly rates based on a variety of factors including demand, events in the city, your cash return, and even the weather. By employing these tools in tandem with your Airbnb market research, you can optimize your revenue while remaining competitive.

14. Monitoring Regulatory Changes

Laws and regulations impacting short-term rentals can change. Make sure you are up-to-date with the regulations in your city and any changes that may occur.

Not only can these changes affect your Airbnb business, but they can also influence the market as a whole, in various cities.

15. Keeping Tabs On Direct Competitors

While general market research is essential, honing in on your direct competitors can provide more specific insights. Regularly monitor their Airbnb listings, noting any changes in their pricing, availability, or services offered. This can help you anticipate market moves and stay one step ahead.

16. Experimenting With Your Listings

Airbnb market research isn’t just about collecting data; it’s also about taking action.

For example, once you’ve gathered data, consider testing changes to your listing, such as adjusting your price or adding new amenities. Then, monitor the impact of these changes on your booking rate and reviews.

17. Gathering Data On Guest Preferences

Airbnb market research isn’t just about your competition and market trends. It’s also essential to gather data about your potential guests.

What demographics are they part of? What do they look for in a vacation rental? What cities do they want to see? The more you know about your guests, the better you can cater to their needs and make a difference in their trip.

18. Calculating Profitability

Remember, revenue is only one side of the equation. To truly understand your profitability, you need to factor in all expenses associated with your property.

This includes cleaning fees, maintenance costs, and Airbnb fees. By calculating these expenses, you can make an informed decision on pricing and the overall profitability of your property.

19. Understanding Real Estate Trends

As a vacation rental host, you’re also a real estate investor. Therefore, it’s essential to keep an eye on broader real estate trends, and not simply Airbnb prices.

Are property prices in your area rising or falling? Is it a buyer’s or seller’s market? This information can influence your long-term decisions about buying, selling, or renting properties.

20. Incorporating Professional Expertise

Consider seeking the advice of professionals in the real estate or hospitality industry with your Airbnb listing. While doing your own research is crucial, their expert insights and real-world experience and properties can complement your findings and help you navigate your market more effectively.

21. Evaluating Your Unique Selling Proposition

While conducting Airbnb market research, it’s crucial to identify your property’s unique selling proposition (USP).

Whether it’s a stunning view, a prime location or neighborhood, or unique amenities, your USP should be at the forefront of your listing to make it stand out amongst competitors.

22. Ensuring Accurate Listing Descriptions

After researching other listings in your market, make sure your listing description accurately reflects your property and its amenities. Misrepresenting or omitting information may result in negative reviews, affecting your overall rating and search ranking.

23. Leveraging Social Media Insights

While Airbnb’s platform offers a plethora of information about the short-term rental market, there is another invaluable resource for market research that should not be overlooked: social media. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have become hubs of real-time consumer behavior and preference data.

By regularly following and engaging with travel-focused accounts, you can gather critical insights into emerging market trends. Hashtags can be especially helpful in identifying trending vacation destinations or popular amenities in any Airbnb. Pay attention to the types of properties and features that attract the most engagement (likes, shares, comments) on these platforms.

Moreover, social media platforms also provide an open forum for Airbnb guests to voice their complaints or praises about their vacation rental experiences. Monitoring these conversations can provide you with firsthand knowledge about what guests are truly seeking in a vacation rental. You can use these insights to improve your offering and enhance the overall guest experience.

24. Tracking Macro-Trends

While micro-level trends can provide insights about your specific market, macro-trends can also influence your Airbnb business. Consider global factors such as changes in travel patterns, economic shifts, or technological advancements which can affect your short-term rental operation.

25. Understanding The Importance Of Visual Appeal

Quality photos are critical for attracting guests to your Airbnb properties. Market research can help you understand what kind of photos appeal to potential guests. Are they drawn to cozy, well-lit spaces, or do they prefer minimalist, modern designs? Tailoring your property’s visual appeal can increase its attractiveness.

26. Surveying Your Guests

Your guests are one of your most valuable resources for market research. They have first-hand experience with your property, and their feedback can provide you with direct insights into what you’re doing right and where there’s room for improvement.

One effective method of obtaining this feedback is through post-stay surveys. After your guests’ stay, consider sending a survey asking for their thoughts on their experience. Ask about various aspects of their stay, such as their check-in experience, the cleanliness of the property, the amenities offered, and the overall value they felt they received.

Moreover, ask them about what they wished your property had, if anything. This question can provide you with ideas for improvements or additions to your property that you may not have thought of otherwise.

By engaging your guests in this way, you’re not only showing them that you value their opinion, but you’re also gathering invaluable data that can help you increase your future booking rates.

27. Considering Environmental Factors

Understanding your property’s environment is crucial. If your property is located near a beach, how does the peak beach season impact your occupancy rates? What about properties near ski resorts? Understanding these environmental factors can inform your pricing and marketing strategy.

28. Studying The First Page Of Listings

Take a closer look at the listings on the first page of search results for your market. These are likely the properties with the highest bookings and ratings. Study their strategies, from pricing to marketing, to learn what makes them successful.

29. Tracking Metrics Over Time

Market research is not a one-time activity. Track your key metrics over time, including occupancy rate, monthly revenue, and guest reviews, to identify trends and adjust your strategy accordingly.

30. Keeping An Eye On New Market Entrants

The vacation rental market is dynamic and profitable, with new listings constantly popping up. As a host, it’s crucial to always stay on top of these changes and new market entrants, such as rental arbitrage . Fresh listings in your specific market can potentially become direct competitors, which can significantly affect your occupancy rates and overall business.

New listings often aim to gain market share quickly, and they may do so by implementing aggressive strategies such as lower prices, special offers, or unique services. Being aware of these new competitors from the get-go allows you to react swiftly and appropriately to the changing market landscape.

For instance, if a new listing is offering similar amenities to yours at a lower price, you may need to reconsider your pricing strategy. Alternatively, if a new competitor offers a unique amenity that appears to be attracting a lot of interest, you might consider whether it’s feasible to introduce something similar in your property.

Moreover, tracking new listings isn’t just about identifying competition and making money; it’s also about spotting opportunities to make your investment more profitable. New hosts may take some time to build up their reviews, and during this time, you can emphasize your property’s tried-and-tested status to appeal to guests who may be wary of staying at an unreviewed property.

Market research is a crucial component of running a successful Airbnb business. From understanding your specific market to keeping an eye on trends, every piece of data you gather brings you one step closer to success.

By using tools like the Airbnb calculator and constantly checking your competition, you’re not just renting out a house; you’re building a profitable business. It’s about making the most money out of your investment property and delivering a great experience to your guests.

So, whether you’re new to the world of vacation rentals or a seasoned pro, remember that conducting market research is not a one-time task. It’s a continuous process that will require real-world experience, adaptability, and a keen eye for detail.

With your newfound understanding of Airbnb market research, it’s time to implement your knowledge and strategies. But why go it alone when you can have a trusted, high-performance ally on your side?

Let us introduce you to iGMS, a vacation rental management software built for hosts like you. Designed to transform your hosting experience, iGMS offers a suite of tools and functionalities that simplify and streamline all aspects of vacation rental management. Some of these tools can help you in:

• Managing multiple accounts and listings on the top OTAs from a single interface .
• Synchronizing reservations across multiple platforms to eliminate double bookings .
• Using the unified inbox to organize your messages into a single feed to ensure prompt replies.
• Using automated templates and triggered messaging to improve communication.
• Automating the process of guest review send-outs .
• Creating and coordinating cleaning tasks with live tracking to completion.

About The Author Ashley Lipman is an award-winning writer and content marketing specialist who discovered her passion for providing knowledge to readers worldwide on topics closest to her heart—all things digital. Since her first high school award in Creative Writing, she continues to deliver awesome content through various niches touching the digital sphere.

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Airbnb Rental Arbitrage Market Research 101

• Post author By jae an
• Post date August 5, 2022

Last updated on June 22nd, 2023

Here’s the objective of this blog: To build a property search filter to accurately identify high-return rental arbitrage properties repeatedly. Being able to identify the right opportunities will help you to achieve the ultimate financial freedom by scaling your Airbnb business. 

How long does it take to build such filters? It will take about 10 minutes for you to evaluate 5 neighborhoods and build filters. 

Any major cities with more than 1 million in population or with more than 2,000 Airbnb listings are a good place to start if you don’t know where to start. Here’s our list for those cities in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Spain. If you aren’t living in any cities with the above criteria, you still can get started, but you may encounter problems in scaling later on.

Understanding the regulations 

Different cities have different regulations, all of the above 150 cities are legally allowing to operate Airbnb business. However, you need to understand and master the rules and you need to plan the right approach. For instance, London (UK), only allows you to let out a residential property as a short-term rental for 90 days per calendar year. Tough! Still, there are a few ways to get around this – by renting it out as private rooms, filling the low season with mid-term bookings, and getting bookings from other channels.  

You need the right mindset to start a business. There will be obstacles, but they should not stop you from building your Airbnb empire.

Market Research – Neighborhood and Bedrooms

The first step of your market research starts with identifying the average Airbnb (or short-term rental) revenues from various size and neighborhood combinations. For the explanation purpose, I will use the Bristol market as an example: BS1 (Bristol Downtown, UK) and BS8 (Clifton, UK).  

The purpose of building this table is for you to understand which bedroom and neighborhood combination has good rental arbitrage opportunities on average. You can focus on areas with the big gap between average rent price and average Airbnb revenue. 

How do you build this dataset? It is very simple. Go to our market research app, and search for your market, and click the “market overview” button. It’ll generate a CSV file with Airbnb revenue of different bedrooms in a click. You can repeat the process with a few zip codes or neighborhoods, then you will have a clear idea of what type of bedrooms and where are profitable. 

*For average rent price, you can get the data from property websites like Zillow, or simply, find 5 properties for rent in that neighborhood and get the average.   

Build a property search filter for rental arbitrage

Now you have ideas on which areas have good profit potential. It’s time for you to build a property search filter. Creating this allows you to identify profitable properties at scale. 

A property search filter has 3 criteria 1) rental price 2) location and 3) size. This is the filter you will use to find properties for rent. For the rental price, you should use the average rent price you used above, but you can adjust it depending on your situation. 

Here is an example

• A 3-bedroom apartment in BS8 for under £1850 per month. 

Once you set the filter, you can go to Zillow, find all properties that match your criteria, and contact the owners to learn more about the properties before sending offers to them. These properties are supposed to give you a high return. 

That’s it! 

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16 Mar How To Use Airbnb To Do STR Market Research

Before we delve into the research to locate a profitable area, I’d like you to ask yourself some questions.

Are you ready to start thinking about yourself as a business owner? What kind of business owner are you going to be?

(I’ve talked about the different types of entrepreneurs here ).

After you’ve tackled these high-level questions, the more important questions ensue…

Is there a market for Airbnb in my area? How much can I charge per night? How often will my listing be reserved? Will it be booked throughout the year, or will it be seasonal? What are my expenses?

But lucky for you, I have documented my expenses and my monthly income.

• Monthly Income

Where are some of the more profitable areas to start an Airbnb Business? According to SmartAsset , an online blog that talks about smart real estate investments:

• $20,619.  That’s the average expected annual profit of Airbnb hosts renting out a full two bedroom apartment or house in the 15 cities SmartAsset examined. While it’s not chump change, it also isn’t enough to live off of—which is why many “professional” Airbnb hosts rent multiple properties.
• 81% of your rent . On average, that’s what you could expect to pay by listing one room in a two-bedroom home on Airbnb. That’s a lot more than a roommate would chip in, but it also requires a lot more work. (Well, depending on your roommate.)
• Miami and San Diego are the most profitable cities for Airbnb hosts.  The combination of warm weather and (relatively)  affordable housing  make these two cities a better bet for full-apartment listings than popular but expensive destinations like New York and San Francisco. By the same token, private-room listings fare best in low-rent cities like Houston and Philadelphia.

For A private room on Airbnb, here’s a neat Infographic that summarizes the top cities

For a 2-bedroom Airbnb Unit

Why is Airbnb Market Research Important?

If you’re going to treat this as a business, you by default are in the business to make money. In order to make money, you have to figure out if your area is profitable.

By going through this exercise, you’ll gain a better understanding of your potential profits. So how much money is it possible to make by listing a room or full home on Airbnb?

The Fastest Way to Do Market Research

Go here for a quick estimate. This new tool came out in the beginning of 2017. You can literally get a rough estimate in 2 clicks. Pretty efficient, right?

While this tool is great for a high-level research, it doesn’t tell us how much we can charge per night, how much our neighbors are charging, and more importantly, how many listings/competitors are in your area?

Next, we’ll move onto a more robust research method.

How to Use Airbnb To Do Market Research

Let me break it down for you in simple steps below.

• Go to  Airbnb.com .

• Click on “Homes” under “Explore San Francisco”
• Scroll to the bottom and it’ll tell you how many rentals are in the market. When you have 300+ rentals, it’s a good sign because it tells you that you have a market-fit.
• Click on the “Home type” and filter out “Shared Room” and “Private Room.” This is important because it’ll further narrow down your competition.
• Go one step further and filter out places that can accommodate 4. It depends on what you’re trying to go for. I find it that in order to maximize profit, 4 is the max for 1-bedroom and 6 is the max for 2-bedrooms.
• Look at your competition with the most reviews and see how much they’re charging per night. If they’re charging 200 dollars per night and can fit 4 people, then it’s good for you to come in at 160 or 170 dollars per night to build out your reputation.
• Airbnb gives higher ranking to hosts that have the most 5-star reviews. These hosts show up on the first page of the search engine.

Use Google To Search for Hotels Near You

You can reinforce your research by doing a quick Google search for hotels.

• Pull up Google and type “hotels near me” in the search bar.
• Scroll down until you see a link that says, “More hotels.”
• Click that link.
• Google will generate a list of all the hotels in your area.
• Scroll to the bottom of the list and see how many pages Google found.

A good sign = Airbnb listings near you.

A great sign = Airbnb listings + hotels near you.

This is how you would perform market research for your Airbnb.

P.S . There’s a better way of doing this. Check out my other blog post on Airdna .

Interest in learning how to build your  rental arbitrage empire ? You can subscribe to my blog and learn tips and insights on my process of creating a profitable 6-figure passive income business using other people’s home. I write on the regular and offer free tips and insights.

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Money blog: 'Disgusting' - Anger as Boohoo closes accounts

Roaming charges for all the major networks, Boohoo upsetting customers and a report suggesting the state pension will rise £400 next year are among today's Money blog posts. Leave a comment on anything we're covering below.

Wednesday 4 September 2024 20:20, UK

• State pension could rise by more than £400 next year
• How your pension could be taxed
• Anger as Boohoo closes accounts
• European country cracks down on holiday rentals

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More landlords are selling up in London, with the number of buy-to-let properties up for sale hitting a 10-year-high. 

Analytics company TwentyCi found 22% of all newly listed homes in July had been available to rent in the last 10 years. 

This compares with 15.6% in July 2023. 

Across the rest of the UK, the number of landlords selling their properties was significantly lower at 9%. 

Chief executive of TwentyCi, Colin Bradshaw, said fears of a capital gains tax increase was one of the reasons for the landlord exodus. 

Capital gains tax is a levy on any profit you make when you sell or "dispose of" an asset, such as shares or a second home.

The amount you can earn in profit before paying capital gains tax is currently £3,000. 

Mr Bradshaw said another factor was expected measures such as the requirement for a minimum emissions rating for rented properties by 2030.

HM Revenue and Customs Data shows private landlords' income fell by 4% from £49.4bn in 2020-21 to £47.44bn in 2022-23. 

One of the biggest falls in income was in London at 12.5%, followed by Scotland at 6.9%. 

Oasis have announced two extra Wembley Stadium shows after their tour sold out over the weekend.

Both Liam and Noel Gallagher, as well as Ticketmaster, came under fire over the initial release - as fans spent hours in virtual queues, and some tickets ended up costing more than three times as much due to surge ticket pricing. The government has launched a review into the practice after the backlash.

Announcing two further dates at Wembley Stadium in September next year, Oasis said there would be a staggered "special invitation-only ballot ticket sale strategy", devised "as a small step towards making amends for the situation".

They said it needed "to be made clear" that the band "leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management, and at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used".

Applications to join the ballot for the September shows will be opened first to fans who were unsuccessful in the initial sale.

The band added: "Inevitably interest in this tour is so overwhelming that it's impossible to schedule enough shows to fulfil public demand," the band's statement continued. "But this ticket sale strategy will make the process far smoother for fans by reducing the stress and time it takes to obtain one of the hottest tickets of our time."

Read more on this story here:

Councils have called on the government to end the Right to Buy scheme for new council homes. 

One hundred local councils have warned the financial model for council housing finances is "broken", with a £2.2bn "black hole" in councils' dedicated budgets expected by 2028.

The councils have called for a complete overhaul of the Right to Buy scheme introduced by Margaret Thatcher in 1980 that allows council tenants to buy their council homes at reduced rates.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who  bought her council house through Right to Buy in 2007 , announced at the end of July the government had started to review increased discounts introduced by the former Conservative government in 2012 and will begin a consultation into the whole scheme this autumn.

Only 4% of homes bought under Right to Buy have been replaced, according to charity Shelter, while an estimated 43% of households living in private rented accommodation and receiving housing benefits are in homes bought under Right to Buy.

Read the full story here ...

Boohoo has caused upset among its loyal customers after cancelling accounts and charging them for returns. 

The online retailer has reportedly started closing some premier accounts due to "unusually high returns activity". 

Earlier this year, it started charging premier customers £1.99 for returns - but many shoppers have complained that they were not informed. 

At the moment, a premier subscription costs £7.99 a year, but it usually costs £12.99. 

Subscribers get unlimited next day delivery, paperless returns and access to exclusive discounts. 

Up until the changes, they were also able to return their items free of charge. 

One X user said she was "disgusted" after Boohoo deactivated her account. 

"Because I order multiple outfits for holidays and night outs or (because your sizes are all over the place) I order two sizes of most things... and because I don't keep everything and send them back, you deactivate my account," she said. 

"I've been a customer for 12 years. Disgusting." 

She wasn't the only one feeling that way... 

Others said they would stop shopping at the retailer altogether. 

The Money team looked through the Premier T&Cs - and it does not mention a limit on the number of returns that can be made, or returns at all. 

But, it does state that the company can terminate accounts at its discretion. 

"We may decide to terminate your Boohoo Premier account and you will be given a prorated refund based on the number of whole months remaining in your membership," it states.

"We will not give any refund for termination related to conduct that we determine, in our discretion, violates these terms or any applicable law, involves fraud or misuse, or is harmful to Boohoo's interests or another user." 

Boohoo isn't the online retailer to make this move. 

Earlier this year, PrettyLittleThing, which is owned by Boohoo, introduced a returns fee and started cancelling accounts that sent back several items. 

Consumer expert Helen Dewdney from The Complaining Cow said there was a growing trend of companies doing this, explaining that returns can be costly for those with small profit margins. 

"If a customer is costing a company more by returning more than they are keeping, then it is perhaps understandable why they are having their account closed," she said. 

But, she noted that where a company has offered unlimited free returns for a fee, without detailing any limits, then this could be considered as "very unfair and misleading".

"Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 there is a fairness test," she added. 

"For a practice to be unfair under these rules, they must harm, or be likely to harm, the economic interests of the average consumer. 

"It could be considered that paying to have unlimited returns was part of the purchasing decision. Boohoo should be clearer in their terms and conditions as regards what the limit is, and should certainly be refunding the fee to anyone who has had their account closed." 

A spokesperson for Boohoo told Money: "We are committed to providing our customers with easy access to our products and upholding a fair return policy.

"However, like many other online fashion brands, it is important that we balance this with our responsibility to discourage repeat returners, which incur a cost for both the business and the environment."

The Co-op is experiencing its highest-ever levels of crime and abuse, with some staff members losing an eye or miscarrying as a result, one of its directors has told the House of Lords. 

Speaking to the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, Paul Gerrard said crime had risen by 44% across its stores and violence had increased by 35%. 

"That level of crime in our stores is 1,000 incidents every single day," he said.

"That is the highest level we have ever seen, levels of abuse are at the highest level we have ever seen and violence has dipped slightly in 2024, but it still a very high level." 

He suggested that organised criminals are behind the surge in shoplifting, saying people are "stealing to order huge volumes". 

In some cases, he said people had entered with wheelie bins and building bags to load up with stolen goods. 

"If one of my colleagues gets in the way, there will be a violent threat," Mr Gerrard added. 

"There might be a knife, there might be a syringe. I've had colleagues attacked with a medieval mace, we've had colleagues lose their eye, we've had colleagues miscarry.

"We spend money to keep the colleagues safe in the store. If an incident happens, then we take a number of measures."

Co-op has been a leading voice in campaigns against shopworker violence and is one of the funders of Project Pegasus. 

The group supports police forces in identifying the organised crime groups operating in their area. 

English football clubs are being warned they will face "enormous opposition" if they try to introduce dynamic pricing for match tickets - after two top sides in Spain confirmed they were adopting the controversial practice.

Valencia and Celta Vigo are believed to be the only European clubs to have embraced the system for this season's matches.

Although there are no suggestions dynamic pricing will be introduced into the English game, there has been growing concern clubs are vastly hiking prices, depending on the level of opposition.

It also comes after the huge controversy surrounding the sale of tickets for  next year's reunion shows by Oasis  - where dynamic pricing saw tickets worth £148 being sold for £355 within hours of release.

The Football Supporters Association (FSA) warned against "greedy owners in football" trying to "exploit supporter loyalty" in the English leagues.

In a statement, the FSA said: "With impeccable timing after the Oasis fiasco, voices in football have started to float the idea of infecting football with dynamic pricing.

"Never underestimate the potential for the most greedy owners in football to try and import terrible ideas from other industries to exploit supporter loyalty.

"Match-goers are already mobilising against the recent wave of price rises and attacks on concessions. Any underhand increases will be met with enormous opposition."

When you've forked out hard-earned money for a holiday abroad, the last thing you want is to be landed with an expensive phone bill at the end of it.

Brexit brought an end to the guarantee of free roaming for UK residents who visit countries inside the EU – but the good news is some providers still offer free services up to a certain point for travellers in Europe.

Here, we take a look at the UK's major phone providers and what they're offering customers when it comes to roaming across the globe...

Vodafone splits its roaming charges into four different "zones".

For pay monthly customers who took out their contract on or after 11 August 2021, how much you pay depends on which zone you're headed to:

Zone A - Ireland, the Isle of Man, Iceland and Norway - no extra charge

Zone B - Europe and EU member states (49 destinations) - £2.42 a day for customers without the Xtra Euro Roam plan

Zone C - 32 destinations including the US, Australia, Barbados and South Africa - £7.39 a day for customers without the Xtra Global Roam plan

Zone D - 75 destinations from Argentina to Uzbekistan and Vietnam - £7.39 a day

All charges are dependent on customers adhering to the 25GB fair usage limit.

Countries outside zones A-D are deemed "rest of world zones" by Vodafone - these include destinations such as Belize, Nepal and Angola. Data is charged for each megabyte (MB) used, with charges typically £1.20 per MB. 

Those with contracts before 11 August 2021 pay nothing for Zones A and B, and £6 a day for Zones C and D.

Unlike some other major providers, O2 hasn't brought back EU roaming charges for customers using up to 25GB data abroad.

That means both pay monthly and pay-as-you-go customers heading to its Europe Zone (more than 40 destinations) are free to call, text and use data as they would in the UK.

For anyone travelling further afield, the charges depend on what plan you're on.

Customers whose contract includes the O2 Travel Inclusive Zone can roam in 27 destinations outside Europe, including Australia, New Zealand, the US and southern American countries.

If it's not part of your plan, you can purchase a travel bolt-on for £6 a day which allows for data roaming in 63 destinations.

Contract holders with O2 Travel Inclusive Zone Ultimate can roam freely in 75 destinations outside Europe.

Three's Go Roam Europe service lets pay monthly customers use their data allowance in 49 destinations at a cost of £2 a day.

Those using the Go Roam Global service (22 destinations outside Europe) pay £5 a day while Go Roam Global Extra (92 destinations outside Europe) comes at a cost of £7 a day.

The charges apply to customers who took their contracts out on or after 1 October 2021 - there are no charges for customers who were with Three before that.

Three imposes a 12GB fair usage cap for all customers on a monthly contract when roaming abroad and 9GB for those on pay-as-you-go.

Anyone with an EE plan that began before 7 July 2021 will have EU data roaming included.

For newer customers, it costs £2.47 a day to use data roaming while travelling in its European zone, up to the 50GB fair usage limit.

For customers heading abroad to Europe for 11 days or more, it's cheaper to add on EE's Roam Abroad Pass which costs £25 a month (it can be cancelled at anytime, meaning you can scrap it after your holiday if you want to).

Customers heading to Australia, New Zealand, Canada or the US and wanting to use their data can select the Roam Abroad Pass as an add-on.

Alternatively, they can pay £6.74 a day for 500MB of data only in Canada and the US, £8.45 a day for 500MB in nine countries including Australia, India and China, or use 150MB of data for £8.45 a day in 45 other destinations including Brazil, Japan and Jamaica. 

Customers can use their phones abroad in 47 destinations without paying extra roaming charges with BT Mobile's Roam Like Home scheme.

If travelling outside Europe, BT mobile customers can use still use their phones but will need to buy a Mobile Travel Data Pass to access their data.

It costs £6 for 500MB that must be used within 24 hours. It covers 12 countries, including the UAE, US, Australia and Canada.

Giffgaff lets customers roam for no extra charge within the EU and other selected locations, with a 5GB fair usage cap. If this is exceeded, roaming is charged at 10p per MB.

Anyone travelling outside the 37 locations in the EU and beyond will have to add credit to their account to use their phones as normal.

They'll also be charged a rate per minute, text or MB, which varies depending on where you go.

Tesco Mobile

Until 2026, anyone travelling to one of Tesco's 48 Home from Home destinations can use their phone as normal with no extra charge.

Roaming charges apply for travel outside these countries - but Tesco will cap data usage at £40 for anyone who hasn't already put in a safety buffer, to avoid anyone coming home to a shockingly high bill.

Generally, data costs around £5 per MB and texts 40p, but costs for calls can vary.

Sky's Roaming Passport Plus lets customers access their UK allowances for £2 a day in more than 55 popular holiday destinations, including EU countries, the US, Australia and more.

The pass is valid for 24 hours. Unused data can be carried over but the £2 charge still applies.

Anyone heading to other far-away destinations will see out-of-tariff roaming charges apply.

If you've got a phone or SIM-only contract with iD Mobile you can use your UK monthly allowances in 50 destinations worldwide, up to 30GB.

Roaming has to be activated beforehand through your online account or the iD Mobile app.

Lyca Mobile

Anyone with a Lyca Mobile SIM can roam in the EU or use data in India as normal up to the 12GB fair usage limit.

What about e-SIMS?

Standing for "embedded SIM", e-SIMS are virtual SIMS that have been built into most newer devices like phones, tablets and smartwatches.

While perhaps not so useful inside the UK and for short EU trips, they could be a way to avoid those hefty out-of-tariff fees for travel further afield.

As they can be activated without a physical card, it makes them particularly useful for overseas trips as you can easily switch between several different carriers if you need to. 

To use one, you'll need to purchase an e-SIM for the country you're heading to and adjust the settings on your phone to allow it to be used.

There are many different providers offering e-SIM services at varying prices for different destinations, making them difficult to compare.

On a similar theme to our last post... The pension pot needed for basic retirement has risen more than 60% in the last three years, two thinktanks have found. 

This means the average pension pot required has risen from £68,300 in 2020-21 to £107,800 in 2023-24. 

Rising housing, energy, food and transport prices have all contributed to the increase, a study by the Resolution Foundation and Living Wage Foundation suggests. 

Researchers say a person requires an average income of £19,300 a year in retirement to sustain a "basic" standard of living. 

However, this figure differs depending on whether a person owns or rents their home, and if they live alone. 

For example, single home-owning pensioners need  £13,500 annually while pensioner couples that own their home need £20,600. 

At the moment, the full rate of the state pension is £221.20 a week, or £11,502 a year.

The rest of the "basic retirement" fund would need to come from other sources such as a private pension with a balance of £107,800. 

To reach the amount needed in retirement, the research found a person working full-time on the Living Wage (£11.44 an hour) would need to contribute 9% of their earnings a year from the age of 25 to 68. 

State pensions could rise by more than £400 next year, according to reports.

The triple lock means pensions rise each April by whatever is highest out of inflation, average wage growth and 2.5%

This year that looks set to be wage growth, with figures set to be released next week.

The Treasury's internal working calculations, seen by the BBC, show this would lead to a £400 annual increase for anyone on the full state pension.

That would take the full state pension to around £12,000.

Pre-2016 retirees who may be eligible for the secondary state pension could see a £300 per year increase.

None of this has yet been confirmed but the Office for Budget Responsibility's spring forecast of earnings growth was 3.7% for the triple lock reference period - which all ties in with the suggested hikes above.

Any decision on a pension increase will be made by Pensions Minister Liz Kendall ahead of October's budget.

Yesterday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves reiterated the government's backing of the triple lock - which this year resulted in a £900 rise.

The Treasury has been contacted for comment.

Keep scrolling for news of a popular European country clamping down on Airbnb and this week's Cheap Eats

By James Sillars , business news reporter

A US-led stock market sell-off is hitting values on this side of the Atlantic for a second day.

The main worry, which was first seen a month ago, continues to be the performance of the world's largest economy.

Weaker than expected US manufacturing data sparked drops in oil and commodity costs, which bled into share prices.

The big losers, however, were tech shares.

Analysts said a decline of almost 10% in AI chipmaker Nvidia's stock was down to some profit-taking on fears the best news for the company's outlook was in the rearview mirror.

Brent crude dropped almost 5% to $73 a barrel.

The FTSE 100 largely mirrored Tuesday's declines at Wednesday's open, falling 0.8%.

Energy and mining stocks were among those worst affected again.

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