Airbnb Data + HomeAway Data Together on One Platform

March 2019 marked a huge milestone for AirDNA. We increased our total tracked vacation rental listings by 21%, thanks to the addition of over 1,500,000 HomeAway listings. Through hundreds of data partnerships, AirDNA now tracks daily performance and future demand for over 10,000,000 unique properties.

What does this mean for hosts, property managers, and real estate investors? It means it’s now possible to get a more complete view of whole property-level performance—not just single listing-level performance.

Impact in MarketMinder

The merging of Airbnb data and HomeAway data enables a more comprehensive view of the vacation rental industry. Now, daily intelligence on over one and a half million additional listings worldwide is flowing into the charts within MarketMinder. Virtually every market covered in the app saw a measurable lift in active supply from the integration of HomeAway data, including thirty-nine markets that saw an increase of over 100%.

Here are the fifteen markets most affected by the integration of HomeAway data into MarketMinder:

Most MarketMinder users—especially those who are subscribed to any of the markets listed above—will see a jump in their supply-related graphs, such as this available supply chart from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina:

As the chart indicates, HomeAway data has been merged retroactively as far back as June, 2017, and the line graph shows a sudden exponential jump in the number of rentals during that time. In fact, the addition of HomeAway data in Myrtle beach translates to a 237% increase in available supply for the data that populates the charts.

MarketMinder users can be confident in understanding whether the data that fuels their charts includes HomeAway data or not, by hovering over each graph’s information (“i”) icon. If no icon is present, or otherwise does not indicate the integration of HomeAway data, then the chart only includes Airbnb data.

Any bump in market supply means the data behind MarketMinder’s charts have gotten stronger and have become a more complete picture of market-wide vacation rental performance.

Accounting for Dual-Listed Properties

Merging Airbnb and HomeAway data on the property level was a fairly complex technical challenge for our team. In order to create a property-based profile, AirDNA must first identify property matches across both distribution channels. Because listing descriptions are not always identical and can change throughout the seasons, AirDNA must reassess matches on a monthly basis.

To ensure accuracy, our data science team has developed a proprietary listing match algorithm that analyzes over fourteen listing features. Features such as location, listing titles, listing descriptions, numbers of bedrooms, and calendar availability, are cross-referenced to determine individual rentals that are dual-listed on both distribution channels. Identifying matches across channels ensures we’re not overstating supply numbers in the market analysis.

Here are the markets with the highest percentage of dual-listed rentals (based on trailing twelve month numbers):

The Overview Tab in MarketMinder now shows a breakdown of listing channels; whether they’re listed on Airbnb, HomeAway, or both. In this February 2019 chart for South Padre Island, it shows 41% of supply as listed on both distribution channels.

Additionally, users can now view whether individual rentals are listed on Airbnb, HomeAway, or both. The example below, we see the rental is listed on Airbnb and HomeAway, because both icons are visible in its pop-up.

HomeAway’s Largest Markets

With this new cache of HomeAway data, it’s now possible to perform side-by-side comparisons between distribution channels. Supply is a simple way to see where each channel is winning in volume.

Here are the largest HomeAway markets in terms of available vacation rental listings:

Distribution Channel Momentum: Expansion vs. Contraction

Increasing the completeness and granularity of global vacation rental data allows us to analyze the industry in new ways. One such analysis is looking at market-based channel momentum.

Although the vacation rental industry as a whole is swelling in size, the market-level stories can be quite different. It gets interesting when comparing year-over-year supply growth (January 2018-January 2019) between Airbnb and HomeAway. We look forward to performing deeper analysis in the coming weeks, but here’s a sample looking at the top ten markets in terms of total supply as of January 2019:

Airbnb outpaced HomeAway in all of the top ten markets, except in Barcelona, where Airbnb added 687 listings and HomeAway added 849. Both distribution channels saw an overall decrease in active listings in Paris, where local hoteliers and the city’s government have launched an aggressive campaign and are currently suing Airbnb over illegal listings. HomeAway and Airbnb both added about 1,800 listings in Sydney, although some of HomeAway’s new supply might be due to the transfer of its Stayz listings onto the HomeAway platform.

The fact that places like London top HomeAway’s list of largest markets and are also one of its fastest-growing markets shows HomeAway’s ability to move beyond its traditional vacation rental roots and capitalize on high-demand metro areas. However, its existing supply and growth in these areas still pales in comparison to Airbnb’s momentum.