Short-term rentals in Kirkwall
Kirkwall is the 426th-largest of 597 short-term rental markets across the United Kingdom: 421 listings, 60% on Airbnb. 12% of supply is run by professional operators, below the median market's 39%, led by Cottages.com (7 listings).
Data updated
- Tracked listings
- 421
- Market rank
- #426 / 597
- National share
- under 0.1%
- Named professional operators
- 3
Airbnb vs Booking.com in Kirkwall
In Kirkwall, Airbnb leads with 253 listings (60%), versus 168 on Booking.com (40%).
Where the listings are in Kirkwall
The dots are a representative sample of tracked short-term rentals — Airbnb in red and Booking.com in blue. Zoom and pan to explore the market, or open the full report for filters, operator overlays, and the listing-level view.
Market structure in Kirkwall
Booking.com supply is more professionalised than Airbnb's: 23% of Booking.com listings sit with operators of that size, against 4% on Airbnb. The 3 named professional operators — Cottages.com, Port Isaac Bay Holidays and holidaycottages.co.uk — run 12 local listings between them. The other 37 listings run by operators with 26 or more listings belong to operators without a published profile.
- Professional share
- 12%
- Median market
- 39%
- Single-listing hosts
- 40%
Listings by operator portfolio size
Tracked listings grouped by how many properties their operator runs — from single hosts to 26+ professionals.
Listings by property type
Houses, cottages & holiday homes make up 55% of Kirkwall's classified listings, followed by Apartments & flats (29%).
Largest operators in Kirkwall
Ranked by local tracked listings across Airbnb and Booking.com. Scores and portfolio review totals are aggregated across each operator's tracked United Kingdom listings. The table covers every professional operator we track in this market.
Scroll sideways to see all columns.
| # | Operator | Listings | Airbnb score | Booking.com score | Portfolio reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cottages.com | 7 | 4.77 / 5 | 9.0 / 10 | 217,587 |
| 2 | Port Isaac Bay Holidays | 3 | 4.85 / 5 | 9.1 / 10 | 138,189 |
| 3 | holidaycottages.co.uk | 2 | 4.73 / 5 | 8.9 / 10 | 73,474 |
Browse the full United Kingdom operator directory →
Operators enter the index after reaching 26 listings across the United Kingdom and count Kirkwall among their markets. See the full interactive Kirkwall market report for additional filters and operator comparisons.
How Kirkwall compares
Kirkwall ranks 426th of 597 tracked markets in the United Kingdom, with under 0.1% of tracked supply in this coverage. Markets of similar size:
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Ballater 423 listings
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Benllech 422 listings
-
St Just 422 listings
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Blaenau-Ffestiniog 419 listings
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Boscastle 419 listings
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Woking 419 listings
Photo credits
- Ballater: Photo: Ballater - geograph.org.uk - 262416 by Stanley Howe · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped and resized for display, via Wikimedia Commons
- Benllech: Photo: Traeth Benllech - geograph.org.uk - 568466 by Keith Williamson · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped and resized for display, via Wikimedia Commons
- St Just: Photo: 2024 St Just in Penwith (4) by Chris06 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped and resized for display, via Wikimedia Commons
- Blaenau-Ffestiniog: Photo: Blaenau Ffestiniog by User:Stemonitis · CC BY-SA 2.5 · cropped and resized for display, via Wikimedia Commons
- Boscastle: Photo: Boscastle path by Dsgreat3 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · cropped and resized for display, via Wikimedia Commons
- Woking: Photo: Woking town centre from the west by Mertbiol · CC0 · cropped and resized for display, via Wikimedia Commons
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Browse the full United Kingdom city directory or the United Kingdom market report .
Kirkwall market FAQ
How many short-term rentals are in Kirkwall?
Kirkwall has 421 short-term rental listings as of August 2026: 253 on Airbnb and 168 on Booking.com.
Who is the largest short-term rental operator in Kirkwall?
The largest professional operator in Kirkwall is Cottages.com, with 7 local listings.
How professionalised is the Kirkwall short-term rental market?
12% of Kirkwall's listings (49 of 421) are run by operators with 26 or more listings, below the median of 597 markets across the United Kingdom (39%). Booking.com supply is more professionalised than Airbnb's: 23% of Booking.com listings sit with operators of that size, against 4% on Airbnb. The 3 named professional operators — Cottages.com, Port Isaac Bay Holidays and holidaycottages.co.uk — run 12 local listings between them. The other 37 listings run by operators with 26 or more listings belong to operators without a published profile.
Is Airbnb or Booking.com bigger in Kirkwall?
In Kirkwall, Airbnb leads with 253 listings (60%), versus 168 on Booking.com (40%).
How many professional operators run listings in Kirkwall?
3 named professional operators run listings in Kirkwall. The full roster is listed on this page, and the interactive market report maps every listing.
About this data
Figures come from myDataValue's cross-platform market snapshot of 421 public short-term rental listings in Kirkwall, matching Airbnb and Booking.com supply to the operators who run it. Operators enter the index after reaching 26 listings on Airbnb or Booking.com across the United Kingdom. Snapshot dates: Airbnb , Booking.com .
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