The UK short-term rental industry is entering a new era of data visibility. Until now, property managers have often had to rely on scraped estimates and incomplete views of the market, leaving gaps in strategy and uncertainty in conversations with owners. That has changed.
Key Data’s direct-source dataset has expanded by more than 70%, growing from 50,000 to over 85,000 properties across the UK. This means the property managers in this market now have access to an unprecedented level of intelligence, never available before.
Why Key Data?
Key Data is the only provider of direct-source visibility into the UK short-term rental market. Unlike scraped estimates, our platform aggregates verified reservation data straight from property management systems. This allows property managers to see what guests actually paid, how long they stayed, and where they travelled from insight that competitors simply cannot offer.
Key Data is one of the most widely used short-term rental analytics platforms in the UK, drawing on data from more than 2,000 property management companies, including leading brands Awaze, Travel Chapter, and Sykes Cottages. The platform also partners with trade associations including PASC, ASSC and STAA to ensure that data-driven insight underpins future policy.
With this expanded dataset, we’re taking the next step: introducing two powerful tools designed to give UK property managers even more market-level visibility and control Enhanced Benchmarking and Rental Projections.
Enhanced Benchmarking: Go Beyond The Basics
Standard benchmarking answers an important question: Am I performing better or worse than the market? But Enhanced Benchmarking goes much further, revealing why.
This tool adds more than 30 layers of reporting to the Key Data dashboard, giving property managers advanced intelligence across:
- Booking Windows: See exactly how far in advance guests are booking and identify the sweet spots for adjusting rates.
- Length of Stay Trends: Understand whether guests are shifting to shorter breaks or longer stays and adapt your minimum night policies accordingly.
- Feeder Markets: Discover where your guests, and your competitors’ guests, are travelling from, down to postal codes. This allows smarter, more targeted marketing spend.
- Booking Sources: Track the true performance of channels such as Direct, Airbnb, and Vrbo using PMS-verified reservation data.
- Inventory Performance: Compare your unit types, bedroom counts, and amenities against the market to see which segments are winning and where opportunities are being missed.
For property managers, Enhanced Benchmarking answers the tough questions from owners:
- Is it me, or the market?
- Why are bookings slower this month?
- Which channels and guest origins are driving performance?
The result is faster, smarter decisions on pricing, marketing, and owner communication.
Rental Projections: Forecast With confidence
The second new tool available in the UK is Rental Projections, designed to help property managers look ahead with accuracy.
By using actual historical bookings from the expanded dataset, Rental Projections generates property-level revenue forecasts. This makes it a powerful tool for:
- Inventory Growth: Show prospective owners the income potential of their property under your management.
- Owner Retention: Provide existing owners with transparent projections that validate your strategy and build trust.
- Revenue Planning: Anticipate performance at both the unit and portfolio level for smarter budgeting.
- Owner Holds Analysis: Demonstrate the real financial impact of owner stays and blocked nights by calculating the lost revenue they represent.
This ability to quantify missed opportunities is especially valuable in conversations with owners. Instead of explaining in broad terms, you can point to hard numbers: “Here’s what the property could have earned during those owner holds.”
Why It Matters
With the UK dataset now expanded by more than 70%, Enhanced Benchmarking and Rental Projections are launching into a market that finally has the depth needed to unlock their full value.
For property managers, this means:
- A clearer picture of what’s really happening in the market.
- Defensible insights when talking to owners about performance.
- The ability to adapt quickly to shifting demand.
- Confidence in forecasting, backed by verified data rather than scraped estimates.
The Next Chapter For The UK
The UK short-term rental industry is evolving quickly, and with it comes new challenges — from shorter booking windows to changing guest travel patterns. Having the right data, at the right time, is the difference between keeping pace and falling behind.
By combining the most accurate dataset in the market with advanced tools like Enhanced Benchmarking and Rental Projections, Key Data is giving UK property managers the visibility they need to compete, grow, and strengthen owner relationships like never before.
This is unprecedented market intelligence available to all Key Data Dashboard users.
Interested in learning more - Schedule time to speak with one of our growth strategy consultants today.