Booking.com’s Short Term Rental Snapshot report highlights ease and opportunity of listing a holiday home in 2022

New research released today from Booking.com, the leading digital travel marketplace, highlights new trends for Aussies listing holiday homes on online travel platforms. 

The research findings have been drawn from Booking.com’s Short Term Rental Snapshot* report, which identifies key trends about travellers booking homes and homeowners  wanting to maximise their home listing revenue. 

Australia’s ‘Can-List’ Attitude to Short-Term Rentals

Whilst there may be misperceptions that listing a property is time consuming or challenging, the majority (87%) of holiday homeowners who currently list their property, say it was easy to transform their private holiday homes into short-term rentals for travellers. 

The benefits of using an online travel platform were reviewed in the study, with almost all homeowners stating they have or would use one to manage their holiday rental (95%). The top reason homeowners used or would use a booking platform was that it provided increased visibility of their home (44%) and increased occupancy rates (41%). 

Additionally, financial security was also top of mind for homeowners, with provision of secure payments (43%), and providing reliability in confirmed bookings (38%) as top reasons to list on an online travel platform. 

A majority (77%) agreed that listing their property on more than one or multiple platforms would attract more bookings, with more than almost half (44%) strongly agreeing with this sentiment. Despite this, it is much less common for holiday homeowners to list their property on multiple online travel platforms, with only one in ten (10%) doing so.

Shared Values Drive Home Bookings  

There was strong alignment between the values homeowners believed helped attract bookings and the qualities travellers were looking for when booking a home. With an increased awareness around cleanliness and sanitation due to COVID-19, home owners reported that the most important factor in attracting bookings was cleanliness (58%) and this was equally the top reason for travellers booking (65%). 

What the Australian Home Booker Desires

The classic Australian beach house still tops the list for travellers as the most appealing home for Aussies to book at (61%). This is followed by country cottages and cosy cabins both at (40%) and city apartments (35%). Many Aussies are also looking for more unique travel experiences off the beaten track, such as farm stays (26%), houseboats (25%), chalet/snow stays (17%), and tiny homes (16%).

When booking their dream home, Aussies that have booked or are interested in booking holiday homes stated the most important factors were no hidden costs or additional service costs (70%), a simplified and easy booking process (62%) and confidence that once their booking is made it’s guaranteed (62%) - with half (50%) of Aussies saying being able to see past reviews on the property was the most important factor.

As travel returns after an unpredictable two years, half of Aussies (51%) say that having the ability to cancel last minute and get a full refund/credit on a booking site, was a key factor when booking a home. While one third (33%) say that it is most important that they can cancel at the last minute and get a proportion of the cost refunded.

Eric Begaglia, Senior Director Accommodations Segment, Booking.com said, “Short-term rentals across Australia are testamentSteph to Booking.com’s ambition to provide customers with the widest choice and diversity of great stays all in one place. 

We believe that listing a home or apartment should be smooth, easy and transparent. The short-term rental sector varies across the world, particularly so in Australia where the entrepreneurial attitude to listing a property is so strong in the current economic climate. 

We undertook this study to better understand the sector's needs and we are focused on supporting homeowners with their biggest need: maximising bookings to their property. A key focus for Booking.com going forward will be helping homeowners attract more customers by closing the gap and helping them list their properties quickly and easily on Booking.com; and to give travellers an even wider choice of stays in Australia as our world continues to open up again.” 

- ENDS -

 METHODOLOGY

The YouGov commissioned research, which polled a nationally representative sample of 1,034 Australians 18+ and 396 Australian second home owners in September 2022, combined with the company’s proprietary data and insights as a digital travel leader for the past 25 years, offers insights into Australia’s short-term rental landscape.

CONTACT DETAILS

Red Agency, bookingau@redhavas.com

ABOUT BOOKING.COM
Part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), Booking.com’s mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world whenever it’s safe to do so again. By investing in the technology that helps take the friction out of travel, Booking.com seamlessly connects millions of travellers with memorable experiences, a range of transportation options and incredible places to stay - from homes to hotels and much more. As one of the world’s largest travel marketplaces for both established brands and entrepreneurs of all sizes, Booking.com enables properties all over the world to reach a global audience and grow their businesses. Booking.com is available in 44 languages and offers more than 28 million total reported accommodation listings, including more than 6.5 million listings of homes, apartments and other unique places to stay. No matter where you want to go or what you want to do, Booking.com makes it easy and backs it all up with 24/7 customer support.

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