As seasonal rental specialists, and even more so as an Airbnb agency, we asked ourselves the question of when do the French people search for Airbnb the most on the internet. At a time when many households are planning holidays very early to better control their finances, the reality on the ground seems quite different. Our concierge in Cannes explains all this to you.
Is Airbnb the specialist platform for last-minute reservations?
One of the strengths of the Airbnb platform is to allow its users to quickly find a vacation destination. Whatever the time of year, the advanced functionalities of the site and its multiple search filters allow a quick selection of vacation rental criteria. At the same time, the overcrowded supply of vacation rentals meets a demand that is as strong as it is eclectic. This strength makes Airbnb one of the leading online platforms for vacation rentals, but also offers a great last-minute booking opportunity for latecomers.
To study this, we concierge in Cannes turned to Google Trends, an online tool for tracking search intent on keywords. The search trends on airbnb, brought here into a score out of 100, show that the top searches are indeed seasonal for the “Airbnb” theme. Indeed, it seems that the majority of searches for an Airbnb are carried out in July, and this every year since the creation of the platform in 2008. This trend is growing, at least as Airbnb breaks records of research.
The French are looking for Airbnb in July:
As evidenced by the chart above, searching for “Airbnb” in Google causes spikes every July. Almost systematically, the month of August is positioned second on the podium, the month of June third. An almost surprising curve, so much we hear about booking holidays in advance and so much the French are attached to the summer season and tend to prepare for it upstream. We know that many French people save throughout the year to prepare their holidays, we observe here an act of purchase finally very late.
The summer season, of all, is therefore the season of reservations and the occupancy rate at its peak. A last-minute logic without question, so clearly are the peaks on this graph. With the exception of 2020, the year of confinement, the lowest scores are recorded in November and December. The holiday season, although well known for bringing family gatherings, does not seem to stimulate seasonal rentals, quite the contrary.
Airbnb searches testify to the popularity of the platform:
A fact that calls out to our concierge service in Cannes in particular is also the design of the curve: an increasing evolution from year to year, almost regular. However, we can observe different statistics in 2020 with decreases and increases at unusual times, but the progression is clearly present as a whole and the year 2022 was indeed a record year, with an Airbnb search rate of 100% in July.
Remembering that Airbnb was created in 2008, we note that the arrival in France of the platform will have taken a few years. It was in June 2011 that the first research intentions were observed. The real starting point is made a year later, in July August 2012. Then, the success that the platform takes shape with a volume of searches growing from year to year until a first peak in July 2017, a second in July 2020 after the 1st lockdown and finally the 2022 record.
