Good morning,

Here’s what’s going on in the vacation rental world this week:

Airbnb keeps quietly building a hotel business (this time adding 75+ Lark boutique hotel properties to the platform), new research shows late summer bookings pacing ahead of last year on both occupancy and ADR, and we break down three small changes that could help you get more bookings.

Lets dive in. 

NEWS

Headline Roundup

• KeyData shows late summer bookings are running ahead of last year (The Host Report) 

• Airbnb partners with Lark to bring over 75 boutique hotels to the Airbnb platform (PhocusWire) 

• New Vrbo survey shows unclear pricing tops the list of vacation rental deal breakers (The Host Report) 

• Expedia acquires Layla, accelerating its AI-powered trip planning and booking strategy (Expedia Group) 

• Nearsight Data shows which PMS platforms vacation rental companies are switching to (Nearsight) 

• 74% of Gen Z travelers say they would pick a small town over a major city in the next year (Airbnb) 

• The World Cup added $276.7 million in short-term rental revenue across the 16 host cities (AirDNA) 

• Wander acquires the Maple team to help build the 'Shopify of travel' (Wander)

The only tool that does the whole job, not half of it.

Email collection hardware captures the guest’s email, but doesn’t actually send anything.

Marketing agencies will send emails for you, but only if you hand them an email list and thousands of dollars a year.

Each solves half the problem. GuestLink does both.

INTERESTING INSIGHTS

3 Small Changes That Could Help You Get More Bookings

Every week I read vacation rental industry reports, earnings calls, traveler surveys, and research studies. 

One thing I've noticed over the years is that the most useful insights usually don't come from a single report. The insights become more convincing when different companies study different data and reach the same conclusion.

That's when it really gets my attention. 

Here are three patterns that stood out this week:

1) Communication keeps showing up everywhere

One chart in Vrbo's latest traveler survey stood out to me:

86% of travelers said they'd pay more for a vacation rental with a higher-quality listing.

What's interesting is how travelers are defining “high quality.”

3 of the top 4 operational signals are about communication.

That immediately reminded me of another chart I shared a couple weeks ago: 

IntelliHost found that communication was the review category most strongly associated with higher revenue (even ahead of cleanliness, location, or value).

Those are two completely independent datasets pointing in the same direction.

The data’s telling us that travelers see strong communication as a sign of quality, and listings with better communication scores tend to earn more revenue.

That makes communication a low-cost area that most hosts can likely improve… And it could be as simple as responding faster, setting clearer expectations, or making check-in instructions easier to follow.

2) The fastest ways to lose a booking

Another chart worth spending 30 seconds on is what travelers called “the biggest deal breakers” when choosing a vacation rental.

I like this chart because it flips the usual question… Most hosts focus on what they can add to make a property stand out.

But this survey of 1,758 travelers suggests that getting more bookings could be as simple as removing the reasons that someone might hesitate or distrust the listing.

Clear prices, honest photos, reasonable fees, and strong reviews aren’t exciting upgrades... But an expensive amenity won’t help much if the listing feels confusing or untrustworthy.

3) Promotions matter more than most hosts think

This final chart stood out because I've spent so much time recently building GuestLink.

One of GuestLink’s core ideas is helping hosts stay in touch with past guests, and giving guests a reason to book again.

The data continues to show how important that is.

Nearly 45% of travelers said promotions help them choose between similar properties.

Think about that for a minute.

For almost half of travelers, an offer could help decide whether they book your property or the listing down the street.

And the offer doesn’t need to be massive. SiteMinder found that 42% of U.S. travelers say freebies influence their decision to return. That could mean free early check-in, a welcome gift, a complimentary add-on, or a small discount.

And Vrbo’s data suggests the upside may go beyond simply winning the booking. Promotions can also encourage guests to book sooner, extend their stay, upgrade, or choose a property they otherwise might not have booked.

That matters because separate research from Key Data found that repeat guests tend to pay higher nightly rates, stay longer, and book further in advance.

That’s a lot of potential upside from one simple action: staying in touch and making an offer.

MARKET INSIGHTS

Mortgage Rate Snapshot

The Fed held rates steady last Wednesday, but mortgage rates still ticked higher following the announcement. Then, de-escalation in the Iran war pushed oil prices lower, causing mortgage rates to fall to their lowest level in just over two weeks.

Regulations Update

• Hernando County, Florida commissioners rejected a countywide short-term rental ordinance 3-1 with no second reading scheduled, while neighboring Citrus County keeps moving on its own version

• Riverside County, California will suspend a short-term rental certificate after three citations in 12 months and revoke after five, and it dropped the 60-minute window owners had to fix complaints themselves

• Clark County, Nevada votes August 4 on barring platforms from processing payments for stays at unlicensed rentals, with daily fines and possible loss of the platform's county license

• Richardson, Texas is setting a 500-foot buffer between short-term rentals and tripling the registration fee to $300, with an August 10 vote and no grandfathering for unregistered operators

See this weeks full regulations report here: (The Host Report)