Rabbu Data Review: An Analysis of the Short-Term Rental Data Tool

In real estate investing access to data equals power and profitability. In the current reality of AI, big data, and machine-learning algorithms, Airbnb investors cannot afford to make decisions without consulting reliable, comprehensive, and up-to-date data.

In recent years Rabbu has become a popular name in the short-term rental industry. Thus, investors are naturally asking what Rabbu is and whether Rabbu data is worth it.

In this Rabbu review, we will take a look at the company, the data that it offers, the typical users, the data accuracy, the subscription cost, customer reviews, and the pros and cons of using Rabbu data in Airbnb investment decisions. In other words, we will evaluate whether this Airbnb data source is worth all the vibe around it.

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What Rabbu Is

Founded in 2016, Rabbu has quickly become one of the big names in the Airbnb rental industry. This is an online platform that assists real estate investors in the process of buying, managing, and selling short-term rental properties. The company aims to provide a single solution for investing in Airbnbs. It has the potential to also help real estate agents, brokers, and property managers conduct their business in a more efficient way.

Rabbu’s mission, as stated on their website, is to “help investors make more money on their short-term rental investments.” In addition to maximizing investors’ revenue, the team also strives to simplify the investment process. They promise their platform is capable of pushing up Airbnb income by 47% while making the process more passive.

Rabbu was established by Emir Dukic, CEO and Co-Founder, and James Strong, CTO and Co-founder. Emir Dukic is an experienced entrepreneur with skills in various areas of business management and development. The idea of Rabbu came out of his own experience as a busy Airbnb host with a full-time job and a family. Emir paired up with James, a full-stack software engineer, to create a tech-based short-term rental property management company that helps other hosts and investors replicate his success.

Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Rabbu has attracted $6.6 million in Series A funding. It remains a private company headed by Emir Dukic, James Strong, and Trent Hawthorne, COO and Chairman of the Board.

Who Uses Rabbu Data

Rabbu was founded with the needs of short-term rental property investors in mind. Because of the value of the Rabbu data, though, real estate agents, brokers, and professional property managers can also use it to optimize their business.

Let’s take a look at how each of these user segments can benefit from Rabbu data.

Rabbu helps:

• Beginner investors looking for the best short-term rental markets: Check out Rabbu’s resources section to find the top Airbnb locations in 2022 and beyond, regardless of your investment budget.
• Property buyers searching for profitable Airbnbs: Browse through the Rabbu Marketplace to locate money-making Airbnb investment opportunities on market and off market.
• Investors analyzing vacation rental properties: Use Rabbu data to gain insights on the average daily rate, the occupancy rate, and the monthly revenue you can expect in a US market based on the number of bedrooms.
• Hosts adjusting pricing: Leverage Rabbu tools to implement a dynamic pricing model to maximize returns on your short-term rental.
• Property owners managing listings: Employ Rabbu’s property management platform to create listings, manage rental operations, optimize pricing, and monitor your property.

Rabbu also assists:

• Real estate agents working with investors: Utilize Rabbu data to find the most profitable opportunities for your investor clients.
• Property managers optimizing performance: Use the Rabbu platform to streamline your processes and increase your revenue while helping your clients make more money.

How Rabbu Works

To deliver on its mission statement, Rabbu provides investors with three distinct vacation rental tools in addition to a short-term rental investment blog.

In this section we will discuss what each of these tools does for existing and aspiring hosts.

Rabbu Marketplace

If you don’t own income properties yet or if you’d like to add another one to your investment portfolio, the first place to check on the Rabbu platform is the Marketplace. The Rabbu Marketplace tool aims to provide investors with access to top Airbnb investment on and off market deals.

A user can search through proprietary sourced Airbnbs using the following filters:

• Location
• Purchase price
• Cap rate
• Gross yield
• Cash-on-cash
• Property type: House, townhome, condo, or multi-family
• Bedrooms
• Bathrooms
• Square footage
• Monthly revenue
• Days on market

Each listing available on the Marketplace comes with short-term rental specific analysis and metrics. This makes Rabbu a good place to search for income properties for sale for investors who are definitely interested in a short-term rental and not still deciding on their rental strategy.

Airbnb Calculator

The Rabbu Marketplace offers a built-in Airbnb Calculator. This tool provides you with Rabbu data analysis including the sales price, revenue, cap rate, gross yield, and cash-on-cash.

You can customize the analysis to fit your specific situation as an investor and see how this affects your bottom line. You can adjust things like the financing method (loan vs. cash), loan terms, startup costs, and recurring expenses. All financial projections will be recalculated to reflect your case.

Deal Alerts

Another feature worth mentioning in a Rabbu review is the Deal Alerts. This tool gives you the opportunity to set your own criteria including location, property price, and expected return in order to receive notifications via email or text message when new properties matching your criteria get sourced.

Property Management

The second distinct Rabbu functionality is the vacation rental management platform. This tool aims to turn short-term rental property investing into a passive income strategy.

The all-in-one property management panel allows hosts to:

• Create short-term rental listings on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Google
• Manage daily rental operations including cleaning and maintenance
• Optimize pricing
• Access a booking calendar
• Keep track of rental properties in real time

This passive property management process is expected to bring a 47% increase in monthly revenue through streamlining and optimization. However, it’s unclear what these claims are based on and how much success investors have had with the platform.

Revenue Estimates

Rabbu helps investors not only find properties for sale but also analyze the potential of specific properties they have in mind.

The Revenue Estimates functionality lets users choose an address in the US market and select the number of bedrooms. This simple selection gives them access to an average seasonalized revenue projection per month as well as a projection in the 25th and the 75th percentile.

The estimated Airbnb revenue is based on the performance of short-term rental comparables in the area. Furthemore, users get a list of rental comps so that they can do their own analysis and calculations. Each comp shows the distance from the property under investigation, type, size, capacity, last review date, average daily rate, occupancy, and gross revenue.

Educational Resources

Last but not least, Rabbu hosts a real estate blog which helps beginners learn the basics of the industry. The Resources section offers specific Airbnb tips and tricks for hosts as well as guides on how to leverage Rabbu data and tools.

A particularly interesting resource is the article listing the top markets for vacation rental investments. This can help first-time investors focus on the most profitable locations.

Rabbu Data Accuracy

It is worth noting that the Rabbu website does not talk about the data source and data accuracy. It simply states that they have over 1.6 million active Airbnb listings and that they cover 36+ markets across the US. This should raise a red flag for investors as most Rabbu competitors boast about data coverage and accuracy. After all, your investment decisions are only as good as the data on which they rely.

A Rabbu review on a third-party website states that Robbu data is updated weekly and that it includes 2.14 million listings, 324m tracked nights, and one year of historical data. However, outside of this review there is no confirmation of these facts and weekly Airbnb data is unusuall, since monthly data is the industry standard.

Overall, it is difficult to conclude how accurate Rabbu data is. Interested investors can reach out to the team to ask for details.

Rabbu Data Costs

Unlike certain competitors, Rabbu offers free access to some tools. In specific, you can use the Revenue Estimates feature for free to get a sense of whether a market offers a good potential for Airbnb investments or not.

Meanwhile, access to the Marketplace is paid. Rabbu does not have a pricing page outlining different subscription plans and their prices. However, one page on their website specifies that access to the Marketplace costs $299 per month, and there are no annual plans. This is rather costly compared to the prices of Rabbu competitors.

Moreover, to start an account, you need to submit a form and be contacted by a Sales Rep. There is no way to get around this step.

You can purchase Rabbu API for Airbnb data by state, county, and zip code from third-party providers. The price for that is only $30.

The pricing of the short-term rental management functionality is custom-based. You need to contact the company to get a personalized proposal.

Rabbu Data Terms and Cancellation

To sign up for Rabbu data, you have to fill in an online form and be contacted by a representative. Payments can be made via all major credit cards.

With regards to the terms of use, Rabbu follows the standard practices in the real estate data tech industry.

According to their website, you can cancel your subscription anytime by email or phone. You will retain access to Rabbu data until the end of the current paid period.

Rabbu Reviews

The Rabbu website highlights 5,000+ 5-star reviews which refers to the number of reviews they have on the Airbnb platform as a host through the properties that they manage.

However, Rabbu customer reviews are generally absent from major review websites such as TrustPilot, TrustRadius, and BBB.

The few customer reviews available online show divided experiences. Overall, Rabbu has achieved a score of 4.4 on Google, based on 36 reviews.

Some investors share very positive experiences with the company. They mostly focus on the property management process which has helped them achieve passive income from real estate investing.

The most common complaint against Rabbu is the poor communication on behalf of the business.

Pros and Cons of Rabbu Data

Like any other short-term rental data and management platform, Rabbu offers important advantages and disadvantages.

Pros

• One-stop-shop for Airbnb investors and hosts: Unlike most competitors, Rabbu combines both property analysis and property management, meaning that it supports investors throughout their journey.
• Comprehensive Airbnb analysis: Rabbu provides many different data points which help investors make informed, data-based decisions.
• Passive real estate investments: Through the pricing tool and the property management capacity, Rabbu allows Airbnb hosts to generate passive income.

Cons

• Lack of information on Rabbu data accuracy and coverage: The Rabbu website does not discuss the data sources, coverage, accuracy, and quality control.
• Limited market coverage: Rabbu data is available for 36+ US locations which means it doesn’t cover the entire US real estate market.
• High cost: The monthly fee of $299 is comparatively high in the vacation rental industry.

As always, a smart investor needs to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks before making a decision.

Rabbu Alternatives

Before deciding whether to rely on Rabbu, an Airbnb host should look into the top alternatives and compare what they offer.

Following are the most popular alternatives to Rabbu in the short-term rental business:

Awning

Awning is an integrated vacation rental solution that helps investors find, buy, furnish, and manage vacation rental properties across the United States. It offers all of the competitive Airbnb analysis tools for free, including the ability to analyze individual property profitability with taxes, insurance, and other costs rolled in.

Awning also offers 15% of revenue full-service property management and professional furnishing to help improve property performance. Investors often begin investing with Awning by finding and closing on a property, furnishing it, and letting Awning manage it on their behalf.

AirDNA

The first name that comes to mind when researching vacation rental analytics platforms is AirDNA. The AirDNA data covers the entire US market as well as international markets which is important if you consider expanding your portfolio overseas. The AirDNA Rentalizer offers free access to basic analysis of Airbnb properties by location, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and capacity. Most customers agree that the data is very accurate and regularly updated.

However, complete access to the AirDNA is very costly as they charge per city. The subscription price varies from $19/month to $99/month for a single location, depending on the size of the market. Annual plans are available at a discounted rate. Another major disadvantage of AirDNA is that it does not help investors search for profitable opportunities as it does not have a marketplace. In addition, you cannot manage a property on AirDNA upon purchase.

AllTheRooms

AllTheRooms is another Rabbu competitor worth considering. They provide both market intelligence and individual property analytics. AllTheRooms data coverage is nationwide and global. Post purchase, their tools help set up a dynamic pricing strategy for your Airbnb property and find out what amenities can increase your short-term rental income.

On the negative side, AllTheRooms does not have a possibility to search for real estate listings for sale. Moreover, while monthly plans are more affordable than AirDNA, ranging from free to $49/month, this price is per market, so investors need to be prepared to pay a hefty price in case they want to analyze vacation rentals in a few different locations.

Mashvisor

Another name that is regularly mentioned as a Rabbu alternative is Mashvisor. This platform allows investors to search for properties for sale and analyze their investment potential. Moreover, it provides both Airbnb and long-term rental analytics in case you ever want to switch between rental strategies.

Nevertheless, Mashvisor does not provide any property management services, and customers often comment on the suboptimal data coverage.

Takeaway

Our review of Rabbu data shows that this platform could be a beneficial tool in the arsenal of a data-prone real estate investor. How well it fits your needs and expectations depends on your experience, expertise, and aspirations. You can give Rabbu as well as some of its top alternatives a try, and if they fall short of your expectations, you can test Awning.