How to Use Vacation Rental Market Data to Drive Your Innovation Strategy?

Updated : Mar 20, 2025

Let’s face it—innovation isn’t just about having a brilliant idea. It’s about knowing where to look, what to measure, and how to act. And in the vacation rental industry, where competition is fierce and guest expectations constantly evolve, innovation isn’t optional—it’s survival.

But here’s the thing: innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Data fuels it. The right data. The kind of data that tells you not just what’s happening in your market but why it’s happening and what you can do about it.

If you’re not using vacation rental market data to drive your strategy, you’re flying blind. And that’s a risk you can’t afford to take in today’s landscape.

So, let’s talk about how you can turn market data into your secret weapon for innovation.

What is Vacation Rental Market Data?

Vacation rental market data is information about how well your listings are doing compared to others in the area. It includes things like:

• Average Daily Rate (ADR): How much money you make daily from each house.
• Occupancy Rate: How often are your houses filled with guests?
• Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR): A combination of ADR and occupancy rate to see how much money you make overall

But it’s not just about numbers. It’s about understanding the story behind those numbers. For example, if your occupancy rate drops in the winter, is it because no one wants to visit your area or your prices are too high? Vacation rental market data helps you figure that out.

Why Is Vacation Rental Market Data So Important?

Having market data is like having a superpower. It helps you make better decisions but is not the only thing you need. Data combined with experience, intuition, and consistent customer feedback helps create impactful decisions.

Using market data helps you:

1. Set the Right Prices: People might not rent your vacation rentals if you charge too much. If you charge too little, you might not make enough money. Market data helps you find the perfect pricing strategy.
2. Know What Guests: Want: By examining popular amenities (like Wi-Fi or pet-friendly options), you can make your houses more appealing to guests.
3. Plan for the Future: Market data can predict when there will be more or fewer guests so that you can prepare accordingly.

However, for it to matter, you need clean, reliable, high-quality data. Revenue management solutions like PriceLabs Market Dashboard, which scraps real-time data from trusted sources like Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and KeyData, make gathering this market data easy.

How Can You Use Market Data to Innovate?

Now, let’s get to the fun part: how you can use vacation rental market data to generate new ideas and stay ahead of the competition.

1. Compare Your Property to Others

The best way to see if you are realizing your potential is by benchmarking your performance against competitors. You can create comp sets on tools like PriceLabs Market Dashboards where you analyze the performance of your direct competitors, i.e., listings that are similar to yours in size, location and amenities. You can then compare your performance against this comp set to understand if your pricing strategy, the amenities offered, and other cancellation policies are working for or against your business.

For example, you see that listings with hot tub are getting most bookings as compared to the ones without it. In light of this information, you would want to add this amenity your vacation rental property.

2. Spot Trends Before Everyone Else

Historical data is essential to understanding how your market behaves during different seasons. However, it’s not enough to predict the future. Instead, you need to look at what’s happening right now.

For example, you may notice a sudden surge in bookings in the coming months, which is not in line with the historical trends. On further research, you will find a conference in your market that hasn’t happened before. If you don’t analyze market data regularly, you will have missed out on increasing your prices for that period. Moreover, knowing about that event gives you time to prepare your vacation rental for major events by adding amenities and customizing your marketing campaigns to attract the kind of guests who are there for the event.

3. Test, Learn, and Iterate

Innovation isn’t about doing one big thing and calling it done—it’s about trying new ideas, seeing what works, and making them even better.

Market data is like your scoreboard. Let’s say you decide to test a new pricing strategy—maybe you lower your prices a bit to see if more people book your rental. With the correct data, you can see if it worked. Did more people book? Did you make more money? Did your guests leave happier reviews? If it worked, awesome! You’ve found a new way to win. If it didn’t, no worries, you can quickly change things and try a different idea.

This “test, learn and try again” process is how you stay ahead in the vacation rental game.

4. Make Your Guests Super Happy with Data

Imagine if you could know precisely what your guests love and make their stay extra special. That’s what data can do with data. By looking at what guests book, what they say in reviews, and what they ask for, you can determine what makes them happy and give them exactly that.

For example, if you notice guests love cozy blankets or local restaurant tips, you can add those things to your rental. Or, if they keep asking about hiking trails, you can leave them a map or a list of the best spots. Tools like Doinn even use innovative technology to send personalized messages or control things like lights and temperature, making their stay feel like magic. With PriceLabs Market Dashboard you can analyze which amenities are popular amongst yur potential guests. You can also see which cleaning fee and cancellation policies are preferred by your guests and adjust them accordingly.

When guests feel special and taken care of, they’re more likely to come back and tell their friends about your excellent rental. It’s like being a superhero host—making every stay unforgettable!

5. Educate Your Owners

Sometimes, the people who own the properties (your bosses) don’t understand why things aren’t going as planned. That’s where data comes in. You can use PriceLabs Report Builder to share detailed reports and build trust with your property owners.

Data helps you educate property owners and gain their trust in your decision-making. For example, if an owner is upset because their ski property isn’t making as much money as it used to, you can show them data about how the market has changed. This helps owners understand that it’s not their fault—it’s just the way things are right now.

What Tools Can Help You?

You don’t have to be a data scientist to use vacation rental market data. Tools exist that make it easy.

For example, tools like PriceLabs Market Dashboards can help you analyze your data and make smart decisions about pricing and marketing. It gives you all the important information about your market, like when the demand is high, the average ADR, RevPAR, occupancy, and length of stay in your market. You can also see which amenities, cancellation policies, and cleaning fee and increase the likelihood of your rental getting booked.

This helps you see what’s working and what’s not, so you can try new ideas, like changing your prices or adding new features to your rental. It’s like having a treasure map that shows you where to find hidden gold—except the gold is more guests and more money!

Conclusion

Using vacation rental market data is like having a super-smart guide for your vacation rental business. It helps you figure out stuff like:

• What to charge: Not too much, not too little—just the right price to keep your rentals booked and your wallet happy.
• What guests love: Cozy blankets? Hiking trail maps? You’ll know exactly what to add to make their stay awesome.
• What’s trending: Spotting trends early (like last-minute bookings or big events in your area) lets you stay ahead of the game.

And the best part? You don’t have to be a data expert to use it. Tools like PriceLabs Market Dashboards make it easy to see what’s working, what’s not, and what you can do better.

So, if you want to make your vacation rental business the coolest one on the block, start using market data. Test new ideas, learn from the results, and keep improving. It’s like leveling up in a video game, each small step gets you closer to winning.