Whitefish, Montana vacation rental market: the numbers behind the season
Whitefish lives on two clocks: the Glacier National Park summer, when the town effectively sells out, and the Whitefish Mountain ski season that carries winter. Between them sit shoulder months in which occupancy collapses to a fraction of the peak. Markets this compressed reward preparation over reaction, because by the time peak season arrives, the pricing decisions that matter have mostly already been made.
Figures: the UpRev revenue desk’s August 2026 pull, aggregated daily across the market’s competitive set, twelve complete months ending July 2026. Refreshed quarterly.
At the summer peak, occupancy in Whitefish approaches the practical ceiling: most available nights simply sell. When a market sells out, empty-calendar anxiety is the wrong instinct entirely; the risk flips from not booking to booking too cheaply, too early. The operators who win the summer here are the ones holding rate while the sold-out signs go up around them.
Unusually for a leisure market, weekends barely price above weekdays here. Guests come for Glacier and the mountains and they come for days at a time, not for a Saturday night. Length-of-stay strategy, not weekend strategy, is where this market’s pricing edge lives.
Late autumn is the market’s floor, with occupancy at a small fraction of the summer number. Nothing prices a market’s discipline like its worst month: rates that drift down from summer instead of being rebuilt for shoulder demand leave those months emptier than they need to be, and the booked-versus-listed gap widens accordingly.
The numbers
| Size | Peak occupancy | Trough occupancy | Weekend premium | Top-quartile ask vs median | Booked vs listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1BR | 85.1% (July 2026) | 25.5% (November 2025) | 3% | +38% | -8% |
| 2BR | 87.5% (July 2026) | 27.3% (November 2025) | 3% | +37% | -13% |
| 3BR | 87.2% (July 2026) | 24.9% (November 2025) | 4% | +41% | -20% |
| 4BR | 84.8% (July 2026) | 17.2% (November 2025) | 3% | +46% | -15% |
| 5BR | 86.3% (July 2026) | 18.4% (November 2025) | 3% | +47% | -17% |
| Month | Occupancy | Occupancy, year prior | 25th pct listed | Median listed | 75th pct listed | Median booked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | 81.5% | 80.8% | $261 | $335 | $428 | $290 |
| September 2025 | 71.4% | 73.6% | $212 | $275 | $348 | $237 |
| October 2025 | 43.1% | 42.1% | $149 | $196 | $260 | $165 |
| November 2025 | 27.3% | 22.7% | $129 | $167 | $232 | $141 |
| December 2025 | 36.2% | 37.6% | $146 | $204 | $300 | $183 |
| January 2026 | 36.8% | 35.3% | $141 | $191 | $284 | $182 |
| February 2026 | 45.3% | 44% | $145 | $198 | $294 | $183 |
| March 2026 | 41.3% | 39.8% | $132 | $181 | $267 | $155 |
| April 2026 | 30.4% | 28.7% | $114 | $165 | $243 | $133 |
| May 2026 | 47.1% | 40.9% | $137 | $196 | $274 | $163 |
| June 2026 | 76.8% | 68.6% | $224 | $294 | $387 | $252 |
| July 2026 | 87.5% | 86.5% | $294 | $391 | $522 | $334 |
| Month | Occupancy | Occupancy, year prior | 25th pct listed | Median listed | 75th pct listed | Median booked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | 77.6% | 77.4% | $325 | $425 | $542 | $345 |
| September 2025 | 62.2% | 68.2% | $258 | $340 | $449 | $274 |
| October 2025 | 41.6% | 36% | $190 | $263 | $363 | $199 |
| November 2025 | 24.9% | 23.9% | $170 | $237 | $339 | $171 |
| December 2025 | 34.6% | 38.6% | $200 | $298 | $435 | $240 |
| January 2026 | 36.1% | 34.3% | $183 | $272 | $404 | $220 |
| February 2026 | 46.5% | 44.8% | $183 | $279 | $421 | $240 |
| March 2026 | 39.1% | 37.9% | $172 | $267 | $396 | $218 |
| April 2026 | 26.8% | 24.4% | $159 | $231 | $342 | $153 |
| May 2026 | 44.7% | 39.9% | $175 | $266 | $375 | $207 |
| June 2026 | 76.8% | 67.1% | $281 | $380 | $518 | $311 |
| July 2026 | 87.2% | 86.4% | $381 | $502 | $706 | $417 |
What would these numbers look like on your portfolio?
A market report tells you the water level. A revenue map tells you where your listings sit in it: which are beating this market, which are funding it, and what the gap is worth. It is free, built from your own numbers, and yours to keep.