AirDNA: Holiday rentals in Europe on track for strong summer

Europe: The latest monthly review of the European short-term rental market by data and analytics provider, AirDNA, showed a strong start to what could be the industry’s strongest summer on record, with over 37 million nights stayed, 32.8 per cent more than in 2019 and 22.6 per cent more than last year.

Meanwhile, available listings increased just 8.6 per cent year over year, pushing occupancy up across the continent. High demand and daily rates pushed revenue up 96 per cent from the same month in 2019.

However, different countries are seeing different levels of recovery, in part depending on their reliance on international travel, which has been slower to pick up.

Countries such as Portugal, Croatia, Hungary, Austria and Greece are seeing strong growth year over year, with over 90 per cent of trips in all five countries coming from international guests. France and the United Kingdom have strong domestic travel segments and 67 per cent of trips to both countries are made by their own citizens.

Domestic travel and cross-border travel from Europeans made up 40 per cent each of demand pre-pandemic, but in the first quarter of 2023, domestic was 45 per cent and inter-European 35 per cent. Travel from North America has risen above pre-pandemic levels already, with its proportion of European trips up 11 per cent in the year so far compared to 2019.

Looking to the future, June, July and August are seeing 16 per cent, 17 per cent and 23 per cent growth respectively from last year. Meanwhile, the autumn is continuing to break records with 56 per cent more nights booked for September and 45 per cent more nights booked for October than at the same point in 2022.

Poland, Norway, and Sweden are taking the lead with 48 per cent, 42 per cent and 34 per cent more nights on the books for the next six months compared to last year.