Key Takeaways
- Tuscaloosa demand is pacing up 638% for September 4 through 6, with Baton Rouge at 466% and Green Bay at 240%
- Alabama’s home opener is driving more than seven times last Labor Day weekend’s demand
- Labor Day shifting into September inflates the month’s numbers, real growth is closer to 3.4%
College football is about to reshape September for short-term rental operators in a handful of markets, and the booking data is already showing it.
Demand for September 4 through 6 is pacing up 638% year over year in Tuscaloosa, according to AirDNA’s latest market data.
Alabama’s home opener against East Carolina on September 5 is driving more than seven times the demand seen over last year’s Labor Day weekend.
Meanwhile, Baton Rouge is close behind at 466% ahead of the LSU Tigers matchup versus Clemson.
Green Bay is up 240% for Wisconsin against Notre Dame, and South Bend is up 89%. State College sits at 47%, Eugene at 43%, and Bloomington at 39%.
Here are the top markets by demand pacing from September 4-6, 2026 vs. August 29-31, 2025, according to AirDNA data.
| Tuscaloosa | 638% |
| Baton Rouge | 466% |
| Green Bay | 240% |
| South Bend | 89% |
| State College | 47% |
| Eugene | 43% |
| Birmingham | 43% |
| Baltimore | 43% |
| El Paso | 42% |
| Bloomington | 39% |
Labor Day moved and September got the credit
Before you get too excited about September, check the calendar though.
Labor Day landed August 29 through 31 last year.
This year it shows up six days later, which drags the entire holiday weekend across the month line. August gets robbed. September gets the credit.
Slide the comparison window three days so the two holiday weekends actually match up and September pacing falls from 23.6% to 15.4%. Put the Labor Day weekends side by side and growth shrinks to 3.4%.
That is a normal year wearing a costume.
The good news is where the real gain is hiding.
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It shows up after the holiday, not during it. Mid September is quietly doing the work.
Everything else looks healthy.
The strongest short-term rental growth in eight months just landed in the June numbers. U.S. RevPAR climbed 4.5 percent year over year to $200.19, with demand growing 1.9 percent, the fastest pace since October 2025.
Average daily rates rose 4.6 percent to $310.64 for the month, according to AirDNA’s June 2026 U.S. Review. Bookings have outpaced realized demand for most of the year, a gap AirDNA’s data flags as a signal that actual stays could keep climbing through the back half of 2026.
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