An Inside Look Into Ski Season Travel Trends for 2023
The End of Winter is Near
The winter season is nearing its end. With only a few months left to go before spring has fully set in, many short-term rental owners, especially those in skiing destinations, are taking stock of what 2022 has brought as well as what 2023 holds. While the last few years have seen an incredible back and forth with regards to the short-term rental market, 2023 seems to be on track to return to a more normalized growth that we saw prior to 2020.
With spring break fast approaching and last-minute bookings filling in left and right, we think that it might be a good time to take a look back at what 2021-2022 held for the ski season. After that, we’ll turn our attention to what 2022-2023’s overall travel trends and ski season forecasts are looking like.
A Look Back at the 2021-2022 Ski Season Trends
It’s been a tumultuous few years in the short-term rental market, but last year’s ski season marked a high point for many owners. Because there was such a large rebound effect after many of the pandemic restrictions were lifted, the 2021-2022 ski season saw a promising number of bookings and elevated occupancy, with average daily rates surging year-over-year.
Demand was strong throughout 2022, but the early months in particular saw some of the strongest growth ever seen. In fact, AirDNA reported that January 2022 saw a huge 41% increase in nights booked year-over-year.
Trends and Forecasts for Ski Season 2023
Overall, pacing for the 2022-2023 ski season has returned to much of its pre-pandemic behavior, just as predicted. According to KeyData’s Ski Season Forecast, “Occupancy is starting to level out…, nightly rates are ever-increasing, length of stays aren’t varying as dramatically, and booking windows are increasing over the past two years.”
AirDNA also reported that for January of 2023, demand rose 14.5% year-over-year and nights booked are up 17% compared to January of last year. Meanwhile, occupancy has fallen a bit, down 1.3% year-over-year, but is still up 3.6% in comparison to 2019.
While the future of the short-term rental market is looking promising overall, many owners are still worried that their performance isn’t measuring up to the period of “revenge travel” that happened after pandemic restrictions were first lifted, especially since occupancy has been down a bit in the last few months. However, it was impossible for such an unpredictable market to sustain itself over a long period of time, and the market seems to be returning to its pre-pandemic normalcy for the most part.
As we saw in our 2023 overview of the short-term rental market, demand is predicted to stay steady this year and supply is forecast to see a bit of growth, and this means we probably won’t continue to see the huge revenues of the previous few years, but the market itself will continue to grow, even over its pre-pandemic numbers.
Overall 2023 Travel Trends
Although the short-term rental market might seem a bit slower in some ways than it was at this time last year, overall travel and hospitality trends for 2023 are strong. Inflation has affected air travel and prices across the board, but Forbes reported that the U.S. Travel Foundation predicts spending on travel will be even higher in 2023 than it was in 2022.
An overall travel trend predicted for 2023 is longer booking windows, something we’re already seeing. Because restrictions have been relaxed in most places with regards to the pandemic, travelers are able to plan their travel ahead of time again.
While it was once commonplace to lock in your vacation plans early, the pandemic changed that, meaning that people were waiting until the very last moment to book their trips. Since we’re finally seeing stability, people are feeling more comfortable planning their trips in advance, and booking windows are returning to their pre-pandemic rates once again.
Another overall travel trend of 2023 is the rise in remote workers planning trips to make the most of their free time. While they spend the morning on the slopes, the rest of their day is spent in meetings. For many short-term rental owners, adding in a workspace could help to bring in more of these remote workers and digital nomads that want to get some time in on the mountain in between meetings and other responsibilities.
Through Ski Season and Shoulder Season, LocalVR Has Your Back
While the market may not be as volatile as it once was, it’s also hard to predict exactly what’s to come before all the data comes in. One nice thing about most market predictions for 2023’s overall travel is that they’re returning to more predictable levels, more on par with 2019’s market than any of the previous few years.
If you’re on the hunt for a property management company you can count on through ups and downs of the post-pandemic short-term rental market, think about going local. With LocalVR’s expert services, you won’t have to lift a finger or worry about a thing–everything from your pricing to your cleaning services is taken care of for you. To learn more about how our program can help owners like you, take a look at our Program page for more information on how we help owners like you to handle the rollercoaster of the market.