Trends in Vacation Rentals: Y Partnership Shares Some Interesting Stats During the 2011 VRMA Conference.

Chris Davidson, Chief Client Officer of Y Partnership, offered some great statistics and spoke to some emerging trends in the vacation rental industry Tuesday during the morning session of the 2011 VRMA Conference.

Some of the larger trends he spoke to were price sensitivity of travelers during tougher economic times, the emergence of technology and social media, the influence of children on vacation choice, and the increasing importance of flash sales.

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the more popular statistics he shared:

What are the major obstacles to traveling?

• 55 percent of travelers interested in vacation rentals cited household budget as a major obstacle.
• 41 percent cited airfare prices.
• 44 percent cited gas prices.

Many people were going on vacation to celebrate special life events. The three most popular were:

• Milestone birthdays
• Milestone Anniversaries
• Weddings

Children are having a big influence on the choice of where and how to vacation:  

• 50 percent of people interested in vacation rentals said children had a significant effect on their decision of vacation destination.

How much lead time do people need in advance of a vacation? Many people are making last-minute travel plans. 

• 38 percent said they have taken last-minute vacations (made arrangement six days or less prior to stay) in the last year.

Flash sales are becoming more popular.

• 25 percent have booked a travel service because of an unexpected e-mail.
• Last chance sales, last-minute discounts and high-urgency offers are also becoming more popular.

Price transparency is affecting how travelers make decisions:

• 44 percent prefer low airfare.
• 34 percent prefer a legacy carrier.
• 21 percent say it doesn’t matter.

Rate now trumps brand in hotels and resorts

• 89 percent indicated that room rate was very important (in fact, the most important consideration).
• Brand was much further down the list.

In terms of appeal for vacation rentals, the following were most important:

• 94 percent noted value.
• 91 percent listed privacy.

As price transparency rises, brand clarity becomes more urgent. This becomes even clearer when you look at the statistics behind what travelers are looking for in a website.

• 89  want to be able to check lowest fares.
• 85 percent want a lowest price guarantee.
• 84 percent want photos of rooms and facilities.

However…

• Only 21 percent of active leisure travelers have visited a meta search site, like Kayak.

Where are travelers going to get advice? Davidson highlighted these statistics as being the most noted (please note that these do not comprise the entire list):

• TripAdvisor (59 percent)
• Facebook (36 percent)
• YouTube (22 percent)

How Important is Social Media?

• 46 percent of active travelers maintain a page on a social site.
• 91 percent of those are on Facebook.

How many travelers say they have made a travel decision based on information from a social networking site?

• Only 9 percent

But Davidson noted to keep the following statistics in mind when determining how effective social media really is and could be in the future. When it comes to sources of ideas for travel:

• 52 percent noted family and friends.
• 49 percent said magazines.
• 48 percent said television.
• 46 percent said travel guidebook.
• 39 percent said search engines.

Mobile

• There are 70 million smart phones in North America.
• That number is predicted to rise to 239 million by 2013.

Some more tidbits:

• Hawaii was chosen as the No. 1 destination for vacation rentals.
• 26 percent of people who are interested in vacation rentals expect to travel more, compared to 12 percent who expect to travel less.

Closing Thoughts

• Vacations remain a “birthright” to Americans, and people are using new resourcefulness to counter tough economic times.
• Flash travel deals are becoming increasingly popular.
• Children are becoming increasingly influential in a family’s travel choices.
• Social media will change the way people make decisions about traveling.