How To Find Out Airbnb Demand In An Area: Complete Guide

Updated : Mar 13, 2025

It doesn’t matter where you are in your Airbnb investment journey: buying a new property, optimizing your existing Airbnb property, or just adjusting your pricing strategy: You should know how to find out rental demand in an area. Knowing the answer to the question: ‘how to measure Airbnb demand in my area’ will make the difference between a thriving and a struggling business.

Why Is Understanding High Rental Demand Areas Important? 

Because it will help with: 

1. Investment decision-making: Data-driven insights will help recognize areas of high rental demand before deciding to purchase property. 
2. Pricing optimization: Understanding the seasonality and demand period will help accurately adjust rates.

📌Note:  Use the World STR Index by PriceLabs to track your market’s performance and understand Airbnb demand. The World STR Index by PriceLabs is a free tool for tracking short-term rental market performance worldwide. It offers data from 2021 to the next year, refreshed monthly. Key features include: 1. Compare: Compare year-over-year metrics like active listings, occupancy rates, RevPAR, and ADR. 2. Trend: Visualize how metrics have changed over the past years. 3. Pacing: Compare upcoming year metrics to the previous year for occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR.

Methods to Research Airbnb Demand in Your Area

1. Analyze Existing Listings

Start by examining current Airbnb listings in your target area:

• Number of Active Listings: A high concentration indicates perceived demand
• Superhost Ratio: Areas with many Superhosts often have established, sustainable demand
• Reviews Volume: More reviews generally correlate with higher booking activity
• Calendar Availability: Check competitors’ calendars to see how far in advance they’re booked

With PriceLabs Market Dashboard, you can create specific comp sets that reflect properties similar to yours or ones you’re considering investing in. This allows for more targeted analysis of direct competitors rather than the entire market.

For example, you might create a comp set of properties with: (we’ll show you how to do this below)

• Similar bedroom count
• Comparable amenities (like pet-friendly properties)
• Minimum quality standards (4+ stars with at least 10 reviews)
• Minimum occupancy thresholds (180+ booked nights annually)

This focused approach provides much more relevant demand insights than broad market averages.

2. Examine Tourism and Event Data

Research by Hostfully indicates that properties that adjust pricing around major events can increase revenue by up to 40% during these periods. PriceLabs Event Calendar integrates this data into your dashboard, helping you identify demand drivers throughout the year.

Local tourism statistics and events significantly impact short-term rental demand:

• Tourist Arrival Statistics: Available from local tourism boards
• Major Events Calendar: Conferences, festivals, sporting events, and concerts drive temporary demand spikes
• Seasonal Attractions: Beach areas, ski resorts, and other seasonal destinations have predictable demand patterns
• Business Travel Hubs: Areas near corporate centers may have steady weekday demand

3. Track Economic and Population Indicators

Broader economic factors influence rental demand:

• Population Growth: Fast-growing cities typically show increasing rental demand
• Job Market Data: Areas with low unemployment and high job growth attract visitors
• Transportation Development: New airports, train stations, or improved infrastructure can boost accessibility and demand
• Real Estate Market Trends: Rising property prices often correlate with increasing rental demand

4. Conduct Field Research

Don’t underestimate the value of firsthand research:

• Talk to Local Property Managers: They have practical insights into occupancy patterns
• Visit Local Tourist Information Centers: Understand what attracts visitors to the area
• Connect with Other Hosts: Join local host groups to share market knowledge
• Monitor Local Regulations: Changes in short-term rental regulations can dramatically affect future demand

Expedia found that 44% of travelers are using social media as inspiration for their travel. This shows that you should be available on that platform accessible to guests according to your booking window.

5. Seasonal Demand Patterns

Understanding seasonal variations is critical for optimizing revenue:

1. Map Annual Patterns: Identify peak seasons, shoulder seasons, and low seasons
2. Quantify Variations: Measure the difference in demand between seasons
3. Identify Micro-Seasons: Look for short-term demand spikes caused by local events

To determine seasonality, you need to evaluate both past performance data and future market trends: 

• Historical data: identify patterns in extended stays. Were there consistent 30+ day bookings in previous years, or were longer stays only seasonal?
• Future data: Use tools like PriceLabs’ Market Dashboard to track demand shifts, competitor pricing, and length-of-stay trends in your area. 

By combining historical insights with live data, you’ll stay ahead of market changes and optimize revenue without guesswork:

1. Use PriceLabs’ Market Dashboard & Neighborhood Data to track competitor pricing and demand shifts.
2. Analyze past performance to set a strong seasonal pricing strategy.
3. Adjust dynamically using real-time Portfolio Analytics to track ADR, RevPAR, and occupancy trends.

You should combine your property’s past performance data in Review Prices and PriceLabs Portfolio Analytics with PriceLabs Market Dashboard and Neighborhood Data to gain valuable insights into the market and property pricing. 

PriceLabs Portfolio Analytics will provide a real-time reporting system that tracks important financial metrics for your property, giving you quick insights into its performance. 

6. Amenity Impact Analysis

Certain amenities can significantly influence demand:

1. Compare Similar Properties: With and without specific amenities
2. Measure the Revenue Differential: Calculate the ADR and occupancy difference
3. Calculate ROI: Determine if investing in certain amenities justifies the cost

How To Use PriceLabs Market Dashboard to Measure Demand?

One of the most effective ways to measure short-term rental demand is through specialized analysis tools such as PriceLabs Market Dashboard. It will provide comprehensive market insights, allowing you to make data-driven decisions about your investment. 

To illustrate how you can measure Airbnb demand, we’ll pick Miami, Florida, and analyze demand in that coastal resort city.

The first step (obviously!) is to create a Market Dashboard for Miami. 

1. Inventory Growth Assessment

In March 2024, there were 1150 active listings in the market, but there are only 1065 active listings right now, a 7% decrease.

Let’s take a look at properties that have at least 4.8 ratings. There are only 553 active listings with at least 4.8 ratings. A 41% increase in these high-performing listings suggests growing competition in the premium segment.

2. Booking Window Analysis

The highest number of bookings are around 3-4 days long and come in around 2-4 weeks before the booking. This shows that most bookings are advanced and short-term. 

3. Amenity Analysis

Pet-friendly listings make up around 30% of the total active listings in the market, and there has also been a 46% increase in active listings that allow pets.

The Market Dashboard can help you identify broad demand trends and specific opportunities to position your property for maximum appeal and revenue.

Practical Application of Demand Analysis to Strategy

1. Pricing Strategy

With demand insights, price can be approached in a detailed manner:

1. Activity Rate Determination: Set baseline rates according to market averages for properties similar in size/type.
2. Seasonal Adjustments: Percentage modifiers to be applied based on conflicting seasonal demand.
3. Weekday vs Weekend: Adjustments are based on discrepancies in demand from Monday to Friday vs. the weekend. 
4. Special Event Pricing: A premium to be charged during peak demand.
5. Last-Minute Adjustments: Formulate strategies on close-in bookings based on lead time analysis.

2. Marketing Focus

Execute market strategies according to demand pattern:

1. Special promotions during typical low-demand shoots.
2. Incentives should be provided for advance bookings in high-demand stretches.
3. Invoking advertising on markets is likely to be booked during specific seasons.

3. Property Improvements

With demand forecasting, you should be able to:

1. Add high-impact amenities based on data indicating that it significantly boosts demand.
2. Consider seasonal amenities that would cater to guest preferences.

Case Study: Tiny Pines’ Glamping Success

Tiny Pines, one such example, shows how important data-driven decisions are in making a vision a reality. With the help of PriceLabs’ Market Dashboards, Tiny Pines got insights into which amenities were in demand, preferred locations for them, and a pricing strategy that worked. This insight helped it fashion offerings that fit the market needs very well. 

In 2021, Gabriel used PriceLabs’s Market Dashboard to gain insights from the data and make the right decisions regarding his ventures. 

Insights: 

1. Analyzing demand between the US and Honduras provided a scope for better scalability in Honduras. 
2. Wishpools were appreciated, but the data said couples wanted hot tubs more. 

As a result, Tiny Pines placed hot tubs in each unit and had a price edge over the rest. 

More metrics, like lead times, occupancy rates, and revenue estimates, have since brought advanced intuition to the operator, allowing Tiny Pines to match products to align demand effectively. 

Thanks to Market Dashboards’ logical interface and educational tooltips, Gabriel can understand graphs without being an expert in data analysis. 

He advises other operators to balance instinct and statistics, get customer engagement done early through platforms like Instagram and TikTok, focus on delivering great hospitality experiences, and back decisions with data to meet market demand. 

Conclusion

Regular analysis of market data helps you to acquire the knowledge needed to make sensible decisions about:

1. Where should one invest?
2. Pricing: How should you decide?
3. Which facilities should I incorporate?
4. When should you intensify your marketing activities?
5. How should you present your property in relation to the competitors?

Remember that demand patterns vary, and marketplaces are continually evolving. 

Including demand analysis in your continuous business plan will help you to routinely review your presumptions and change your strategy as the market develops.