Owner Occupancy Rates Higher than in 2019 for some Western Markets

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most states banned short-term vacation rentals from hosting vacationers. In most cases, owners were still allowed to visit their properties. Our data shows that owners capitalized on lower guest occupancy rates and sought out social distance at their second homes. Of the markets we analyzed in the Western United States, Big Bear Lake in California had the largest increase in owner occupancy over 2019; the owner occupancy rate peaked at 53% in April, which was a 40% increase over last year. Lengths of stay for owner reservations were longer than in 2019. On average, owner stays were 28 days long in Jackson Hole (+15 over 2019), 14 days long in Big Bear (+6 over 2019), 19 days in Park City (+3 over 2019), and 12 days in Big Sky (+3 over 2019).