Beaches, golf, shopping, and nightlife all make Myrtle Beach one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States. The region has 9,121 vacation rentals listed on Vrbo and 5,613 on Airbnb. Most of these rentals are condos and two-bedroom units are the most popular, followed by one and three-bedrooms.
Between 2017 and 2019, the Myrtle Beach area’s vacation rentals have seen substantial increases in performance. The adjusted paid occupancy rate, which accounts for owner stays and holds, grew 5% from 2017 to 2019. The average daily rate (ADR) increased by $5. Improvements in occupancy and ADR mean that the average adjusted revenue per available rental (Adjusted RevPar) grew by $10 between 2017 and 2019, which is great news for the Myrtle Beach area property managers.
The Myrtle Beach vacation region is actually composed of a few different municipalities, primarily Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach. As seen above, the two cities perform differently. The average daily rate is much higher in North Myrtle Beach - $205 in 2019 compared to $167 in Myrtle Beach. The adjusted paid occupancy rate is also higher in North Myrtle Beach - 52% in 2019 compared to 30% for Myrtle Beach. However, Myrtle Beach rentals saw bigger performance gains between 2017 and 2019 as ADR increased by $23 and adjusted paid occupancy by 6%.
North Myrtle Beach rentals consistently outperform those in Myrtle Beach even when filtering by bedroom count. The biggest differences between the two areas are seen among one-bedroom units - average adjusted paid occupancy is 30% higher in North Myrtle Beach. Perhaps that can be attributed to the larger inventory of single bedroom units and hotel rooms in Myrtle Beach. One-bedroom units in North Myrtle Beach were the only group (among those we analyzed) to experience decreases in both ADR and adjusted paid occupancy between 2017 and 2019.
It remains to be seen whether the region’s vacation rentals will continue on their upward trajectory in 2020. The region shines during the summer, but spring break is the start of the season. The average daily rate is $11 higher in Myrtle Beach and $8 higher in North Myrtle Beach for March and April stays this year. However, the adjusted paid occupancy rate is down for both areas, resulting in small drops in Adjusted RevPAR. There is still time for spring break bookings to catch up - last year a third of March and April reservations had a 30-day booking window. While it’s still too early to make definitive predictions, the region is also pacing closely to 2019 for the summer months.