As we say goodbye to April and welcome May, momentum across the vacation rental market continues to build. Guests are booking closer to their travel dates this year, and our team is staying agile to capture these opportunities,ensuring your property remains well-positioned for success.
April began with slower booking activity—likely due to spring break travel, the Easter holiday, and broader market volatility—but momentum built as the month progressed. As the market stabilized and guests returned from their travels, bookings picked up, allowing us to finish the month in line with goals. With healthy occupancy levels and stable average daily rates, we are entering the peak season months of summer with optimism and a clear strategy to drive performance on your behalf.
Early results include:
A 19% year-to-date increase in same store sales for long-standing homes in our program (minimum 15 months), reflecting overall healthy, sustained growth.
This shows how much revenue has changed for the same group of homes that were active during both time periods we’re comparing (usually year-over-year).
It helps us measure true performance achieved on your behalf, on average, without the impact of properties onboarded or offboarded in the last year.
Booking windows tell a tale of two halves. While our overall lead time has increased by 13% YoY (12 days longer on average), many travelers are taking advantage of promotions to enjoy more attractive rates. Illustrating this, we saw our bookings for check-in less than 45 days out coming in at a rate 25% higher than last year! This is consistent with broader travel industry trends, including hotels, vacation rentals and flight data.
For any properties underperforming year-to-date, we’ve taken a proactive and data-driven approachto reverse these trends. Through targeted price adjustments, strategic promotions, and focused marketing efforts, we are beginning to see encouraging signs of improvement. Early indicators show increased search visibility, stronger booking activity, and improved pacing for this segment of properties—suggesting that our interventions are starting to gain traction. We’ll continue to monitor performance closely and refine our strategies to ensure sustained growth through the remainder of the year.
Thank you for trusting us with your home. We are excited for what’s ahead and committed to delivering an exceptional summer season.
Andreea
CEO, Gather Vacations
Marketing & Distribution
New Channels and Bookings Mix
We’re encouraged by the growing contribution from new booking channels. American Express Travel, live now for just two full months, has already delivered several bookings. While still a small share of our overall bookings mix, these represent incremental demand we weren’t previously capturing—guests using points who might have otherwise chosen hotels. As point-based programs expand into vacation rentals, the demand they generate is additive to what we’re already seeing through OTAs and direct bookings.
In April, the relative share of Airbnb bookings dropped 3 percentage points, while specialist Travel Agents – an intentional area of growth for our portfolio, represented 15% of bookings (vs 10% average over the last 6 months).
Next month, we look forward to being fully distributed with Capital One Travel, and we’re delighted they chose us as an exclusive property management partner for Hawaii (excluding a small number of pre-existing properties).
And continuing the theme of expanding our distribution reach, we just signed on with Key.co a curated travel platform offering 60 top-tier destinations – as their first Hawaii property management partner! This is planned for go-live in summer and we’ll keep you posted on progress—and results.
Targeted Promotions
Last month we shared we had launched targeted promotion campaigns to boost bookings for properties lagging in occupancy. Book Early for Summer and Pay 6 Stay 7 (and recently, a further 5th Night Free promotion for selected properties) saw positive traction, supported by increased spend on digital ads (both paid search and paid social) as well as retargeting campaigns, with over $60k of bookings generated in the last 6 weeks. We’re continuing to review pricing and marketing strategy for any property pacing behind last year’s results, and implementing tailored advertising “boost” campaigns to drive traffic and attract potential guests.
Market & Revenue
Hawai'i
Across the islands, booking trends show a mixed but overall encouraging outlook, with gains in key performance metrics driven by targeted strategies.
Maui leads with a 12.4% revenue increase over last year, driven by significant growth (+22%) in Average Daily Rates (ADR) for both high and lower ADR properties. Mid-tier ADR homes are showing slower traction, which we are actively addressing.
Kauai shows broad growth, with ADR and occupancy trending positively—particularly among higher-tier properties—indicating strong demand.
Oahu maintains a positive outlook despite a 15% increase in owner stays reducing availability. We see stronger performance for higher ADR properties and September pacing stronger than last year for guest nights.
Big Island higher occupancy has lifted revenue, despite a notable drop in ADR—especially an average 39% decline for lower ADR properties. Available nights are down 3.5%, due to owner use.
West Coast
California and Washington are showing more stable ADRs compared to last year. We’re collaborating closely with mainland property managers to adjust rates and drive occupancy. Early results show improved bookings in the last few weeks for previously underperforming homes and we’re encouraged by the overall pickup in demand for the coming months.
Overall, proactive pricing and revenue management efforts are delivering improved results, especially in markets with stronger demand signals and adjusted inventory strategies.
The Gathering: What's New!
Gather x Epicurate
We’re proud to announce our partnership with Epicurate, further elevating the personalized hospitality Gather is known for by expanding our curated, in-home service offerings.
Epicurate complements our existing concierge services—already a key promise we make to homeowners—by adding even more depth and flexibility. While our concierge team continues to offer dedicated, human support, Epicurate empowers guests to browse and book bespoke experiences at their own pace or with white-glove assistance. It’s a seamless extension of our commitment to high-touch, high-quality service.
From private chef dinners, sommelier-led wine tastings, and hands-on cooking classes to in-home massage therapy and wellness sessions, Epicurate connects guests with exceptional, insured professionals who deliver memorable moments right in the comfort of their vacation rental.
This collaboration reflects our continued focus on thoughtful hospitality blended with modern convenience—the Gather way.
Team Update: Gather's New Director of Revenue Management
This month we were delighted to welcome Jillian Nettleship to our team as Director of Revenue Management. With over a decade of experience in the hospitality industry, Jillian brings extensive knowledge in revenue optimization and strategic leadership. Most recently, she served as Director of Revenue and Marketing at Meredith Lodging, overseeing pricing and revenue for up to 2,500 properties.
Jillian is highly proficient in all of our industry-leading tools—Beyond, PriceLabs, KeyData, and Track—and brings a methodical approach that blends deep analytical expertise with sound, experience-based judgment. She is focused on reviewing the full portfolio, refining pricing strategies, and collaborating closely with our property managers to ensure every home is optimally positioned for peak performance.
Travel & STR Industry Digest
Exciting news from AirBNB! Our results for March showed an increase in performance across Gather’s portfolio across key metrics for guest satisfaction.
Gather’s cleanliness rating on the platform stands at 4.87 against our competitors’ average coming in at 4.81.
According to a survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), 77% of guests consider cleanliness the most important factor when choosing a rental. Our property managers and their teams are doing a phenomenal job of keeping your homes up to our guests’ high cleanliness standards so they stay booked!
Additionally, only 1% of our guests report issues during their stay, compared to 2% among guests at competing properties. The Gather team works closely with our local Property Managers to ensure that guests’ needs are taken care of before issues arise.
The Gather Resource Center is a comprehensive collection of articles designed to provide valuable information and help homeowners quickly find answers to common questions.
The Track Owner Portal allows homeowners to view reservations, access monthly statements, generate reports, and retrieve important documents like tax forms, ACH forms, and invoices.
We'd love to hear from you...
As a valued owner and key stakeholder at Gather, your feedback is essential in shaping our services and ensuring our shared success. We’d love to hear your thoughts on what we're doing well, and where we can improve. Please take a moment to share your insights, and help us grow!
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