Historical data from Coachella and Stagecoach festivals highlight their transformative impact on the short-term rental market in Indio, with significant increases in demand and average daily rates over the years. In 2024, Stagecoach's demand is surging, showing potential to match or even surpass Coachella in attracting STR market interest.

Festival Fever: The Impact of Coachella and Stagecoach on Short-Term Rentals

The Coachella and Stagecoach festivals dramatically increase demand for short-term rentals (STRs) in Indio, driving up average daily rates (ADRs) to as much as $1,000 or more per night for Coachella.

Being close to the festival action boosts STR demand significantly, enabling hosts to charge higher rates.

Stagecoach is quickly catching up to Coachella in terms of STR market impact, showcasing significant year-over-year (YOY) demand growth and positioning itself as an equally lucrative event for hosts.

Grab your sunglasses and cowboy boots—it's nearly time for California's festival season to take center stage.

As we approach the sun-drenched weekends of the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals, the short-term rental (STR) market in Indio is abuzz with activity. Despite their humble beginnings, these two music festivals have become economic forces that shape the STR market in the area.

AirDNA has rounded up the latest data to map out the impact these festivals have on rental rates, guest demographics, and market trends. Whether you’re a STR host operating in the heart of the valley or from afar, there’s valuable information you can leverage when the latest cultural trend hits your market. 

AirDNA’s powerful yet easy-to-use tools make hosting and investing a breeze. This means having every insight you need, all in one place, always up-to-date.

The Coachella and the Stagecoach Country Music Festivals have become cornerstones of the American music festival scene. They are held on three back-to-back weekends in April each year at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. 

Coachella started in 1999 as a two-day event with a diverse lineup of various genres. It's known for its eclectic mix of music, art installations, and fashion. It's now a two-weekend event with attendees from across the globe. The Stagecoach Festival, introduced in 2007, is the country music counterpart to Coachella. It’s become one of the largest country music festivals in the United States.

As the popularity of Coachella and Stagecoach has grown, so has the demand for local accommodations. This provided a significant boost to the STR market in the Coachella Valley. 

Airbnb, launched in 2008, came into the picture as these music events became cultural phenomena. People attending these festivals seek unique places beyond traditional hotels, and Airbnb perfectly caters to their needs. 

This symbiotic relationship has allowed homeowners and STR operators to take advantage of the heightened demand, offering a wide range of accommodations catering to festival attendees' needs and preferences (this list from Rolling Stone shows you just how wide a range it is!). 

Guests Just Keep on Coming: Festival Demand and ADRs 

Coachella's influence on STR demand and ADRs

Coachella's demand for STRs increased from 64,000 nights in 2018 to 70,700 nights in 2023, with a temporary dip due to the festival's cancellation in 2020 and 2021. Average Daily Rates (ADRs) for Coachella reflected similar growth patterns, from an average of $580 for the first weekend in 2018 to $918 in 2022. 

Occupancy and ADR take a hit as more listings enter the market

The Coachella Valley STR market saw 18% year-over-year (YOY) listing growth in the year leading up to Coachella 2023 that far its exceeded YOY demand growth of 3%. When supply growth  exceeds demand growth, you see occupancy declines (-10%). As a result, hosts lost pricing power. 

ADRs in the year leading up to Coachella 2023 were down 3% YOY. ADRs for the first concert weekend averaged $862 (down 6% YOY), while ADRs for the second concert weekend averaged $700 a night (down 3% YOY).  

Stagecoach's impact on STR demand and ADRs

Stagecoach initially generated less STR demand than Coachella but it’s shown significant growth:

Demand nights increased from 21,800 in 2018  to 26,000 in 2022. 

ADRs increased from $412 in 2018 to $658 in 2022, indicating a strong recovery and growth post-pandemic. 

In 2023, ADRs declined 3.7% YOY to $634 a night. 

For 2022 and 2023, ADRs for Stagecoach STR stays were about 27% lower than ADRs for the first weekend of Coachella. The country music festival’s ADRs were only about 9% lower than ADRs for the second week of Coachella, though.

TLDR: Coachella's demand is not just back, it’s bigger than ever. Stagecoach, however, is giving Coachella a run for its money in the STR market. With demand closely trailing that of the iconic music festival, it's clear that Stagecoach is a force to be reckoned with. 

Both these festivals show that major events can cause wild fluctuations in demand, so hosts need to be savvy and adjust their pricing strategies accordingly. 

Use Smart Rates™ to optimize your pricing strategy.

The Closer the Better: How Distance From Festivals Affects Revenue

Festival goers do enough walking already, so it’s no surprise they prefer their accommodations to be as close as possible to the action. We can see that play out in how demand and ADR premiums differ by a market’s proximity to Indio. 

During the first weekend of Coachella in 2023, there was a big increase in demand nights for short-term rentals in nearby submarkets: 

This surge demonstrates the festivals' magnetic pull, with Thermal and Whitewater showing the most significant jumps in demand. The number of demand nights in both locations more than tripled from only 50 demand nights the previous weekend. 

These impressive numbers illustrate a clear pattern: the closer the STR property is to the festival grounds, the higher the demand from attendees seeking convenience and immediacy.

The ADRs told a similar story. Properties located in submarkets nearest to the event venues, such as Indio, Coachella, and La Quinta, saw their ADRs for Coachella's first weekend more than double compared to the weekend prior, signaling the high-value guests placed on location. 

Even submarkets further from the festival action, like Whitewater and Thousand Palms, saw ADR increases up to double the previous weekend. Clearly, the festival's economic ripple extends across the valley.

Where Coachella and Stagecoach Attendees Come From 

When traveling, people often ask "Where are you from?" It turns out that Coachella and Stagecoach attendees don't come from as far away as you might expect.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival predominantly attract a Californian crowd despite their international reputation. 

Data from the previous year's events indicates that most attendees are from within California, particularly from the Los Angeles area. Los Angeles residents notably make up 30% of visitors for Coachella's first week, increasing to 41% in its second week. Travelers from Los Angeles account for 37% of attendees for Stagecoach. Other cities in California also make up a large slice of the pie, indicating strong local interest in festivals.

Nevertheless, music-lovers from cities like New York, DC, Boston, Phoenix, and Denver still make a dent in the demographics, showcasing the festival's nationwide appeal as well. 

Note that his analysis was conducted using a representative panel of smartphone GPS signals. This study focuses on devices detected within the Coachella Valley Music Festival area at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, with each device meeting a minimum stay requirement of thirty minutes during the festival dates. Market definitions are based on Nielsen's Designated Market Area (DMA) boundaries.

As the 2024 Coachella and Stagecoach festivals approach, there's an observable shift in demand pacing from the previous year. Demand pacing is the rate at which reservations are made for a particular date in the future.

For Coachella's first weekend, demand pacing has decreased by 10% YOY, and the second weekend shows a more pronounced dip of 15% YOY.  Remarkably, the current demand for Stagecoach nearly matches that of Coachella's first weekend and notably surpasses the second weekend's figures.

Investigating this year's booking curve reveals several factors contributing to the lower demand for Coachella. Six months out from the festival, bookings were down 16% from the previous year, a shortfall that only slightly improved to a 12% decrease at the four-month mark. However, demand diverged from the prior year to a greater degree about three months out, with demand 26% lower than in 2023. 

This discrepancy aligns with Coachella's lineup announcement in mid-January, suggesting that this year's lineup may not have driven the bookings to pick up as expected. The data we have is from three weeks leading up to the festival and bookings are at 48,000 —12% down from the same period last year.  

Last year, 80% of the total demand nights for the Coachella concert were already booked by this point. The remaining 20% of total demand nights were booked within a month of Coachella’s end date.

If this year follows a similar booking trajectory as last year, a large percentage of bookings could happen in these last remaining days. However, it remains to be seen if demand for this year’s Coachella will catch up to last year or fall short of it.

Meanwhile, demand pacing for the Stagecoach festival is up an astonishing 40% year-over-year (YOY). Current demand on the books for Stagecoach is only 9% lower than demand on the books for the first concert weekend of Coachella. Stagecoach demand is 21% higher than that for the second concert weekend of Coachella.  This data suggests a growing enthusiasm for Stagecoach's offerings and could point to shifting preferences or emerging trends within the festival-going community.

Strategic pricing in the festival spotlight: Booking and rate dynamics

The pricing for Coachella and Stagecoach festivals depends heavily on location and timing. Let's take a look at the current bookings and available rates to gain a better understanding.

This graph displays the ADRs booked for Coachella 2024's first and second weekends alongside the Stagecoach Festival. 

Prime Spots Fetch Top Dollar: In the heart of the action, Indio and Coachella lead with the highest booked rates, often surpassing the $1,000 mark per night. 

Value Finds on the Outskirts: Submarkets further afield, like Cathedral City and Whitewater, offer budget-friendly options, with bookings averaging around $300.

Everyone Wants to be First at Coachella: The first weekend consistently shows higher booked rates than the second weekend, indicating a higher demand for the festival's opening days.

Watch Out Coachella, Here Comes Stagecoach: Stagecoach is showing a surge in popularity, with booked rates surpassing those of Coachella's second weekend in most submarkets.

STRs that have yet to be booked for Coachella or Stagecoach show similar trends, with proximity to the festivals justifying higher ADRs ($1300 to $1900 a night for Coachelle and $1200 to $1400 a night for Stagecoach). 

Farther from the festival venues, available Cathedral and Whitewater vacation rental listings are pricier than those that have already been booked, with most nightly rates hovering between $400 and $500.

AirDNA’s vacation rental pricing tool uses data-driven recommendations to propose the best daily rates.

Applying Festival Insights to Other Events

The patterns emerging from the STR data around Coachella and Stagecoach offer valuable guidance for leveraging event-driven demand at other major gatherings.

Hosts can use historical booking and ADR trends to predict busy periods and optimize pricing. We recommend identifying local events in your area that consistently generate demand, similar to how Coachella and Stagecoach are known to have predictable spikes every April. 

Your pricing strategy should be nimble, especially in areas with major ADR fluctuations, like Coachella Valley. Data analysis is critical for setting competitive yet profitable rates aligned with expected occupancy, and dynamic pricing tools make this process much easier. 

Work to understand the people coming to your market for a specific event. Tailor your marketing efforts to reach potential guests from key feeder markets. Remember how most of the festival attendees were from California? That knowledge would shift your marketing strategy. One powerful way to attract guests is to highlight amenities that appeal to out-of-state visitors. 

The competition is stiff in markets with high ADRs and occupancy during major events. It’s critical that you give your guests the best possible experience, so make sure you have your property management and guest communications down pat. Guests often return to festivals year after year, so their experience may determine whether they book with you again or leave a five-star review. 

If you thought Coachella and Stagecoach made their mark on the STR industry, explore our coverage of how Taylor Swift, the Superbowl, and the Solar Eclipse shaped market trends. 

Gain insights into the revenue and occupancy trends in your market.

Coachella and Stagecoach are a headline act for boosting your rental rates and occupancy. Learn how iconic music festivals–and other major events—affect STRs.

How Distance From Festivals Affects Revenue

Airbnb Occupancy Rate: Insights and Tips

Key Takeaways
The Airbnb occupancy rate is a vital metric for success and is calculated by dividing the number of booked nights by the available nights. The occupancy rate reflects how often your property is rented out compared to its availability.
Understanding and monitoring your occupancy rate is key to maximizing earnings, as it indicates property performance and influences pricing and marketing strategies.
How you interpret your occupancy rate is essential; high and low occupancy rates don’t always mean what you think.

Successful Airbnb hosts are obsessed with bookings, and for good reason—it’s the name of the vacation rental game.

When hosts talk about Airbnb bookings, they're really talking about occupancy rate: the percentage of available nights that guests book. Monitoring your occupancy rate is important because it shows how well your Airbnb stacks up against the competition. The occupancy rate can also indicate whether you need to switch up your strategy or pricing to boost your rental income.

Whether you’re new to short-term vacation rentals or an industry expert, it’s important to understand the methodology and best practices behind your occupancy rate. 

Learn about short-term rental data

What is Airbnb Occupancy Rate?

In its simplest form, the occupancy rate is the percentage of time a vacation rental property is booked compared to the time it is available for bookings. 

To make understanding occupancy rate easier, let's use a straightforward example.

Imagine you own a cabin that's available for guests all year. That means it could potentially be booked for 365 nights. Throughout the year, guests book your cabin for 90 of those nights. We can use that number to calculate the occupancy rate and see how often your property was rented out compared to its availability. 

By dividing the booked nights (90) by the total available nights (365) and multiplying by 100 to get a percentage, we find an occupancy rate of approximately 25%. This means your cabin was rented out for about a quarter of the year.

Reasons Why Your Occupancy Rate Matters
Maximize Revenue Potential: Physical products can be sold at any time if they’re not immediately purchased. However, a vacant vacation rental represents a unique challenge. If a property goes unbooked for a night, it's impossible to "sell" that night again. Each unbooked night directly translates into a tangible loss of potential income. That’s why the occupancy rate is crucial for owners looking to maximize their earnings. 
Reveal Property Performance Insights: Consider two similar properties in the same location. Property A consistently achieves an 80% occupancy rate, while Property B struggles to reach 50%. This stark difference signals that Property A might be better aligned with guest preferences or have better marketing. Analyzing occupancy rates helps identify performance gaps and areas for improvement, whether that's improving your listing or adjusting pricing strategies to meet market demand.
Determine Market Demand and Inform Pricing Strategies: High Airbnb occupancy rates indicate strong market demand, while low occupancy rates can reflect lower demand. This information informs your pricing strategy. Let’s consider an apartment near a convention center that has high occupancy during events but low occupancy rates otherwise. This trend suggests that you may want to consider adjusting your rates in relation to the convention center’s event calendar. Dynamic pricing takes into consideration trends like this and uses them to optimize revenue during peak and off-peak times.
Guide Investment and Enhancement Decisions: Evaluate occupancy rates before and after making upgrades, like installing high-speed internet or renovating the kitchen, to assess the return on investment (ROI). This analysis is crucial for prioritizing property improvements that make your listing more appealing and, subsequently, improve the occupancy rate.

Learn about Dynamic Pricing

How to Calculate the Airbnb Occupancy Rate

Understanding the occupancy rate of your Airbnb property is pivotal for optimizing your rental strategy. Yet, it all comes down to a single equation.

Airbnb Occupancy Rate Calculation

Reserved Days / Available Days x 100 = Occupancy Rate

With that in mind, here's a simple guide on how to find Airbnb occupancy rates:

Step-by-Step Calculation
Determine the Total Number of Reserved Days: Start by counting how many days guests booked your property over a specific period of time, usually 12 months. 
Identify the Total Number of Available Days: Calculate the total days your property was available for booking over the same time period, excluding any days you blocked off for personal use.
Calculate the Occupancy Rate: Divide the total number of reserved days by the total number of available days, then multiply the result by 100 to convert it into a percentage. These steps represent AirDNA’s version of an Airbnb occupancy rate calculator.

Example Calculation:

Imagine you own a house on the water in North Carolina and you're evaluating its performance on Airbnb over the last 12 months. The property was available for 340 days and booked for 240 days within this timeframe.

Reserved Days: 240

Available Days: 340

Occupancy Rate Calculation: 240/340 x 100 = 70.58%

Calculate potential earnings

Understand the investment potential of any address in the world. 

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Interpreting Your Occupancy Rate

While a 70% occupancy rate may seem ideal, signaling guest satisfaction and consistent revenue, it's essential to delve deeper. High occupancy could indicate underpricing, meaning you might be missing out on potential income. It's crucial to balance occupancy with your average daily rates (ADRs) to maximize revenue. 

Think about it: A property with a 50% or 60% occupancy rate could earn more revenue than one that’s booked 70% of the time. It’s all relative to pricing. A property booked more often at $100 per night may not outearn a property that’s booked less often at $300 per night.

It’s important to ask yourself: Do I want higher occupancy or higher average daily rates (ADRs)? An accurate data tool can help you sort out which strategy is best for your bottom line. (Why guess when you can know exactly what you should be charging guests?)

What is a Good Airbnb Occupancy Rate?

Average Airbnb occupancy rates vary from market to market and year to year. You can see how the national average occupancy rate has fluctuated:

Trailing twelve months (TTM), March 2023 to February 2024: 55.1%
2023: 55.4%
2022: 58.6%
2021: 60.3%

The occupancy rate in 2022 reflects a recovery trend in the industry after the pandemic brought the average occupancy rate into the low fifties in 2020.

Determining a "good" rate is less about finding a universal number and more about understanding local market conditions, historical performance, and your personal goals for the property. Knowing your market's average helps inform decisions on pricing, marketing, and operations.

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Average Airbnb Occupancy Rates by City: Top 10 Highest Occupancy Rates

If you’re new to the short-term rental market, understanding the average airbnb occupancy rates by city can help you choose a location that’s likely to generate a healthy revenue.

These markets had the highest trailing twelve-month short-term occupancy rates (March 2023 to February 2024):

Kauai, Hawaii: 74.4%
Oahu, Hawaii: 73.4%
Maui, Hawaii: 72.4%
Maine DownEast/Acadia Coastal: 67.7%
Big Island, Hawaii: 67.1%
New York City: 65.5%
Denver: 65.3%
Anaheim, California: 65.2%
Boulder, Colorado: 64.3%
 Outer Banks, North Carolina: 64.3%

Many of the markets with the highest occupancy rates are located in Hawaii. However, seeing as the vacation rental market in Hawaii is subject to fairly heavy restrictions, let’s consider the markets with the highest occupancy rates in the contiguous U.S.

Maine DownEast/Acadia Coastal: 67.7%
New York City: 65.5%
Denver: 65.3%
Anaheim, California: 65.2%
Boulder, Colorado: 64.3%
Outer Banks, North Carolina: 64.3%
San Diego: 64.2%
Sarasota, Florida: 64.1%
Lincoln City/Newport, Oregon: 64%
Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Tennessee: 63.9%

Average Occupancy Rates by City: Top 10 Lowest Occupancy Rates

The average Airbnb occupancy rates by city in the following areas leave hosts wanting more. These markets currently have the lowest trailing twelve-month occupancy rates:

Oxford, MS: 34.9%
Big Bear, CA: 39.6%
Southbend, Indiana: 40.4%
Texas East Area: 41.4%
College Station, Texas: 41.8%
Mississippi area: 42.1%
Augusta, Georgia/South Carolina: 42.8%
Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania: 43.2%
California South area: 43.7%
 Louisiana area: 43.9%

If you’re looking to invest in vacation properties, avoid these markets because you likely won't get a good ROI. Property managers and hosts in these markets may need to lower their rates to encourage guests to book with them rather than other Airbnbs.

Hottest Airbnb Markets
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Why Airbnb Occupancy Rates Differ from Hotels 

Hotels offer a consistent product and pricing strategy, but STRs vary widely in terms of property type, location, amenities, and host engagement. It’s crucial to assess STR occupancy differently than traditional hotel occupancy in order to accurately reflect performance in the vacation rental market.

AirDNA only considers active listings in its occupancy rate calculations, whether it’s for a specific market or when someone uses our Airbnb calculator. We define active as having at least one calendar day classified as reserved or available during the reporting period. If we included every available night from every available listing in our occupancy calculation, it would return a falsely low occupancy rate. This is due to variations in vacation rental host behaviors and motivations. We’re talking about host attentiveness in managing listing calendars and their responsiveness to reservation requests.

Here are three host cases that would falsely skew occupancy downward if we included them in the occupancy rate calculation: 

Event-Based Hosts: Hosts who list properties temporarily to take advantage of specific events, causing temporary market fluctuations that don’t reflect regular hosting activity.

"Make Me Move" Hosts: Hosts who set their prices significantly above the market rate, using Airbnb as an opportunistic platform rather than a committed hosting venue.

Dormant Listings: Properties that appear available but haven't seen a booking for months, often due to a shift in host priorities or property usage.

AirDNA ensures that its occupancy rate calculations reflect genuine market activity and trends by focusing on active listings. We stand by the accuracy of our data and use this methodology to help stakeholders understand the true dynamics of the STR market. Our insights are distinct from those that can be gleaned from hotel occupancy data.

How to Get High Occupancy on Airbnb

Occupancy rate may not be a complete picture of your property’s performance, but it’s still important. After all, you’re only making money if guests are staying at your property. If your occupancy rate is falling short of expectations, take these data-driven steps to learn how to increase occupancy rate on Airbnb. 

Increase Your Airbnb Occupancy Rate

Occupancy Rate is Just the Beginning  

According to ou annual best places to invest report, most of the destinations at the top of the list have occupancy rates of 60-70%. If you're interested to learn more about a market's occupancy rate, visit the AirDNA app.

While Airbnb occupancy rates are important, you need to track a range of metrics to assess how your Airbnb is performing overall. Our insights can help you optimize your properties for the best possible occupancy rate, average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available rental (RevPAR), and overall profitability.

Frequently Asked Questions:
What is a good occupancy rate for an Airbnb?

There is no universal “good" occupancy rate. Determining whether your occupancy rate is optimized requires understanding local market conditions, historical performance, and your personal goals for the property. Keep in mind that lower occupancy rates don’t necessarily indicate lost revenue. If you are charging a higher average daily rate, you might not need as many bookings to make as much money as a competitor with higher occupancy but a lower nightly rate.

Where can you see Airbnb occupancy rates?

You can see the occupancy rate for your listing as well as that of competitors in the area on your AirDNA dashboard. 

Find out what “Airbnb occupancy rate” refers to, how to calculate it, and tips for improving your occupancy rate and increasing your STR income.

Festival Fever: The Impact of Coachella and Stagecoach on Short-Term Rentals

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