2020 has been a challenging year for the travel and hospitality industry. In most destinations, vacation rental revenue is down compared to last year, but the magnitude of the revenue loss depends on the region.
Revenue per available rental (RevPAR) combines occupancy and rate information to measure how much revenue the average rental made per night in a given period. This KPI directly influences the amount of money made by owners, property management companies, and county collection boards.
For the year to date, each major U.S. region for which we have data had a lower RevPAR than last year by 9-22%. RevPAR for rentals in the West faced the biggest decline of 22%. Rentals in the Southwest fared the best with a decline of 9%. With four and a half months left in the year, there’s still an opportunity for regions to recover lost revenue. However, with many peak visitor seasons behind us, the RevPAR for the rest of the year is unlikely to drastically influence the annual RevPAR for these regions. For the rest of the year, the Southwest is facing the largest decline in revenue. The Southeast shows the only positive change on the chart with RevPAR that is 13% higher than last year for the rest of the year due to extended seasons and higher rates.
The data is discouraging when we look at both the year to date and the next 5 months. Vacation rentals in the West, where restrictions on rental activity were swift and long-lasting, have an annual RevPAR that (as of August 12) is 19% lower in 2020 than in 2019. The Southeast has fared the best and is 9% lower. The Mid-Atlantic, Rocky Mountain, and Southwest all experienced similar declines of 10 to 11%. Of course, there are exceptions to these figures but the overall trend is clear – vacation rental revenue will be substantially lower for 2020 than in 2019.
Mid-Atlantic: DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA
Rocky Mountain: CO, ID, MT, UT, WY
Southeast: AL, AR, FL, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV
Southwest: AZ, NM, OK, TX
West: CA, NV, OR, WA