The report is based on an extensive survey that was completed by 164 property managers of different sizes around the globe. Its aim is to track the changes in property manager behaviour and sentiment in light of the pandemic, and provide an overview of the current industry landscape in terms of operations, distribution, technology adoption, pricing strategies and data usage. These granular insights are analysed through the lens of property manager region (Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Oceania) and destination type (urban, coastal, rural and ski markets), as well as property manager size.
Transparent and Rentals United found that most property managers are optimistic about the post-pandemic recovery, with 29% of respondents saying demand is already exceeding pre- pandemic levels and only 15% believe that recovery will extend beyond 2022.
According to the report, property managers expect an overwhelmingly positive revenue growth in 2022, anticipating 35% more bookings than they received in 2019. When looking at the share of OTA vs direct bookings, the report found that in 2021, the vast majority (73%) of reservations came from OTAs, but the importance of direct bookings is increasing (currently 27%, expected to grow to 31% in 2022).
Channel managers were found to be the most-adopted technology, used by 74% of global property managers, with property management systems following suit, used by 73%. Notably, 51% of respondents plan to increase their usage of or spending on channel management, and only 8% plan to decrease.
There has also been an uptick in data usage, with 40% of property managers using a market intelligence or data provider as opposed to only 13% in previous surveys conducted before the pandemic, with 58% planning to increase their spending or usage.
Furthermore, the report found interesting trends in property managers’ adoption of technologies such as dynamic pricing and keyless entry; statistics on the correlation between data usage and revenue growth; analysis of property managers’ service provision strategies; and opinions on COVID-19 recovery, operations and regulation.
Tags: Transparent, Rentals United
