Stay IN THE KNOW with our monthly GPSTBID newsletter for short-term rental owners and property managers. 

RECENT STORM IMPACTS AND RECOVERY

Tropical Storm Hilary delivered nearly a year’s worth of rain to the Coachella Valley (3.18 inches) in one day, resulting in severe flooding and significant infrastructure damage throughout the region, and a storm that followed on Labor Day weekend brought additional rainfall that compounded damage to some roads and neighborhoods. 

Indian Canyon Drive, a primary roadway that connects Palm Springs with Interstate 10, was buried under several feet of mud. The road reopened temporary lanes to allow traffic through on Monday, Oct 2. 

Other major roadways suffered impairment that could impact travel patterns. A part of Avenue 50 in the City of Coachella may be closed for two to three months for repairs. In Indio, a section of Avenue 44 experienced a significant washout that caused an estimated $1 million in damage. Meanwhile, previous flood prevention investments mitigated the worst effects in La Quinta and Palm Desert.

Disaster Relief

Resources are available to recover from property destruction and associated financial impacts. Eligible homeowners may qualify to receive property tax relief.

Click the link below to learn more about the Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder’s disaster relief programs. 

MARKET TRENDS

As summer gives way to fall in the Coachella Valley, vacation rental owners have noticed a drop in Adjusted Paid Occupancy and shortened Average Booking Windows (ABW). These two metrics are consistent with national trends, with flat or falling ABW data across the United States and a gradual drop in Occupancy in markets across the country.

The Benefits of Benchmarking Seasonal Patterns

ABW data is a fluctuating metric. It tells vacation rental owners how far in advance guests are booking for stay dates and is subject to seasonal patterns. According to Key Data, significant declines in ABW have two primary causes — travelers delay booking because they’re confident there is plenty of supply, or financial stress and lack of consumer confidence weigh on demand.

Spikes in ABW are historically shown when temperatures fall in Greater Palm Springs. However, the steady decline seen this summer is significant. In Greater Palm Springs, the ABW in summer 2023 was 47 days, down 29% for the same time last year.

Adjusted Paid Occupancy determines the percentage of booked nights out of the total available nights for booking. It’s a valuable statistic for evaluating how well properties are performing, and when coupled with the ABW data, can inform vacation rental business decisions about the current market. 

For the month of August 2023, paid guest occupancy in vacation rental homes was 13.2% compared to 19.1% in 2022 and 12.8% in 2019. 

Together, these KPIs point to a downturn akin to pre-pandemic travel norms following a boom in travel in 2020 and 2021. When occupancy is lower year-on-year and ABW has shortened, occupancy often recovers as the stay date gets closer. 

What should vacation rental owners do in this market? It may be worth considering well-informed price adjustments for properties during slower seasons.

Find more helpful data, resources, and marketing updates through the links below:

UPCOMING EVENTS

OCT 6-8 Power Trip

OCT 19-22 Fall Modernism Week

NOV 2-5 Greater Palm Springs Pride

Visit Greater Palm Springs curates a visitor event calendar and signature event calendar that are a resource for both vacation rental operators and their guests.

Link to the Visitor Event Calendar landing page

Link to Signature Events

If you're a vacation rental operator with your own website, you also have the option to embed the visitor event calendar on your site, so guests can search events and scroll, without ever leaving your website. CLICK HERE to request the Visitor Event Calendar Widget for your website. 

SUMMER MARKETING CAMPAIGN UPDATES

In June, July, and August a dedicated vacation rental campaign ran across Centro and Nativo, resulting in 2.1M impressions.

The vacation rental portion of our Expedia campaign resulted in $6M in revenue for vacation rentals from June-August. Our VRBO “floatie” campaign continued during this timeframe and resulted in $2.3M in revenue.  

BROCHURES AND GUIDES

The Summer Getaway Guide is here! Visit Greater Palm Springs has resources available for you and your guests, like our digital visitors guides, brochures, and table tents. Contact josh@visitgreaterps.com to confirm availability and schedule pickup or delivery, including:

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