Online Vacation Rental Demand Grows Despite the Recession

When the U.S. economy took a dive in 2009, growth of the online vacation rental sector continued unabated.

The online vacation rental category averaged more than 4.7 million monthly unique visitors from May 2009 through April 2010, up from an average 4.1 million in the preceding 12-month period.

The online vacation rental category averaged more than 4.7 million monthly unique visitors from May 2009 through April 2010, up from an average 4.1 million in the preceding 12-month period.

Vacation rental follows the annual leisure cycle, with visits to vacation rental sites peaking in summer and experiencing a lull in the fall. In 2009, these seasonal extremes represented significant growth over 2008, with the August 2009 peak up 24% over 2008 and the November trough still up 40% versus the same month a year earlier.

Strong online traffic growth, bolstered by successful new entrants to the category, have shifted vacation rental from an uncharted "alternative lodging" segment to a major online marketplace.

Phocuswright partnered with Compete to assess the size of the online vacation rental market and identify key trends in online vacation rental shopping. Phocuswright's U.S. Online Vacation Rental Market Analysis: 2008-2010 provides a fresh analysis of the online vacation rental market and updates select metrics from the January 2009 publication, Phocuswright's Vacation Rental Marketplace: Poised for Change.

Key Topics

• The vacation rental guest
• Market size & structure—including RBO vs. VRMC and major online vacation rental players
• Key online behavioral trends—including air and hotel cross-category shopping, the impact of social networks, referral traffic analysis, and more)

Phocuswright's U.S. Online Vacation Rental Market Analysis: 2008-2010 is available for US$695.