Why Your Competitors Might Also Be Your Allies

Madeleine Parkin
10/19/2026

It’s natural to feel competitive when it comes to beating your neighboring vacation rentals. Every property manager wants their business to do the best it can and bring in the most revenue, and competitors threaten that. Checking your competitors’ performance and prices is a key part of a strong management strategy, and competition pushes us to improve.

However, the short-term rental market is mature enough now to recognize that sometimes, strategic collaboration with our competitors is a critical investment in the long-term health and growth of the entire sector.

A truly strong market requires property managers to move beyond a scarcity mindset and embrace a collaborative strategy that benefits owners, guests, and the communities we serve. Collaboration shows up in how we handle overflow bookings, how we raise service standards, how we keep local economies stable, and how we defend the sector to regulators.

Send the Booking Down the Road

In peak season, your whole portfolio might be booked solid through Labor Day, so what do you do when you’re still getting inquiries for the Fourth of July weekend?

Turning guests away feels like a missed opportunity, so you might offer alternative dates, but for a holiday or important date that doesn’t work. The solution, though it can feel a little uncomfortable, is referrals.

Recommending a fellow property manager is an act of collaboration that pays dividends later on. By suggesting a competitor you know operates with professionalism, you set yourself in good standing with the guest and the competitor and safeguard the reputation of the local STR market as a whole.

That guest is far more likely to return to the area or recommend you to friends and family, and when they do, your brand is already associated with trust and helpfulness. That goodwill is invaluable for your future bookings.

Raising Standards

A little healthy competition forces us to consistently raise standards and improve service quality.

As short-term rentals have gotten more mainstream, we’re not just competing with other STR experiences. The modern STR guest is comparing it to their last experience in a high-end or chain hotel, a standard they have come to expect.

There’s only so much chaos that can be passed off as quirkiness. The sector is growing up, and we must compete on service and quality, as well as price, with all different types of lodging.

Working together makes it easier, whether that means adopting new technology, sharing what we’ve learned about efficient operations, or agreeing on a minimum standard of amenities. If a guest stays in a hotel, they can be sure that there’ll be shampoo and soap at a minimum. In STRs, it’s 50/50.

One bad experience for a guest could put them off STRs forever, in a way that a bad experience in a hotel probably won’t. So, a good experience is good for everyone.

The Local Economic Web

Collaboration is just as important as competition.

While the hotel lobby often frames our sector as extractive, sending money out of the community, the reality is that the vacation rental market is made up of local operators who employ local people, use local suppliers, and pay local taxes. By working together, we also help grow that local economy.

One of the most practical examples of this collaboration is sharing cleaning and maintenance staff. In many markets, high seasonality means essential staff like housekeepers and maintenance people aren’t needed during slower months, forcing them to find work elsewhere or move away.

When you find a really good cleaner, you don’t want them to move away. Coordinating with nearby property managers can help to keep these staff members working year-round. Increased job security helps keep the best team members on board and improves the quality of rentals across the market. It also supports a more robust local economy year-round.

This commitment to stability should also extend to pricing. When your rates aren’t converting, panic-slashing prices is risky.

If one property manager undercuts their prices aggressively, it doesn’t just hurt their immediate competitors; it risks starting a race to the bottom, devaluing the entire local market. Not to mention hurting their profits.

When guests see premium pricing justified by premium service, it elevates the perception of the STR sector. It allows us to step away from being seen as simply the cheaper alternative and firmly establish ourselves as the better, more authentic option.

Speaking with One Voice

Perhaps the most crucial argument for collaboration is the regulatory environment. Regulators don’t see the difference between your professional operation and a subletting host causing a nuisance to the neighbors. That’s a story we have to tell ourselves. The hotel lobby has deep pockets and decades of experience, and if we want to stand a chance, we have to stand together.

If STRs are banned or heavily restricted in a given area, it affects everyone. That means property managers, owners, guests, staff, and every business that relies on tourism revenue. Our response must be a unified front that provides evidence-based advocacy, grounded in real-world relevance. We need to track and share consistent, contextualized data: the amount of guest spending that goes into local businesses, the number of local jobs supported, and the tax revenue contributed.

Collaboration here means sharing best practices and uniting our message. Detractors want everyone to think we’re the “Wild West” of lodging. Let’s prove them wrong by showing just how professional and community-minded we really are.

While the thrill of competition drives us to be better property managers, how well we are able to work together could determine if our industry holds its ground. Building a network out of your competitors is what carries us through toughening regulations and rising guest expectations. But that network doesn’t build itself. It starts with one referral, one shared supplier, one friendly conversation with the manager down the road you’ve never spoken to. And it can grow into something powerful.

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