Short-term rentals outperform hotels

Demand in Greece’s short-term rental market has been restored up to 70% of 2019 levels, outperforming even the country’s hotel sector.

A survey by AirDNA across Europe, published this week, showed that in the year to end-August, demand in the Greek market was only 28.9% less than that of the first eight months of 2019.

In August 2021, in particular, demand (based on overnight stays) across Greece was just 19.6% shy of that two years earlier. The greater seclusion that short-term rentals offer compared to busy hotels appears to have worked in favor of this market’s speedier recovery, matching the forecasts of most property industry experts.

Across Europe, AirDNA recorded more than 42.3 million overnight stays in August, which was 21% less than the same month in 2019 and 16.5% more than August 2020. In other countries of the European South the difference compared to 2019 was greater, with Italy at -23.9% and Spain at -27.7%.

The average occupancy rate at short-term rentals in Greece amounted to almost 70% in August.

One of the reasons the Greek market has rebounded this year is that a significant share of the losses in terms of foreign visitors has been made up for by Greek guests. In 2019 only 13% of demand for short-term rentals originated from Greece, while this year that rate is considered to have trebled.

“The countries where significant demand from domestic guests was observed showed better performance that others that continue to depend on demand from abroad,” explained AirDNA.

The Athens market showed a particularly positive picture in terms of the reduction of ads too, as this was among the most contained in Europe: This August’s ads may have been 36% fewer than in August 2019, but this was the fourth smallest decline in Europe, behind St Petersburg, Cannes and Vienna. In cities like Barcelona and Rome the reduction was near 50%.

There is also scope for optimism for the September-November period, given the bookings up to September 1, that were only 27% below 2019 levels: Across Europe bookings for this fall may be 19% fewer than those in 2019, but in Spain and Italy they were more than 30% fewer than two years ago.