As vaccination programs roll out in many countries, we finally see positive signs of travel returning. To help you maximize your property’s success this summer, Booking.com created a data-backed guide exploring key traveller behaviours we see right now – and how you can use this data to attract demand.
To help you a bit more, we boosted Booking.com’s data with a few other tidbits. In this article, you’ll learn about current search patterns, how the pandemic has affected stay lengths, why flexibility is still so important and much more. Leverage these and the rest of our traveller insights to make the most of the late-summer season.
So that begs the question: should you open up your cancelation policy and attract more guests? Or should you keep it locked down in case the Delta-variant causes a new cancelation wave? Each vacation rental business will respond to risk differently. However, if you’re struggling with short-term bookings, it might be worth being flexible on cancelation.
Search interest for vacation rentals is still strong
According to Booking.com, there was strong search interest for domestic travel this year. In fact, searches on the Booking.com platform show that we’re back in line with the percentages we saw at this time in 2019. And that’s when almost no one could travel. It’s now as important as ever to optimize your availability to capture this demand. Validating Booking.com’s data is search interest for vacation rentals writ-large. Looking at Google searches for vacation and short-term rentals during the last year, we see that pent up travel demand still hasn’t subsided. And that’s despite kids returning to school in most areas:
90% of travelers are booking flexible rates
Can you believe that 18 months into the pandemic, travel uncertainty is still on your guest’s minds? According to Booking.com. 90% of travelers booked flexible rates this summer. That’s a huge consideration vacation rental managers have to work into their marketing strategies. If you’re not offering this option, you might be missing out on a huge chunk of bookings. That said, despite the Delta-variant running amock, we haven’t seen it affect cancelation rates. Looking at reservation data flowing through the Hostfully platform over the last 6 months, cancelation rates seem to be staying within normal ranges:
So that begs the question: should you open up your cancelation policy and attract more guests? Or should you keep it locked down in case the Delta-variant causes a new cancelation wave? Each vacation rental business will respond to risk differently. However, if you’re struggling with short-term bookings, it might be worth being flexible on cancelation.
