How to Use Data to Manage Homeowner Conversations | AirDNA

Property managers aren’t just responsible for overseeing home rentals and upkeep, you also navigate difficult conversations with homeowners on a daily basis. “Why did I only make $X last month?” and “Why are you charging $Y nightly rates for my place?” are common questions from property owners, and they can often feel like your decisions are being called into question.

But rather than spend large amounts of time on long-winded explanations that aren’t always convincing, data should be your defense. The data solutions from AirDNA track how every vacation rental is performing a market, and empower property managers to rationalize their strategies. For example, you could say to homeowners: “Yes, you made $X last month, but properties nearby made $Z less.”

Having data objectively and confidently justifies your actions and helps homeowners understand the overall market conditions. Below, we specify exactly how to use data to talk to homeowners, and in turn build and maintain greater trust with the people who power your business.

Show The Broader Market Trends

Context always matters. Your homeowners will naturally zoom in on how their specific properties are performing, but data around wider market trends informs them about the landscape they are in, as well as external factors.

Start by anchoring homeowners with data about short-term rentals in general. Perhaps it’s low season or maybe new legislation has impacted demand. Try to gather data from a large geographic reach so that you can really show the macro goings-on, and in particular, pay attention to metrics like property supply and demand. You can find this type of data under the ‘Market Summary’ tab in the Property Performance Dashboard.

Refer to Homeowners’ Specific Competitive Set

Using a competitive set to benchmark your homeowners’ performance is an absolute must. These are the properties that have similar characteristics to your homeowner’s place, or the rentals that your homeowner has determined as their rivals. Any data that proves your homeowner’s property is out-performing the competitive set will quickly establish you as an authority. 

Double down on earned revenue, the number of bookings, and also the length of stays. Also try to align the data with your homeowner’s priorities – for instance, if you know that they prefer long stays, you could say “Properties that also have a pool and 3 bedrooms, earned less than you last month, and had fewer 5+ night bookings.”