Top short-term rental property managers in Europe

To ascertain this, we have compiled datasets of three notable metrics: property count, average star rating, and average occupancy–and ranked the PMs accordingly. 

Ahead we break down the PMs who, in 2022, managed the highest number of properties, received the highest star ratings and experienced the highest average accommodation rates. Furthermore, we will discuss how these PMs may have achieved such high performance.

Top short-term rental property managers in Europe by property count

In our property count research, we looked at property managers with the highest property counts. Focusing on the top 25, we found over 600,000 entire home properties in total. Among these, Novasol (Denmark), Poplidays (France), and DS Destination Solutions (Germany) had the highest property counts, with approximately 68,000, 66,000, and 59,000 respectively. Besides these biggest players, the majority of these top contenders possess 10-20,000 properties each.

Intriguingly, the country with the most PMs in the ranking by property count was Germany. DS Destination Solutions, Bookiply, Secra, Holiday Home, Travanto, and Tui Fereinhaus are all based in Germany.

Top European short-term rental property managers by average star rating

Subsequently in our search, we investigated the average star ratings of European property managers. The table below shows the top 10. Each of these PMs has in excess of 50 reviews that make up that perfect score. Just a few of the PMs stealing the 5-star rating top spot included: Sosore (Italy), Dubrovnik Riviera (Croatia), and Seaside Naxos (Greece).

As you may notice, several PMs listed with some of the highest rated are based in Ukraine. We presume these high ratings were out of support for Ukraine, in turn bringing their PMs up the rankings.

Moreover, unlike the property count list, these PMs are boutique with comparatively low property possession. This is especially the case for 5-star rating PMs. Another similarity is that the three property management companies receiving 5 stars all specialize in luxury vacation rentals. For one thing, luxury vacation rental managers are typically expected to take extra consideration into the amenities for their guests. In other words, ensuring 24-hour room service, gourmet dining, a high staff-to-guest ratio, access to wellness centers, and entertainment. Evidently, these property managers aced their game in 2022, and it is well-documented how critical reviews and high ratings are.

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Top short-term rental property managers in Europe by average occupancy

The last method of looking for the top-ranked EU property managers was through demand. We analyzed which companies have the highest average occupancy rates; one important indicator of success. Undoubtedly, we found some numbers that surely satisfied these top PMs.

Evidently, through 2022, Villadelcielo in Italy had 100% average occupancy. Vatican Luxury Rooms and The Match Madrid came in second and third with 99.5 and 99.4% respectively. Villadelciello had a total of 110 bookings, Vatican Luxury Rooms received 164, and The Match Madrid had 247. Interestingly, the average number of bookings for 2022 across the top 25 was 111. As a result, this brought the average length of stay to 3.3 days.

Why does this top-ranking matter?

All in all, recent industry changes include the rise in professionalism, the advancement, and adoption of technology, and the progressing STR landscape. As a consequence, this has led property managers to experience an expansion of properties, higher ratings, and more demand. 

Out of all the top short-term rental property managers in Europe we discovered, there was no PM placed in more than one of the ranking categories. Will that ever be possible in the near future? Nonetheless, all of these PMs did exceptionally in 2022, whether through acquisitions of more property, better ratings, or stronger reputations. Lastly, we hope to see their names in next year's rankings, along with some new ones.

Strive to gain higher rankings in 2023 by implementing Lighthouse data solutions that give you actionable vacation rental insights to maximize revenue.