Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / 5 STR Trends for 2026 | What Hosts Must Know

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5 STR Trends for 2026 | What Hosts Must Know · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to House Planet Bite Size, the podcast
• 0:03
  brought to you by host Planet and House Fully.
• 0:05
  My name is James Farley, the founder of House Planet, and our
• 0:08
  goal is to share everything you need to know about buying and
• 0:11
  managing short term rentals. Today's guest is Sally Henry
• 0:14
  from Key Data and she'll be sharing the five data trends
• 0:18
  every property manager needs to stay on top of in 2026.
• 0:22
  Look out for trend 3 because mastering this could make all
• 0:26
  the difference this year. OK, real talk now for all you
• 0:29
  hosts out there, you know that moment when you guest messages
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  you again with hey, what's the Wi-Fi code?
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  works. Less stress, more bookings
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  sorted with hopefully. Sally.
• 1:52
  Thank you for joining us on Host Planet Bite Size.
• 1:55
  You've got five data trends that every host and property manager
• 1:59
  needs to know in order to get ahead in 2026.
• 2:02
  So take it away with trend #1. I do.
• 2:05
  Thank you, James. Thanks for having me again.
• 2:07
  Happy new year. So yes, navigating 2026 and the
• 2:11
  first one I'm going to do, you've maybe heard us talk about
• 2:13
  it. It's a, it's a 2 two word term
• 2:16
  rate agility. And by that it means be super
• 2:20
  dialed into your rates, be agile.
• 2:22
  Please do not set your rates and hope that they're going to stand
• 2:26
  good. Understand the rate you've said.
• 2:28
  Understand where you've put that rate out and how that market is
• 2:31
  responding to it. So rate agility is super
• 2:34
  important as we weave in like the five different data trends
• 2:38
  that I'm going to pull up, they're all interconnected to a
• 2:40
  large extent. But as we're seeing a later
• 2:42
  market come through, getting your rates right for the right
• 2:45
  type of Booker, for the right channel has never been more
• 2:48
  important. And you will win out if you have
• 2:50
  rate agility. You will out form people that
• 2:52
  are just setting their rates and leaving it to say #1 race
• 2:56
  agility. So rate agility then is setting
• 2:59
  the rates for proper reasons and not just guessing and thinking.
• 3:03
  That seems about right. 100% and responding to the market and
• 3:08
  your local. So when I will say, and I think
• 3:10
  we mentioned this last time I was on James that you mystery
• 3:13
  shopping yourself, even if you're just going to first of
• 3:15
  all look at your own property or your own properties compared to
• 3:19
  the local environment. So what is the rest of the
• 3:21
  market around you doing? Obviously using key data, you
• 3:24
  can see that quite easily, but you can also go and just mystery
• 3:27
  shop and pretend you're trying to book your own property.
• 3:29
  What else is coming up? Are you still competitive?
• 3:31
  Are you too cheap? It's not always about lowering
• 3:34
  your pricing. It's about being be agile and be
• 3:36
  responsive to the environment that we're seeing.
• 3:39
  Yeah, I remember the last time I did that actually with the
• 3:41
  couple of properties that I've got in Yorkshire and there were
• 3:44
  a few properties nearby who were quite similar, but you know
• 3:47
  what, they just weren't as good, didn't look anywhere near as
• 3:49
  good on the photos. And I thought, you know what,
• 3:51
  I'm not, I'm not bringing my price down to their level to
• 3:53
  compete with them because it's a different market.
• 3:55
  My, you know, my properties are a bit better.
• 3:57
  So we actually need to charge more.
• 3:59
  Your short term rental business is evolving fast, but how do you
• 4:03
  keep up with the latest regulation, tax changes and
• 4:06
  industry trends? The answer is to attend the
• 4:09
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• 4:13
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• 5:01
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• 5:05
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• 5:09
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• 5:14
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• 5:18
  OK, then. So trend #2?
• 5:20
  Well, interconnected hugely and it leads in really nicely to
• 5:23
  what you just said. And it's rate discipline.
• 5:25
  So cheaper isn't always better. It's being competitive, knowing
• 5:29
  your customer base, knowing if you are actually delivering the
• 5:31
  right rate for what you're offering.
• 5:33
  And a lot of that can be baked around.
• 5:35
  The further we're going to talk about, which is length of stay.
• 5:37
  So do have your prices set for the correct length of stay.
• 5:41
  And people aren't always looking for cheaper.
• 5:43
  Sometimes they just want shorter durations, which you can price
• 5:47
  in a longer durations. It doesn't mean you have to
• 5:49
  start, you know, eating down your price or your overall stay
• 5:52
  price at all. So I think having rate
• 5:55
  discipline, we've seen some really late market activity come
• 5:59
  through. And if we see we're expecting
• 6:01
  this to continue and that puts a real pressure on rates.
• 6:05
  So, you know, Oh my God, I wasn't sold this time.
• 6:07
  You know, this time last year I'd got a booking for Easter.
• 6:10
  I haven't let me reduce my rate to try and fill that occupancy
• 6:14
  and it's a really easy track to fall into.
• 6:16
  So we're urging people to be very deliberate and intentional
• 6:19
  with their rates to understand what your value of your property
• 6:22
  is, because all your other costs are still prevalent.
• 6:25
  So you've potentially got more operational costs turning over,
• 6:28
  more changeovers. And so I think be intentional,
• 6:32
  be very disciplined with your rates, reduce it if you
• 6:36
  genuinely know your environment is commanding that lower rate.
• 6:39
  But if not, don't just automatically slash your rates
• 6:42
  really close to the end. And know your numbers, right?
• 6:45
  You know, know how much this is costing you.
• 6:47
  Look at, you know, if you've got a mortgage, your insurance
• 6:51
  costs, your turnover costs, because a lot of these things
• 6:54
  over the last few years have gone up and up and up and, and
• 6:57
  rates probably haven't matched. So your profit might not be
• 7:00
  quite the same. It's just so important to know
• 7:03
  how much you're spending, right? 100% and we can see demand that
• 7:08
  we generally measure by occupancy is fairly flat.
• 7:11
  So you've not got the ability to really push those rates up
• 7:14
  because you know there is still a lot of supply arounds and
• 7:17
  people are just holding out a little bit longer before they're
• 7:20
  making the decision. But it's it's not always purely
• 7:23
  price LED. So don't fall into trap of just
• 7:26
  discounting to get those bookings in.
• 7:28
  Trend #3 then Sally. So trend #3 we talked about it
• 7:33
  briefly there, length of stay. We are seeing the length of stay
• 7:35
  continue to contracts. And I think we started off the
• 7:39
  year down another .2 of a day. And it doesn't sound like much,
• 7:42
  but when you add it up, we're now sat around 5 days as an
• 7:45
  average across the UK. But when I look back at the main
• 7:48
  summer holidays, it was down by almost half a day across most of
• 7:51
  our key arrival weeks. So a definite trend that we're
• 7:54
  seeing. So the good news is people are
• 7:55
  still travelling. They're travelling more
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  frequently, but that also means that they're not staying for
• 8:00
  quite as long. So make sure you are geared up
• 8:02
  to attract that more spontaneous Booker that are still wanting to
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  take their breaks. They're just taking more
• 8:08
  frequent breaks. So have you priced accordingly?
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  Do you have multiple start dates?
• 8:13
  Do you have a, you know, a gap night strategy?
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  Do you have different start dates that you haven't really
• 8:19
  had to think about necessarily before?
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  Because that is what the market is potentially looking for.
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  So if you're not set to capture any of those eyeballs on your
• 8:26
  properties, then you're not even going to have a chance.
• 8:28
  Even if it's not, you know, setting your prices for one
• 8:31
  night. So it could still be a three
• 8:32
  night price that you're just showing that one night duration.
• 8:35
  And then you've got the opportunity to say you can book
• 8:37
  in early or you check in early, you can leave later.
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  So you can position it and package it up as you like.
• 8:43
  But be aware of what the market is looking for and don't miss
• 8:47
  out on eyeballs to your property.
• 8:49
  Yeah, 100%. And if your minimum stay is 7
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  nights and if you go back a few years, a lot of the big property
• 8:56
  management companies, they will have had people on seven night
• 8:59
  minimum stays. Now the average is five.
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  If that's what the vast majority of the market are looking at
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  five nights and below, probably you're never going to get seen.
• 9:09
  And as you were saying there, it's very simple.
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  If you want to be seen, you need to reduce that minimum stay, but
• 9:15
  you can still charge, you know, your seven night rate for A5
• 9:18
  night booking. It's it's just about having
• 9:20
  everything set up and automated in your in your system, right?
• 9:24
  Yeah, it's understanding the mindset of the guests and the
• 9:26
  way they consume short term mental data or inventory.
• 9:31
  Now it's changed. So having that element of
• 9:34
  flexibility is is as important an ingredient for success as
• 9:38
  just your pure rates. And I think as well with the
• 9:42
  minimum stays, you have to look at the time of year, summer
• 9:46
  perhaps maybe around Christmas and New Year and summer holidays
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  or school holidays, you might be able to put that minimum stay up
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  a bit. But the rest of the time, the
• 9:54
  shoulder seasons, you might have to look at reducing it a little
• 9:57
  bit as well. It is.
• 9:58
  And I think that's the thing about hyper, be hyper aware of
• 10:01
  your environment and what else you have around.
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  So if you're if you're somewhere that has the hotels, for
• 10:05
  example, then you know, how can you tap into some of that hotel
• 10:08
  guests? Well, actually the shorter
• 10:09
  length of stay means is that you are suddenly becoming more
• 10:12
  relevant to hotel people who were previously looking for
• 10:14
  hotels. So beware of your of your local
• 10:17
  environment and the relativity of some of these trends that
• 10:20
  we're seeing. And to your point, if you can
• 10:22
  get people booking six months out for seven nights at highway,
• 10:25
  brilliant. Take as many as you can, but
• 10:27
  make sure you're not left waiting, hoping that the guests
• 10:30
  will change the way that they're behaving right now because it
• 10:32
  might not come. 100% OK then Sally trend #4.
• 10:37
  Well, we're talking about late market and we are continuing to
• 10:40
  see this later market which is making it difficult for property
• 10:44
  hosts and property managers to navigate because empty calendars
• 10:48
  means that you feel pressure to do something.
• 10:50
  But I think 18% of UK arrivals from key data, key data clients
• 10:56
  were made to arrive within seven days last year.
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  So 18%, that's a really high number.
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  So it's almost becoming more of a norm to try and navigate
• 11:03
  rather than an extreme data point that we can discard.
• 11:06
  So are you geared up to take those, you know, next day, same
• 11:11
  day arrivals? Are you set up operationally to
• 11:13
  do so if you want to? So I think understand that later
• 11:17
  is becoming more of an, an industry normal, shall we say?
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  If you're managing on behalf of owners, make sure they're aware
• 11:25
  of so you don't have quite the same pressure on filling those
• 11:28
  rates and almost try and make sure you are giving your
• 11:32
  marketing messages to tap into that spontaneous Booker that are
• 11:36
  still going to travel. But they will be making their
• 11:39
  decision very late. So are you in the right places
• 11:42
  to attract that spontaneity? Because I see that as an extra,
• 11:46
  extra opportunity for the industry to tap into.
• 11:49
  Yeah, I've definitely seen the spontaneity, the last minute
• 11:52
  bookings. They seem to have got shorter
• 11:53
  and shorter the the booking windows over the last few years.
• 11:56
  But I've seen it especially with tradespeople actually.
• 11:58
  And people work in a way when they've got a job last minute
• 12:01
  and it's like, right, I need to find somewhere or maybe the
• 12:03
  job's overrun a little bit and they need a place to stay where
• 12:06
  I've seen so much of that the last year or so.
• 12:08
  And I'm sure it's similar for a lot of other people in the
• 12:11
  industry as well. Trend #5 then Sally.
• 12:16
  Fast when we can't, we can't ignore the shift that we're
• 12:20
  seeing in channels. So we have seen that the direct
• 12:23
  booking channels across the UK have lost share again.
• 12:26
  So in 2025, it lost about 6 percentage points.
• 12:29
  Let's gone to booking.com and Airbnb and other channels.
• 12:32
  So again, we see the rise of the OTAs continue to grow.
• 12:38
  And I, for one, am all for using the channels strategically.
• 12:42
  I think they add great value to our industry.
• 12:44
  Equally, being able to make sure you are controlling your guests
• 12:48
  and the relationship you have with your guests would mean that
• 12:50
  you also need those direct bookers as well and to have a
• 12:53
  balance. I would urge everyone not to
• 12:55
  have 100% reliance on just one particular channel and be
• 12:59
  considered understand what the channels are bringing for you.
• 13:03
  So we tend to see bookings made via booking.com or Airbnb tend
• 13:07
  to book later and stay for shorter durations.
• 13:10
  People booking with their direct channels tend to book earlier,
• 13:13
  stay for longer. So it's getting the mix right
• 13:16
  that works for your business. Make sure you don't get
• 13:20
  controlled by some of the channels and and don't go
• 13:23
  chasing the booking too much, but set a strategy and be
• 13:27
  intentional with how you're managing your inventory and that
• 13:30
  availability. I imagine one of the reasons the
• 13:33
  channels have gone up a little bit in relation to the demand
• 13:36
  and where people are booking is new stock that comes in,
• 13:40
  especially if it's newer hosts, they tend to only be listed on
• 13:44
  the channels and they might not have set up a direct booking
• 13:46
  channel yet. So is that potentially one of
• 13:48
  the reasons why we're seeing the channels grow and and direct
• 13:51
  just goes down a little bit? I think it's a, it's certainly a
• 13:54
  factor. There's very few barriers to
• 13:56
  entry into into our our industry, which is a great
• 14:00
  thing, the ebb and flow. But equally I think the money
• 14:03
  that the OTAs have invested in both their brand, brand
• 14:07
  awareness and the frictionless checkouts and really pushing
• 14:12
  policies that guests love. And, and like, I don't think
• 14:15
  hosts and property managers love the degree of flexibility that
• 14:19
  the channels are pushing through.
• 14:20
  But I think that's another reason really why they are
• 14:22
  really and growing their share quicker.
• 14:25
  They've invested hugely in this sector and they are trying to
• 14:29
  gear themselves to exactly what the guest is looking for.
• 14:32
  So I think we've all got lessons learned that we can apply.
• 14:34
  But don't underestimate the value of your direct knowledge
• 14:37
  of your hyperlocal area, which is worth its weight and goal.
• 14:41
  So it's about getting that balance and, and trying to get
• 14:44
  you different guests. And also, you know, if you have
• 14:46
  a guest and you want them to repeat book with you have that
• 14:49
  unintentional strategy and comms with them.
• 14:52
  And also look to see what sort of guests the OTAs are bringing
• 14:55
  you. Because if they're people from
• 14:56
  overseas, you possibly wouldn't have got those yourself because
• 14:59
  you may not be doing activity in different languages and, and
• 15:01
  dealing with different currencies.
• 15:03
  So really understand, I think your different channels and what
• 15:06
  they're bringing for you. You can't listen to any one
• 15:08
  person say, oh, that's the one way that everyone should be
• 15:11
  doing it. Understand what your your
• 15:13
  portfolio, what your property needs.
• 15:15
  Yeah, easiest thing you can do is once you get that OTA Booker,
• 15:18
  if they want to come back, try and get them to book direct with
• 15:21
  you next time. And you know, put the QR code in
• 15:24
  your property, just put a little poster in your property, make it
• 15:26
  as simple as that. Or give them a call or an e-mail
• 15:28
  afterwards. Just make sure they know, make
• 15:30
  sure they know that they can book direct, simple as that.
• 15:34
  OK. Then Sally, 5 brilliant trends
• 15:36
  there to keep on. Just give us the lowdown on key
• 15:39
  data and where people can find out more info.
• 15:42
  Yeah. So key data is designed for
• 15:44
  property managers and host to understand all those key metrics
• 15:48
  plus probably fifty others that we can talk about to understand
• 15:51
  your own data, understand how you're performing compared to
• 15:53
  the market, so you can set the right strategy that's there for
• 15:56
  you. So an incredible tool which I
• 15:58
  would urge everybody in the current market to get on top of
• 16:01
  their data and and have that insights into what their local
• 16:05
  markets are doing as well. So basically dashboard.com and
• 16:09
  connect with me on LinkedIn. We're doing a series of webinars
• 16:12
  at the moment and just try and give people an update on what
• 16:15
  we're seeing in the market and how we can help navigate, but
• 16:18
  reach out to the team, we'll be delighted to help.
• 16:20
  Superb. And we'll put all those details
• 16:21
  in the show notes. Sally.
• 16:22
  It's been a pleasure as ever. Thanks for joining us on House
• 16:25
  Planet Bite Size. Thank you so much for having us
• 16:28
  again. Always a pleasure, James.
• 16:30
  Great to chat to Sally Henry there from key data.
• 16:32
  I hope you found those trends useful as you aim to fill your
• 16:36
  calendars in 2026. All right, that's it for today's
• 16:39
  episode. Remember this podcast is brought
• 16:41
  to you in collaboration with Housefully, which is trusted by
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  short term rental professionals across the globe.
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  That's it for today's episode. Until next time, happy hosting.