While AirDNA is one of the bigger name in the short term rental data and analytics industry, Airbnb hosts, investors, and property managers are naturally wondering how accurate AirDNA data and estimates are before deciding to use this software. In this article, we estimate the accuracy of AirDNA analysis in order to help STR stakeholders determine whether the platform is worth the cost.
In order to measure data accuracy directly, we heavily researched consumer sentiment. We checked out AirDNA reviews on third-party websites and read through users' comments and discussions on online forums to establish the level of accuracy of AirDNA data in different categories.
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What data does AirDNA use?
For its short term rental market and property analysis, AirDNA relies on three sources of data that include:
- Scraped data at scale: AirDNA tracks the performance of over ten million Airbnb and Vrbo listings located in both U.S. and international markets on a daily basis. The company scraps reservation data from the two listing platforms using a host of servers, after which it uses its proprietary Matching Algorithm to account for dual-listed properties, detects reservations based on booked vs blocked methodology, and updates data across its tools.
- Partner data from verified properties: AirDNA uses data from more than 1.1 million properties around the globe that comes from thousands of channel managers and property management systems (PMSs) that the company partners with. This data is based on real reservation data. AirDNA leverages this data to control quality and finetune analytics.
- Host-level AirDNA data: AirDNA gets data from 35,000 listings of their subscribers including individual hosts and Airbnb managers. This data comes from properties that are directly connected to the platform.
In sum, AirDNA utilizes a combination of scraped and source data to boost accuracy.
According to information provided on the company website, AirDNA accuracy has consistently been between 95% and 99% with regards to revenue. Specifically, AirDNA notes that their data matches Airbnb data with 94.9% accuracy and Vrbo data with 98.7% accuracy. However, AirDNA reviews by customers and feedback on real estate investing forums tell a different story.
How accurate is AirDNA overall?
AirDNA is one of the biggest names in short-term rental data and analytics, but how accurate is its data, really? Based on customer feedback and real estate investing forums, overall sentiment is mixed. While market-level AirDNA data in larger cities tends to be accurate, the platform often struggles with nuances in smaller, unique, or less saturated markets. Many users claim that it's not worth the cost.
We've divided our analysis of AirDNA data accuracy into five categories – home size, market, property type, property value, and amenities – and researched user reports for each of them.
One consistent theme across categories is that AirDNA lacks the tools for fine-tuning data or customizing results. This can be a significant challenge for professional property owners and managers who need more precise insights. Experienced operators often want to tailor data to match the specific characteristics of their property or market, but AirDNA's framework doesn't always allow for that flexibility. This is particularly problematic for users who have a deep understanding of their local market and need data that closely mirrors reality.
In larger, well-established markets with abundant data, AirDNA can provide reasonably accurate insights, particularly when it comes to broader market trends. However, its inability to factor in nuances—like individual property characteristics or detailed local knowledge—limits its effectiveness for more granular decision-making. For professionals who need to get closer to the actual performance of their properties, AirDNA's one-size-fits-all approach may not be enough.
So is AirDNA data accurate? When we look at the average score across our five categories, AirDNA data seems to be inconsistent and inaccurate in many situations. This is a concern, especially because of the rather steep AirDNA pricing for access to multiple markets and features. While it may work well for some types of owners in large and well-defined markets, others may want to look into AirDNA competitors for more affordable pricing and better usability.
How accurate is AirDNA by home size?
First, let's take a look at how accurate users find AirDNA data to be based on home size. After all, small properties (studios and one-bedroom apartments) generate very different average daily rates (ADR), occupancy rates, and revenue from large, luxury properties with four or more bedrooms.
Here is what Kelsey says on Trustpilot about AirDNA data capabilities regarding property size:
"Good overall, but AirDNA lacks the following functionality: Displaying the top performing houses in a market by property size (bedroom count); Map filters for larger properties above 5 bedrooms."
Chris shares a similar sentiment on Trustpilot:
"There is no tool to tell me what the ADR of 2 beds in the top 10% of all 2 bed listings in that zip code should perform."
Similarly, here is what one used shared on Reddit:
"It's very accurate, except in one very specific and frustrating aspect. When a property address is used as two different listings on the same property, for example if you have a large lake home, and you rented out single bedrooms at a time, or you give the option of renting the entire house, air DNA will assume when the calendar is booked for that property, it's booked for the highest possible price. More specifically, there's a property near my house that rents for $1000 a night for the whole house, or $150 a night per bedroom. When any of the single bedrooms are booked out, air DNA believes that they received $1000 in revenue for that rental. As a result it says the homeowners make around $250,000 a year, when in reality 90% of their bookings or single bedrooms."
All in all, based on these customer reviews, AirDNA does not support strong functionalities when it comes to fine tuning and estimating specific performance according to STR property size. This is a limitation which can impact data accuracy and usability.
How accurate is AirDNA by market?
The next aspect of AirDNA data accuracy is market-level data. It's common in the short term rental data industry for a software tool to provide accurate estimates in some markets and inaccurate numbers in other locations, depending on the availability to listings and other factors. So, let's take a look at how AirDNA customers evaluate its accuracy by market.
Starting off positively, Chris shared the following on Trustpilot:
"AirDNA has the best short term rental data we've found. They're the only STR data provider we've found that provides ACCURATE information about the market."
However, Dimitros has a different opinion on AirDNA market data accuracy that he posted on Trustpilot:
"Data does not look that accurate, maybe 70-80% accuracy and maybe it depends on the city."
Meanwhile, as expressed in his review on Trustpilot, Mike has an even more negative experience with AirDNA data accuracy:
"AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. They'll take your money even if you cancel and their data is inaccurate. They showed an average of a 80% occupancy rate in a NC beach town that has obvious seasonality."
Similarly, pl highlights a major issue with how market data is calculated by using listings from other locations rather than the market under review on Trustpilot:
"Do not waste your money. The comps they were using were not even in the same CITY as my property. When I brought this to their attention, they agreed they weren't in the same city, and still refused to refund. It's a sham. They can give you any number and when you try to actually look at what went in to that number it's not accurate data and they can't back it up."
Bonny also reveals a problem with data availability and reliability in certain markets, on Trustpilot:
"There are zero comps for my area."
Similarly, a Reddit user found major discrepancies in the quality of AirDNA data between markets:
"For large cities - yes, smaller cities or regional - no. There's just not enough data."
A similar sentiment is shared by Alexandra316 on Airbnb:
"I also tried it and did not find it accurate or useful. I think much of it depends on your market: if you're hosting in a metropolitan area where there are a lot of listings that are similar to yours (like hosting a condo apartment in Toronto, for example) it's going to be way more accurate than if you host a vintage farmhouse in the sticks."
Finally, on Reddit, another user explains inaccurate data in their area via flaws in the AirDNA methodology:
"It assumes 'booked' nights are actual booked night, and not maintenance or owners blocks. It usually over inflates it's projections pretty substantially, at least in my area."
In conclusion, while there are some differences in the opinions of AirDNA users, the general agreement is that AirDNA vacation rental data accuracy depends on the location, with larger markets generally enjoying more accurate results. Some customers even identify methodology issues with the use of data at the market level.
Beyond the challenges with some market-level data, AirDNA offers few options for professional property managers to fine tune or customize their results based on their on-the-ground industry expertise.
How accurate is AirDNA by property type?
Different property types – single family homes, townhouses, studios, condos, apartments, multifamily homes, etc. – perform very differently when listed on rental websites, even within the same market. That's why it's important for short term rental data to distinguish between property types and provide equally accurate estimates for all of them. But does AirDNA do this?
Here is what Parker shares on Trustpilot with regards to AirDNA accuracy for houses:
"Airdna is a scam. I put my parents house in to compare on both VRBO and AirBNB... the occupancy and revenue was extremely off."
Zack analyzed a number of different properties and posted the following findings on Trustpilot:
"I found the data airdna had on my property was very inaccurate, it was over stating the turnover by almost 2x and stated I had majority of my earnings from VRBO rather than Airbnb when in fact I have never had a booking through VRBO.
I continued researching other properties, I found an area with high earning properties that looked very good according to Airdna data. I reached out to the property manager for a number of the properties and found out again that Airdna was showing earnings on multiple properties of 3x what they actually were earning."
Meanwhile, Deidre compared AirDNA data to actual data from her multiple listings and commented on the results on Quora:
"I have 6 short term rental properties. I looked at just my properties on Airdna and found that the data on 2 were pretty accurate (within 10% of actual number on gross annual rent), the data on 1 was about 15% off, the date on one was about 25% off and the data on the last two was just so out there as to be worthless. The occupancy numbers were worthless—airdna listed occupancy on all 6 properties as about 50%, actual occupancy ranged from 8% to 75%.
Based on my very limited data set, I don't see Airdna as having any real value."
With regards to property types, a couple of things become apparent from customer reviews of AirDNA. First of all, the platform doesn't seem to have very good capabilities to break down data by property type. Second, customers have noted that AirDNA is generally inaccurate for different properties across various markets.
How accurate is AirDNA based on property value?
When it comes to estimating property value, AirDNA tends to focus on market-level data, which means its property-level accuracy can be limited. AirDNA is well-suited for analyzing broader market trends, but when it comes to individual property value comps, there may be significant discrepancies. As one user on Reddit noted:
"The biggest problem of AirDNA is accuracy. While the overall number for a region can make sense, you cannot trust specific numbers for a property. AirDNA can grossly under or overestimate... I've talked to various Airbnb operators who stated that AirDNA numbers could be up to double of what they are actually making. One stated it was below 35% of what it should be."
This feedback highlights a common issue: AirDNA's strength lies in market-level data rather than in precise property-level forecasts. Users often find that the platform's estimates can vary widely for individual homes, making it less reliable for accurate property value assessments.
Further, professional property owners may find that AirDNA's data lacks flexibility for fine-tuning or customizing results based on their knowledge and expertise. This can be a limitation for experienced operators who rely on accurate, tailored data to make informed decisions. Without the ability to adjust estimates to fit local or property-specific nuances, users may struggle to get the granular insights they need to optimize their investments.
How accurate is AirDNA data on amenities?
Finally, we took a look at how AirDNA data performs when it comes to amenities estimates. As hosts and property managers know, amenities play a crucial role in affecting nightly prices, Airbnb occupancy rate, revenue, profit, reviews, and other aspects of a vacation rental business. Does AirDNA help owners understand these impacts?
To begin with, here is what one user posted on Reddit:
"From my experience it's pretty accurate, but with Airdna you've kind of got to read between the lines. All it's doing is giving you data about the existing market, so you have to keep in mind that the market could change. Airdna looks mainly at bedrooms, bathrooms and location, but we know that there are lots of other factors that can affect the earnings of a property such as reviews, amenities, photos etc. Assuming your property is average compared to the market in all those factors the chances are you'll be close to the Airdna estimate."
However, Brett shared the following impressions on BiggerPockets:
"The rentalizer tool is very inaccurate, from what I have seen. It pulls comps according to numbers but it can't accurately take into account the non-number factors. I.e. finishes, landscape, natural amenities."
In sum, AirDNA does not have the capacity to accurately and effectively account for the impact of amenities on property results.
Bottom line
Our analysis of customer experiences shows that while AirDNA is a major player in the short-term rental data space, its accuracy is inconsistent, particularly at the property level. Larger markets with more listings tend to yield better results, but the platform struggles in smaller markets, and many users report challenges with both accuracy and customization. This makes it difficult for professional property managers and investors to rely on AirDNA for precise, actionable insights.
If you're looking for a more reliable, data-driven platform, Summer Forecast offers institutional-quality Airbnb data and forecasting tools specifically designed to help investors and property managers make smarter decisions. Unlike AirDNA, Forecast provides the flexibility and precision that professionals need to optimize their portfolios and outsmart the competition with these benefits:
- Better mapping features and user experience: With a more robust and intuitive mapping tool, Forecast ensures a smoother, more user-friendly experience compared to AirDNA.
- Deeper market insights: Access highly customizable market, submarket, and competitive set analytics, tailored to your specific needs for deeper and more relevant insights.
- Agile comp tools: Build more accurate competitive sets quickly with greater flexibility using Forecast's advanced competitive set building tool.
- Built-in cash flow modeling: Take advantage of Forecast's built-in cash flow model tool to create pro formas with customizable inputs, simplifying financial planning.
- Create inventory and reports: Easily save properties, add detailed analytics and notes, and generate customizable reports for ongoing analysis and data-driven decision-making.
Whether you're managing a few properties or a large portfolio, Summer Forecast empowers you to make data-driven decisions with confidence and achieve higher performance in the competitive short term rental market. Ready to take your STR investments to the next level? Learn how Forecast can help you today.
Better data, smarter decisions: Summer Forecast
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