6 Portfolio Moves for Vacation Rental Managers in 2027

Turn Expedia Group’s Unpack ’27 travel trends into action. Explore six portfolio, pricing, listing, and revenue strategies for vacation rental managers.

Amusement park swing ride with red seats spinning beneath lights, above the headline ‘Six Portfolio Moves for Vacation Rental Managers in 2027.’”

Expedia Group just dropped its Unpack ’27 report. The data pulls from first-party search trends across Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo, plus a massive global survey of 26,000 travelers. The big takeaway? Travelers are stopping generic searches and booking properties based on hyper-specific personal motivations, exact calendar windows, and unique local experiences. 

If you're managing an enterprise portfolio, your main goal is to figure out which homes already fit these changing behaviors, make them incredibly easy for guests to find, and protect your profit margins.

Let's break down the macro trends and look at six practical ways to update your property management strategy.

Unpack ’27: The Travel Trends at a Glance

Report Signal What It Means How to Apply It
Un-Adulting Travelers want playful, carefree time and nostalgic activities. Surface homes with game rooms, pools, spacious backyards, or gathering areas.
Trip Snacking More travelers are planning quick, one-night stays between longer trips. Review calendar gaps and test shorter stays where operations and economics support them.
Gothic Getaways Travelers are drawn to distinctive atmospheres, architecture, and history. Put character-rich homes and their best photos forward.
Hobby Hubs Trips are increasingly planned around shared interests and activities. Call out features such as docks, courts, gear storage, and trail access.
Heartland Hideouts Inland destinations and regional experiences are gaining attention. Highlight local character, outdoor access, and drive-to appeal.
Set-Jetting Film and television can inspire travelers to visit a destination. Make a property’s location and nearby attractions easy to understand.

6 Smart Plays for Your Portfolio

1. Sort Your Portfolio by Guest Motivation, Not Just Location

The rise of Heartland Hideouts proves that travelers are moving away from traditional beach-only vacations. In fact, Vrbo search volume jumped 140% for Bentonville, Arkansas, and 120% for Deadwood, South Dakota. Nearly 65% of surveyed travelers stayed in an inland destination over the past year.

This means search engines and AI answer tools aren't just looking for "houses in Texas." They are looking for specific property traits.

Audit your property descriptions. Group your homes by what a guest can actually do there. Do you have homes with secure gear storage for cyclists? Do you have large driveways for oversized vehicles? Tag these details clearly in your system so downstream listing channels can easily pull your data for specific user searches.  

 

ESCAPIA TIP: Use Escapia’s Revenue Intelligence Market Rates as one input to pricing decisions. It uses first-party Vrbo marketplace data to surface rate recommendations for eligible unit-and-date combinations. Pair those signals with your local knowledge and property-level economics rather than treating a market average as a pricing rule.

Escapia’s Vrbo channel tools include bulk amenity updates and listing-management capabilities; its distribution tools help teams manage listing information and availability across connected channels.

 

2. Make the In-Home Experience Part of Your Marketing

With Un-Adulting (57% of travelers want a nostalgic trip) and Hobby Hubs (68% of guests prefer activity-centric rentals) trending up, the property isn't just a place to sleep. It is the main event.

Think about your large group rentals. Instead of just listing the bed count, show how your space brings people together.

Add high-quality photos of communal spaces. Highlight simple but memorable touches like a closet full of board games, a high-end coffee bar, or a fire pit with comfortable seating. Update your text to explain exactly how the physical layout makes group stays comfortable and fun.

 

ESCAPIA TIP: Use Escapia’s bulk amenity updates to keep standard amenities accurate across multiple listings. Check the mapping view to see how those amenities appear on the channel and only select features the property offers.

 

3. Use Short Stays to Fill Your Calendar Strategically

The Trip Snacking trend shows a major shift toward micro-vacations. The report found that 79% of surveyed travelers plan to book a one-night stay this year. While hotel data skews this number, the core behavior is an opportunity for short-term rental operators.

Look at your upcoming calendar gaps, slow shoulder weeks, and last-minute cancellations.

Instead of dropping your prices for everyone, selectively lower your minimum-stay requirements for homes that are quick and easy for your housekeeping teams to turn over. Always calculate the true net revenue after cleaning and distribution costs to make sure these quick stays are actually profitable, not just busywork for your team.

 

ESCAPIA TIP: Use Rates Manager to adjust rates and minimum nights, including through bulk updates. Eligible listings can use native Vrbo Promotions: Early Booking, Last-minute, Mobile-only, Members-only, and New Listing. Confirm eligibility and terms before expanding a campaign.

 

4. Lean Into Your Most Distinctive Properties 

Hotels.com discovered that 56% of travelers choose a place to stay purely for its aesthetic style or historic atmosphere, calling out Gothic Getaways as a prime example. The lesson here for vacation rentals is clear: unique homes stand out, while generic spaces get ignored.

Lead with properties that have historic details, unusual architecture, memorable interiors, or a strong sense of place. If a property—or its neighborhood—has Gothic architecture, historic landmarks, distinctive local character, or related activities, make that connection clear in the listing and photos. 

You don't have to look far to see how character-driven marketing drives enterprise success. Escapia customer, Lucky Savannah, managing a unique portfolio in Savannah, Georgia, proved this on a massive scale. Their General Lachlan McIntosh House is the heart of Savannah, and is a property so rich in local history, that George Washington actually stayed there. 

 

What Property Managers Can Learn From a 2026 Vrbo Vacation Rental of the Year

What does it take to earn a 2026 Vrbo Vacation Rental of the Year? Learn how Lucky Savannah scaled to 400+ properties through operational excellence, hotel-grade hospitality, trust accounting, and smart vacation rental management.

 

By pairing the home's historic charm with high-quality media, the property didn't just stand out in a competitive market; it was officially named a Vrbo Vacation Rental of the Year in 2026. 

Move unique photos to the very front of your listing gallery. Write clear, honest descriptions that capture the vibe of the vacation rental. Don't spam trendy keywords that don't match the property, but do make sure you implement terms that people use when searching for a truly memorable stay. Focusing on high-quality media can help you organically build toward Premier Host status, which helps your search rankings across the board.

 

 

ESCAPIA TIP: Use Escapia Guest Guides to extend a distinctive property’s story beyond the listing. Add property details and relevant local recommendations—such as nearby historic architecture, landmarks, or tours—and automatically share the mobile-friendly guide with guests before arrival through Communications Hub.

 

5. Track Entertainment Cycles for Early Bookings

Set-Jetting is still a massive booking driver, with one in five global travelers choosing a destination after seeing it on screen. For example, searches for Monaco shot up 120% within 30 days of a major streaming show confirming they were filming there.

Keep an eye on major entertainment news, streaming release dates, and local filming schedules in your markets.

Adjust your rates and booking windows before the public search wave peaks. If you have a home near a famous filming location, update the listing title and description to mention it clearly, but make sure you don't imply any official corporate partnerships.

 

ESCAPIA TIP: Keep your calendars and rates updated well ahead of these unexpected demand windows. If local search volume spikes suddenly, use Vrbo Sponsored Listings to buy premium visibility while traveler interest is high.

 

6. Test Big Trends with Small, Controlled Pilots 

Global survey data and macro trends are fantastic for inspiration, but you shouldn't change your entire business model overnight. Every market, property type, and homeowner agreement is different.

Treat these trends as simple, low-risk experiments.

Pick a small group of properties to test a specific idea—like opening up two-night minimums on five properties or updating the photos and descriptions for three inland homes. Track their performance for 60 days against a control group of similar properties. Watch your average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) to make sure the change actually makes you money before scaling it up.

 

ESCAPIA TIP: Use Flex Reporting to monitor your experiments. Filter your performance data by property group, specific dates, and booking channels. This helps you track ADR, RevPAR, and occupancy to prove the pilot is working before you talk to your homeowners.

The Strategic Takeaway

Don't look at the Unpack ’27 report as a strict list of rules. Look at it as a roadmap to connect your existing inventory with what travelers are already looking for. By organizing your portfolio by guest motivation, testing flexible stay options, and tracking your actual revenue data, you can build a smarter, more resilient operation.

Planning for 2027?

Talk with the Escapia team about your goals and see how Escapia could support your operation.