Short-let property owners in Cornwall, Edinburgh and Westminster had the most bookings in the UK last summer.

The Office for National Statistics has crunched the numbers from Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia Group to reveal that 2.8 million stays were booked through the three platforms from July to September 2023.

With an average of 313,879 guest nights each day, this added up to 28.9 million guest nights.

The local administrative units (LAU) with the highest share of guest nights for each UK country were Cornwall (7% of England), City of Edinburgh (26% of Scotland), Gwynedd (19% of Wales), and Belfast (29% of Northern Ireland).

Guest nights

It found that 63% of guest nights were made up by domestic visitors, (18.4 million) while international visitors made up the remaining 36% in the UK.

The most popular LAUs for domestic guest nights were Cornwall (1,311,380), Gwynedd (365,750), and City of Edinburgh (345,000) while the most popular LAUs for international guest nights were City of Edinburgh (812,190), Westminster (757,350), and Kensington and Chelsea (389,720).

Parity

Propertymark has called for equal parity between short-term lets and the private rented sector to ensure that they meet the same standards. CEO Nathan Emerson says this would ensure that short-term lets meet the same standards as other rented properties and help address supply issues in the private rented sector.

“Short term lets provide adaptability for property owners and give tourists additional accommodation choices, but at the same time this should not thwart local residents from being able to buy or rent homes in their areas,” he adds.