Fall 2026 in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene: What the Booking Data Shows
Spokane's 1,308 active short-term rentals finished August at 74% occupancy.
Last August: 67%.
That's the whole market, not our portfolio. Guests booked 26,152 nights in Spokane in August 2026, up 8.5% from a year ago, at an average rate of $170 — so revenue per available listing climbed 12%. It's the strongest August in the three years of data I have access to.
Forty minutes east, Coeur d'Alene's 1,541 listings went the other direction. August occupancy dropped from 72.5% to 69%. But the nights that did book went for $389 versus $359 — up 8.5% — and July hit $413, the highest monthly rate in three years of market data.
Two markets, one summer, opposite stories. And now we're heading into the months where owners start calling me.
Why September is when the calls start
Every year around Labor Day, the calendar goes from mostly booked to mostly vacant, and owners want to know whether something is wrong. The honest answer is usually no — but "usually" isn't a strategy, so we pull the data.
The backdrop for 2026 is better than most owners think. AirDNA's midyear outlook forecasts U.S. occupancy averaging 57.4% this year, above the pre-pandemic norm, with new listings growing only about 2.7% in part due to mortgage rates climbing back above 6% and sidelining a lot of would-be investors. You can see that locally: Spokane's active listing count grew just 0.8% in the past year, Coeur d'Alene's 0.3%. Fewer new competitors means existing, well-run homes hold occupancy and gain pricing power. AirDNA's July review had national rates up 6.9% year over year.
The other thing that's changed is when people book. PriceLabs' 2026 data shows bookings made within 7 days of arrival now make up 27% of all reservations, up from 21% in 2021. In Spokane it's more extreme: 40% of August reservations were booked less than a week out. Guests wait. If you judge your fall by what's on the calendar in early September, you will panic early and cut rates you didn't need to cut.
So here's what the two markets actually look like right now.
Spokane: a stronger fall than last year, and it's already showing
What last fall looked like (whole market):
September 2025: 56% occupancy, $143 average rate
October: 58%, $141
November: 55%, $133
December: 52%, $130
January 2026: 48%, $114
That's the seasonal floor. Mid-50s through the fall, sliding to the high 40s in January. Nothing about it is scary; it's the shape of this market.
What's on the books for this fall, as of September 9:
September: 51% booked. Last September finished at 56%, and Spokane books more than a third of its nights in the final week. This month is going to beat last year.
October: 28% booked. Finished at 58% last year.
November: 13% booked. Finished at 55%.
December: 10% booked. Finished at 52%.
Compare that to the compsets we track in PriceLabs for our downtown and South Hill listings: October is pacing 25% booked versus 22% at this point last year, November 9% versus 8%, December 7% versus 4%. Every month is ahead of the same date a year ago.
Rates are the thing to watch. The median rate that's actually booking in Spokane right now is $142 for September and $137 for October — roughly in line with what's being asked. But for November, owners are asking a median of $143 while the median booked rate is $119. December is $141 asking, $125 booking. That's a 13–17% gap. A chunk of the market has carried its summer pricing into a season where the guest is a Gonzaga parent or a family in for Thanksgiving, not a July tourist.
Demand spikes worth pricing for: EWU home football weekends, Veterans Day, and the Thanksgiving-through-New-Year's stretch, where family visits fill the 2- and 3-bedrooms.
Coeur d'Alene: the lake market drops fast, and rates drop with it
What last fall looked like:
September 2025: 47% occupancy, $267 average rate
October: 46%, $217
November: 44%, $211
December: 45%, $220
January 2026: 34%, $183
Note the rate collapse. CDA goes from $413 in July to $267 in September to $217 in October — a 47% drop in three months. Spokane drops 22% over the same stretch. If you own on the lake, your fall isn't just fewer nights. It's fewer nights at a fundamentally different price.
What's on the books:
September: 43% booked. Finished at 47% last year — on track.
October: 19% booked. Finished at 46%.
November: 7% booked. Finished at 44%.
December: 7% booked. Finished at 45%.
The booking window flips completely. In July, 38% of CDA reservations were booked more than 90 days out and only 12% within a week. By last September, the week-out share was 23% and 90-plus-days had fallen to 19%. The family that locked in a lake week in April is gone. The fall guest is a couple deciding on Tuesday to drive up for the weekend.
And here's the part that costs owners the most. Right now the median asking rate in CDA for October is $233. The median rate actually booking is $202. For November it's $230 asking, $178 booking — a 23% gap. In a market where the guest books 10 days out and has 1,500 listings to scroll through, sitting 20% above the transacting price doesn't hold your rate. It just moves the booking to the house down the road.
What we're doing about it
Same playbook as our slow season post, tuned to this year's numbers. And for context on whether the playbook works: across our 34 Spokane and Coeur d'Alene listings this summer, we ran 84% occupancy against 72% for the comparable homes around us, and $127 in revenue per available night against the comp set's $110 — 15% more. In August it was 90% occupancy versus 76%, $120 versus $102. Our lakefront CDA Frame brought in $650 per available night against a $425 market comp. That's what it looks like when the calendar is managed weekly instead of set in May.
In Spokane, we're holding rates and tightening the window. The market is pacing ahead, demand is short-lead, and September is going to beat last year. Our revenue manager is layering in last-minute adjustments that follow the neighborhood's actual booking curve instead of a flat discount, and pricing up the EWU and holiday weekends now. We are not dropping base rates in a market that's outperforming — but we are bringing November and December down to where guests are transacting, because a $143 ask against a $119 booked median is a vacant night, not a premium.
In both markets, fall is a weekend business. The pricing is weekend pricing plus a mid-week plan, not one number for the whole month.
The mistake I see every September
Owners look at a 19%-booked October, compare it to the 72% August they just had, and cut rates 20% across the board. Then the guests who were going to book at full price ten days out book at the discount instead, and the owner has given away money on nights that were always going to fill.
The PriceLabs data is blunt about this: don't panic-drop when demand simply hasn't arrived yet. But the opposite mistake is just as expensive, and it's the one I see more of in CDA: refusing to move off summer pricing at all. The question isn't "is my calendar full?" It's two questions: am I pacing ahead of or behind the same date last year, and is my asking rate near what's actually booking? Both are knowable.
The Bottom Line
Spokane is going into fall stronger than last year on occupancy, demand, and rate, with a modest pricing gap in November and December to close. Coeur d'Alene is going into a normal seasonal drop with a booking window that's collapsed to about 10 days and a 13–23% gap between asking and booked rates that needs to close this month, not in November.
If you own in either market, pull two things this week: your bookings on the books for October compared to the same date last year, and your current nightly rate compared to what similar homes actually booked last October. Behind on the first and above on the second? That's your fix.
If you don't have access to that data, that's the other problem — and it's the one we solve for our owners every week.
Want a read on your property?
We'll pull your market's pacing, booking window, and booked-versus-asking rates and tell you whether your fall is normal or needs a move. No pressure. No sales pitch. Just a real look at the numbers.
Reach out here and we'll get you the data.
Sources
AirDNA Market Explorer — Spokane, WA market (airdna-340, 1,308 active listings) and Coeur d'Alene, ID market (airdna-162, 1,541 active listings), pulled Sep 9, 2026 — monthly occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, nights booked (Sep 2023–Aug 2026), forward on-the-books occupancy and median booked vs. available rates (Sep 2026–Feb 2027), booking lead-time distributions. Roav's AirDNA subscription; no public link. Raw pull saved alongside this draft.
PriceLabs Market Dashboard and Portfolio Analytics — Roav's Spokane 1–3BR and CDA / Rockford Bay compsets, pulled Sep 9, 2026 — same-time-last-year pacing lines; Roav portfolio vs. comp-set occupancy and RevPAR for Jun–Aug 2026 (34 Spokane/CDA listings with STLY data; excludes 6th 103, offline for an owner stay, and Lazurite).
AirDNA — 2026 Midyear Outlook press release — https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/steady-demand-and-slower-new-supply-define-us-short-term-rentals-in-2026-airdna-finds-302820776.html — Jul 8, 2026 — 57.4% occupancy forecast, 2.7% supply growth, mortgage rates above 6%.
AirDNA — "U.S. Review July 2026" — https://www.airdna.co/blog/u.s.-review-july-2026 — Aug 13, 2026 — national ADR up 6.9% YoY.
PriceLabs — "2026 Short-Term Rental Trends" — https://hello.pricelabs.co/blog/short-term-rental-trends/ — updated Sep 3, 2026 — 27% of bookings within 7 days of arrival.
