You’re competing with everyone, for anything

Another factor driving demand: the

Covid-fueled surge in second-home buyers

who actually want to use — if not live in — their weekend houses.

“With the flexibility of remote work, owners are finding that they have more time to enjoy their second homes and are renting them less, or not at all,” Mr. Carter said. “This reduction in the supply of available homes to rent, coupled with increasing demand, are also factors that are driving rate increases in destinations across the country.”

Rental companies are also seeing the usual search metrics take a back seat to the bald need to find a place.

“Your large houses always book up way in advance, because those are usually two and three families, so they have to plan,” said Ms. Randall, of Nuurez. “But what’s surprising is that every type of property, even the studios and one-bedrooms, are booked.”

One potential downside to being booked solid for the summer, she said: “Last-minute bookings are definitely one of the ways that you increase your bottom line. This year, we may not have that opportunity at all.”

Unlike last year, when many property owners experienced

mass cancellations

in tandem with ever-changing state and local restrictions, this summer is likely to bring a blanket wave of guests. Many rental companies are still offering flexible cancellations on paper, but few are worried about needing to put them to use in practice — or filling a spot, should a renter indeed cancel at the last minute. That presents an operational challenge: making the gears run smoothly with few, if any, gaps between stays.

“There are a lot of operators and owners who aren’t accustomed to being fully booked, and it can be tough to make sure they’re sorting out cleaning schedules and things like that,” said Jeremy Gall, a vacation-rentals industry veteran and the chief executive and founder of

Breezeway

, a property care and cleaning operations platform.

But, he added, “I think it’s all generally good news, especially in the context of the last 12 months. I don’t think there’s an owner, host or manager who would trade off the uncertainty that they felt this time last year for a fully booked summer.”

You’ll probably pay more than you did in 2019

According to

Transparent,

a vacation-rentals data company, the countywide average nightly rate for Airbnb vacation rentals in July and August is expected to be around $220. Last year, it was $194; in 2019, it was $185.

At

Evolve

, a hospitality company that manages more than 14,000 short-term rentals around the United States, nightly rates are up 27 percent in July and 19 percent in August, over those same months in 2019.

“I’d be remiss to say that we didn’t raise our rates significantly,” said Jon Mayo, whose

Airbnb in Palm Springs

has more nights booked this summer than ever before, despite the sure-to-be-sweltering desert temperatures. “I’m renting at rates I wouldn’t have even dreamed of three years ago.”

Across the 1,000 vacation homes managed by

Twiddy & Company,

a hospitality and asset management firm in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, weekly summer rates have risen 8 percent since 2019, from $8,406 to $9,152. On

StayMarquis,

a luxury vacation-property management company, average rates in the Hamptons this summer — around $1,360 a night — are up 12 percent over 2019. Nightly rates across the 270 rentals managed by

Hawai’i Life

, a luxury brokerage and rental management company in Hawaii, are up 11 percent from 2019.

You’ll probably stay for a while

The elongated travel patterns that emerged last summer, from

monthlong


stays

to

four- and five-night “weekends,”

are back in full force this year.

“We have more multiple-week guests this year than ever,” said Mr. Winner, of Barkwells. “Guests may be vacationing for some of the time, but they can also check in with the office.”

Across Evolve’s portfolio, the average length of stay this summer has increased from 3.7 days last year to 4.9 days.

HomeToGo,

a large vacation-rentals search engine, is reporting that the average domestic traveler with a check-in date between May 1 and Sept. 1 will stay for 11 days, a 14 percent increase from 2019.

“We’re seeing an emerging trend of ‘slow travel,’ with travelers wanting to spend more time immersing themselves in a destination than they did prepandemic,” said Mahendra Roopa, HomeToGo’s director of product.

For homeowners like Mr. Mayo, longer stays mean fewer annual “turns”: sunk costs like housekeeping and laundry between stays. The benefits to the traveler are also clear.

“People delayed so many trips last year, and part of taking longer trips this summer is just: ‘I really want to get away,’” Mr. Gall said. “It might really be that simple.”

If you’re looking for a nonurban destination, you’re not alone

Jim Prugh owns nine properties in Lindsborg, Kan., a city of less than 4,000 known as “Little Sweden USA” for its Scandinavian heritage and culture.

“When thinking of vacation rental destinations, central Kansas might not be on everyone’s list,” he said. “But I’m already seeing that pricing and lead times will be increasing very soon in tandem with the demand for overnight stays.”

Mr. Prugh’s numbers have been up all year, and he expects his third-quarter occupancy rate to top 61 percent, up from around 53 percent last year.

That tracks with new findings from

AirDNA,

a data firm that analyzes 10 million vacation rentals worldwide: Cities — with the exception of small, rural ones — are generally down in summer bookings, compared to 2019.

Meanwhile, July, August and September bookings for coastal destinations across the country are up around 18 percent over 2019, according to AirDNA, and destinations with mountains and lakes are up 14 percent. The AirDNA data shows regions like the Poconos and Adirondacks pacing well above 2019.

But even markets where summer isn’t usually high season are seeing a boom this year, including Broken Bow Lake, Okla., and the North Georgia Mountains, whose summer rental bookings are up around 68 percent and 46 percent, respectively, over this point in 2019, according to AirDNA.

And

new Airbnb survey data

shows that travelers feel comfortable with the idea of venturing beyond their comfort zone this summer; rural properties between 1,000 and 3,000 miles from home comprise the second largest share of searches for Memorial Day Weekend trips, after searches for rural rentals within a 300-mile radius.

“With occupancy so high, at a certain point you just won’t be able to find a place,” Mr. Gall said. “So people who might have gone to Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket are not going to do it — they’re going to find a quiet lake somewhere else.”