Time is being called on low cost AirBnB’s when high profile events come to town as demand surge event data is being shared with Short Term hosts for the first time.
Historically, left in the dark through lack of access to the aggregated data as used by major hotel chains, takeaway food brands and ride sharing companies, short term hosts have drawn the short straw when it comes from capitalising on major events in their area.
Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Oasis even sporting events such as Wimbledon and the Grand National can all provide Average Daily Rate (ADR) increases from 30-300% around major events (Source money.co.uk) yet often busy hosts managing the UK’s 450,000 holiday lets frequently lose out due to either lack of foresight or missing windows to adjust pricing on platforms before they are secured by savvy guests.
For the first time, in the UK Short-Term rental sector, HostAlert is enabling the sector to become more sophisticated, equipped with the same tools and data employed by hotels, to make the informed decisions on pricing via predictions on demand surge.
Often seen as the backbone of the budget alternative accommodation market HostAlert has now provided foresight on demand drivers that were previously unseen.
The intelligence, which helps hosts unlock the £2 billion to £4.5 billion* loss in annual revenue caused by lack of access to demand data, will see the price gaps between AirBnB’s and hotels begin to close as a cheap deal at a short-term holiday let from a host that is unaware that a major conference, concert, sports fixture of cultural event is coming to town, will become a thing of the past.
HostAlert CEO and co-founder, Paul O’Donoghue says, “For too long short-term rental hosts have been operated their businesses by looking in the rear-view mirror. Pricing platforms act on historic data and cannot see the golden opportunities that lie ahead in the calendar.
“Whilst big hotel companies have benefited from verified event data for years, independent operators have had a huge pricing blind spot and that is about to change. By creating a single source of verified industry grade event data with the ability to adjust pricing at the same time as hotels, time is literally being called on ‘cheap’ AirBnB rooms.”
Industry comparisons have shown Airbnb accommodation frequently undercut hotels in destinations, such as in London, where the average Airbnb accommodation is around £80–£120 per night compared with £100–£150 for mid-range hotel room.
To date, the disparity has only become wider when major events take place, such as Oasis playing Cardiff in 2025 prompting a price surge of 354% as hotel rooms increased to £1,000, increasing further as supply becomes more constrained. However, the first-of-its-kind app, HostAlert, puts forward-looking visibility of demand surge events in the hands of the STR operator so that they can realise typical ADR uplifts of 20–40% during major demand event spikes without relying on algorithms to detect movement.
Sharing the same data source as used by IHG hotels, Uber, Dominoes and Amazon Alexa in a real-time dynamic event listing tool, the app links to booking platforms including AirBnB, Vrbo and Booking.com or enables users to set tailored reminders to prompt action at a later date.