AirDNA's first-ever Short-Term Rental Investor Survey is out, and the findings are a clear signal of where the industry is headed.
After surveying more than 650 U.S. investors in Q4 2025, the data paints a picture of a market that isn't slowing down so much as it's growing up. Supply growth has moderated to 3.3%, a far cry from the double-digit surges of 2021 and 2022. The investors still buying? They're experienced, scaled, and strategic. And the ones being left behind? Those who haven't built the operational infrastructure to compete at a higher level.
For short-term rental operators and property managers, this report isn't just interesting data. It's a roadmap. Here's what it means for your business, and how Tailwind by Extenteam can help you stay ahead of it.
AirDNA's survey found that investors with five or more properties are significantly more likely to acquire additional STRs in the next 12 months. Among operators managing ten or more properties, acquisition intent is particularly concentrated. Meanwhile, single-property owners are largely sitting on the sidelines.
What does this mean in plain terms? The competitive landscape is consolidating around experienced operators who already have infrastructure, capital, and operational experience in place.
This is the defining shift. It's not just about who has the most capital. It's about who has the systems, the team, and the operational depth to absorb new properties without sacrificing guest experience or burning out their staff.
If you manage multiple properties and you're still running guest communications through a patchwork of text messages, email threads, and on-call staff, that gap will only widen.
The survey identified property prices, interest rates, rising operating costs, and regulatory risk as the top barriers to additional acquisitions. And yet, even among investors who report a strong impact from current interest rates, many still plan to buy within the next year.
How? Because the smartest operators have figured out how to grow revenue without growing overhead proportionally.
This is where operational efficiency becomes a real competitive moat. The property managers who are scaling aren't just adding units. They're using smarter tools to keep cost-per-door down while keeping guest satisfaction high.
One of the more telling findings from AirDNA's survey: as operators gain experience, their market preferences shift. Newer investors tend to stick to urban and familiar markets. But seasoned operators move toward coastal, mountain, and destination markets — places with stronger demand durability and better pricing power.
These are also the markets that are most unforgiving. Destination guests have high expectations. They're often traveling for milestone moments — anniversaries, family reunions, ski trips. A slow response to a booking inquiry or a missed 2 a.m. maintenance call doesn't just hurt a review. It defines the entire trip.
Managing properties in high-stakes destination markets means your guest communication infrastructure needs to be airtight. Not just during business hours. Around the clock, every night of the year. That's exactly why 24/7 guest services coverage has gone from a nice-to-have to a baseline expectation for competitive operators.
The AirDNA data makes one thing clear: the operators positioned to win in 2026 and beyond are those who have infrastructure, capital, and operational experience in place. For most property managers, the infrastructure piece is the hardest to solve at scale.
That's exactly the problem Tailwind by Extenteam was built to solve.
Tailwind is Extenteam's 24/7 guest services solution, a hybrid model that combines hospitality-trained remote agents with AI tools to handle guest communications, resolve issues in real time, and protect your reviews and revenue. Here's why it maps directly to what the AirDNA data is telling us:
You're adding properties. Your team can't scale at the same rate.Tailwind adapts as you grow. Whether you're managing 10 properties or 100, you can add new listings to the platform, set custom SOPs per property, and adjust coverage hours, without hiring proportionally. The staffing bottleneck that stops most operators from scaling confidently doesn't apply when you have Tailwind in your corner.
Operating costs are squeezing margins. You need efficiency, not headcount.Traditional staffing models are linear: more doors, more people, more payroll. Tailwind breaks that equation. By combining AI triage tools with trained remote agents, you get enterprise-grade guest support at a fraction of the cost of an in-house team. Extenteam clients routinely see savings of up to 60% compared to local hiring.
Destination market guests have high expectations. You can't afford a missed message.Tailwind's agents don't just "take messages." They resolve issues, upsell add-ons like early check-in and local experiences, and ensure no inquiry goes unanswered. Whether a guest reaches out at noon or midnight, they get a fast, personalized, on-brand response. That consistency is what drives 5-star reviews and repeat bookings.
You're competing against experienced, scaled operators. You need every edge.The AirDNA survey makes clear that acquisition activity is increasingly concentrated among operators who already have the systems in place. Tailwind is how you build that infrastructure without waiting years to hire and train an internal team. It's the operational backbone that lets you move faster, grow smarter, and compete at the level the market now demands.
The STR market isn't going back to the free-for-all growth years. AirDNA's data confirms what the best operators already feel on the ground: this market rewards discipline, infrastructure, and operational sophistication.
If you're a property manager with ambitions to grow your portfolio, whether that's from 5 properties to 20, or from 50 to 150, the question isn't whether you need better operational infrastructure. It's whether you're going to build it before your competitors do.
Tailwind by Extenteam is ready when you are.
The following video is from an online conference organized by Rental Scale-Up. Today’s vacation home
.webp)
.webp)
Let's connect to find the best solution for your team.
.avif)
"We're about to add another 17 units to our portfolio, I feel more comfortable knowing that it's very easy and quick that if we need to pivot and get somebody fast to keep up with the growth we can do that. Extenteam does allow us to grow."
Extenteam streamlines operations for Property Managers by providing top global talent and innovative software solutions, all while maintaining a “service-first” approach to drive success and efficiency.
