Key Takeaways

  • Fall travel interest on Vrbo rose 17 percent year over year, with rates 5 percent below summer peaks
  • Myrtle Beach still discounts 34 percent, while Nashville, Boston, Chicago and Miami see rising fall rates
  • European markets like Corfu and Siena hold 8 percent savings, while London, Paris and Rome stay firm

Fall travel interest on Vrbo has jumped 17 percent year over year, and the discount that once defined short-term rental rates after Labor Day is nearly gone. Average nightly rates across the platform’s top destinations are now just 5 percent below peak summer prices, according to new Vrbo data.

The traditional shoulder season, the stretch between Labor Day and the holiday travel rush, has long been a reliable window for hosts to drop rates and still fill calendars.

That math is breaking down, per an Indexbox report detailing the new figures, as summer-level demand keeps pushing into October and November, a trend that echoes the broader rate gains tracked in coastal markets like Folly Beach.

Where the fall discounts still hold

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, remains the biggest outlier, with rentals running an average of 34% cheaper than summer rates. One listing there drops from roughly $1,300 a night in August to about $600 in October, per Vrbo.

Other Gulf and Atlantic coast markets are still discounting too. Orange Beach, Alabama, is averaging 31% savings, Panama City Beach, Florida, 24%, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, 16%, and Ocean City, Maryland, 12%.

Vrbo also flagged softer pricing in parts of Europe, including Corfu, Crete, Girona, the Azores and Siena, running about 8% below summer highs. Major hubs like London, Paris, Madrid and Rome are holding firm.

“Shoulder season is this time between Labor Day and the holiday travel season when, traditionally, prices have dropped pretty dramatically and crowds have thinned out,” per Vrbo travel expert Melanie Fish. “Well, summer travel demand is now spilling over into fall.”

The squeeze is showing up hardest in cities that keep drawing crowds well past summer. Vrbo pointed to Nashville, Boston, Chicago and Miami as markets where fall rates are climbing rather than falling, a reversal of the seasonal pattern hosts and guests have both come to expect.

Related: Three short-term rental insurance red flags operators should know

Fish suggested travelers chasing lower prices consider swapping destinations or watching for last-minute discounts.

The deepest bargains are increasingly concentrated in a shrinking list of beach towns and secondary European destinations rather than spread broadly across the calendar, which leaves operators in markets like Boston and Chicago facing less pressure to discount heading into fall, unlike hosts fighting for bookings in places such as coastal Massachusetts.

Vrbo’s data covers its own top destinations through the current fall booking window. The widest gaps remain concentrated in Southeast beach markets and a handful of secondary European towns.

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