Bay St. Louis vs. Crystal Beach: Why $25,594 and $44,416 Aren't the

Jacob Mishalanie
Aug 20
12 min read

Updated: 9 hours ago

Pale blue gulf cottage lodging exterior in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

Bay St. Louis, Mississippi earned an average of $25,594 across 340 short-term rental listings for the twelve months of August 2025 through July 2026, according to AirROI data updated August 8, 2026. Crystal Beach, Texas earned about $44,416 across 131 listings over that same stretch. Both are real Gulf Coast markets, and neither number describes the other town — a fact that gets lost surprisingly often in listing copy and buyer packets that treat the whole Gulf Coast as interchangeable listing stock.

The two markets get confused because they share a coastline and a similar search intent: travelers hunting for beach rentals on a hurricane-prone shoreline. But Hancock County, Mississippi and the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas don't share a year, a permitting system, or a guest base. Treating them as interchangeable in a listing description or an underwriting spreadsheet is the fastest way to lose the guest who typed the actual name of the town they want to visit, and the fastest way to hand a lender or partner a forecast built on the wrong market's numbers. This is not legal advice.

Bay St. Louis's $25,594 Is Not Crystal Beach's $44,416

The revenue gap is the first thing a host or investor notices, and it's tempting to explain it away as one town simply performing better. The more accurate read is that these are two different products. Crystal Beach's smaller listing stock of 131 listings sits directly on the Bolivar Peninsula beachfront, a narrow strip where nearly every rental is walking distance to sand. Bay St. Louis spreads its 340 listings across a historic downtown known as Old Town, a marina district, and residential streets several blocks from the water — a mix that pulls the average down even as it gives hosts more product types to work with across a wider price range.

That listing stock mix matters more than any single average number. A beachfront cottage in Crystal Beach and a walkable Old Town bungalow in Bay St. Louis are selling different trips to different travelers, and listing copy that borrows language from the wrong market — "steps from the beach" on a property that's actually a ten-minute walk from the harbor — creates a mismatch that shows up in guest reviews, not just in search rankings, and that mismatch compounds every time a new guest arrives expecting the wrong trip.

Inside the 340-Listing Bay St. Louis Extract

Occupancy across the Bay St. Louis extract runs 31.5 percent for the year, with total listing supply essentially flat at 0.0 percent change compared to the prior period. Year-over-year revenue is down 4.5 percent, a dip worth noting for anyone underwriting a purchase off last year's numbers rather than the trailing twelve months, since a flat-supply, declining-revenue market tells a different story than a market absorbing new competition.

Roughly 28.8 percent of the 340 listings, 98 properties, carry a 30-night minimum stay. That's a meaningful share of the market, but it's a booking-platform setting, not a measure of how full those units actually are. A 30-night minimum filters out short trips; it doesn't fill a slow month on its own, and it shouldn't be read as evidence of strong extended-stay or remote-work demand unless the listing itself is actually built and photographed for that guest — a distinction that matters when comparing listing strategy across two very differently structured competitive sets.

Peak Season Runs June, October, and May

June, October, and May are the three strongest months in the Bay St. Louis extract, a pattern shaped less by summer heat than by shoulder-season travelers avoiding both the deep-summer crowds and the hurricane-season anxiety that peaks in August and September. January is the slowest month, consistent with most Gulf Coast markets that don't have a strong snowbird or festival calendar pulling in winter visitors the way Florida markets do.

Hosts pricing a full year off a single "high season" assumption tend to leave money on the table in October and May, two months this sample shows performing close to June. Building rate strategy around three peak windows rather than one summer-versus-winter split gives a more accurate forecast for the year ahead, and it's a strategy that would be flatly wrong to import from a market like Crystal Beach, where the seasonal shape and guest base are different.

Guests Book From New Orleans, Three Days Out

New Orleans is the single largest source of Bay St. Louis guests, with Baton Rouge second — a reminder that this market leans heavily on a short regional drive rather than long-haul flyers. The typical stay length is 3.8 nights, and guests book about 60 days ahead of arrival, both numbers consistent with a weekend or short-trip market rather than a week-long vacation destination.

Superhost status is common here: 62.4 percent of the extract's hosts carry the badge, which raises the bar for what counts as a competitive listing. A new host entering this market is competing against an unusually high share of established, highly-rated operators, not a handful of casual part-timers — a different competitive texture than a newer or smaller-listing stock market might present.

The Local Permit Requirement Isn't Optional

Bay St. Louis requires a city short-term rental permit, published as a $100 filing. A "low regulation" tag on a data dashboard summary is not the same thing as no local requirement — it typically means the barrier to entry is lower than in a market with caps or moratoriums, not that the barrier is zero. Confirming the current fee and any renewal terms directly with the city before advertising a unit is worth the phone call, especially for anyone assembling a buyer packet where the regulatory line item matters.

AirROI's regulatory tags are a useful starting point for research, not a substitute for calling the permitting desk. Fees, renewal cycles, and inspection requirements change over time, and a host who skips the call because a data summary said "low regulation" is the host most likely to get an unpleasant surprise at renewal — a cost worth building into any comparison between Bay St. Louis and a market with a different permitting structure.

Why Vermilion, Ohio Doesn't Belong in This Spreadsheet

Vermilion, a Lake Erie town in Ohio, not a Gulf Coast market, published $29,012 across 78 listings in the same data pull. It shows up here only as a caution: three towns that share a dataset export can look interchangeable in a spreadsheet even when they're a thousand miles and a different climate apart. Averaging Vermilion's number into a Bay St. Louis forecast, or citing it in a Gulf Coast buyer packet, would misrepresent the market to a client or lender relying on that figure.

The same discipline that separates Bay St. Louis from Crystal Beach applies to Vermilion: cite the number that belongs to the town actually being marketed, and keep every other market's figures on their own labeled line. It's a small habit that costs nothing and prevents the exact kind of comparison error that erodes trust with a buyer or a client once they notice it.

What This Means for Listing Description Language

The temptation to reuse strong-performing copy across markets is understandable — if "steps from the beach" converts well for a Crystal Beach listing, it's tempting to drop the same phrase into a Bay St. Louis description that's actually a ten-minute walk from the harbor. The problem shows up the moment a guest arrives expecting sand at the door and finds a historic downtown street instead. That mismatch doesn't just cost a review score; it costs the next booking, since a disappointed guest rarely becomes a repeat one.

The fix is straightforward but requires actually knowing which product is being sold. A Bay St. Louis Old Town listing should lead with walkability to restaurants, galleries, and the marina, plus a specific, honest distance to the water. A Crystal Beach listing should lead with direct beach access, because that's the actual product on the Bolivar Peninsula. Neither description is stronger than the other in the abstract — they're just accurate to two different guest experiences, and accuracy is what keeps a review score intact after the guest actually shows up.

A Worked Comparison: Two Hosts Pricing the Same Week

Consider two hosts, one in each market, both pricing a July week using last year's data. The Bay St. Louis host, working from a market averaging $25,594 annually across 340 listings at 31.5 percent occupancy, is competing in a market with more listing stock, a lower average nightly rate, and a guest base that mostly drives in from New Orleans or Baton Rouge for a short 3.8-night stay booked about 60 days out. Pricing aggressively high in July, outside the June/October/May peak window this data shows, risks sitting empty against 340 competing listings in a market where guests are booking a weekend trip, not a once-a-year vacation they'll pay a premium for regardless of price.

The Crystal Beach host, working from a market averaging $44,416 across a much smaller 131-listing listing stock, faces a different math entirely — less competing supply on a narrow beachfront strip where nearly every listing already delivers the core promise of direct sand access. That scarcity supports pricing that would be unrealistic in Bay St. Louis's broader, more varied listing stock. Neither host should look at the other's rate sheet and conclude their own market is under- or over-priced; the two numbers reflect two different supply-and-demand pictures, not two different quality tiers.

How to Use This Data in an Investment or Underwriting Conversation

For anyone evaluating a purchase in either market, the individual data points matter less than keeping them correctly attached to the right town throughout the conversation. A lender or partner reviewing a Bay St. Louis deal should see the $25,594 revenue figure, the 31.5 percent occupancy, the 4.5 percent year-over-year decline, and the $100 permit fee — not a blended number that quietly averages in Crystal Beach's stronger performance or Vermilion's unrelated Lake Erie market.

The year-over-year decline is worth flagging explicitly in any underwriting conversation, since a buyer relying on an older, stronger annual figure for Bay St. Louis would be underwriting against a number the trailing twelve months no longer support. Pairing that honest trend line with the specific permit cost and the guest-origin data (New Orleans first, Baton Rouge second) gives a lender or partner a genuinely usable picture of the market, rather than a single headline revenue figure stripped of the context that explains it.

What a Superhost-Heavy Market Means for a New Listing

A market where 62.4 percent of hosts already carry Superhost status isn't a market a new operator can simply enter and expect to compete on price alone. That badge reflects an established review history, consistent response times, and low cancellation rates — advantages a brand-new listing doesn't have on day one regardless of how well the property itself is furnished or photographed. A new Bay St. Louis host should expect the first several months to be a trust-building period rather than a period of matching established-listing occupancy immediately.

The practical response isn't to underprice dramatically to compensate, since a rock-bottom rate can itself signal an unproven listing to a guest comparing options. A more durable approach is aggressive early responsiveness, generous but honest amenity descriptions, and actively soliciting reviews after the first several stays, so the listing starts closing the gap with the market's Superhost-heavy competitive set within a booking season rather than staying behind it indefinitely.

Reading the 30-Night-Minimum Segment Correctly

The 98 listings, roughly 28.8 percent of the extract, running a 30-night minimum deserve one more layer of scrutiny beyond the caution already noted. That segment likely includes a mix of genuinely extended-stay-oriented properties, furnished for remote work or longer relocations, and properties that simply set a long minimum as a blunt tool to reduce turnover costs without actually being marketed or equipped for a month-long guest. Those are two different businesses wearing the same booking-platform setting, and conflating them when reading market data risks assuming stronger extended-stay demand exists than the setting alone actually proves.

A host or analyst trying to size the real extended-stay opportunity in Bay St. Louis would need to look past the minimum-stay setting itself and into whether those specific listings are furnished, photographed, and priced for that guest — a desk, reliable internet mentioned prominently, a kitchen built for more than reheating takeout — rather than assuming the setting alone is evidence of a proven remote-work market. That distinction matters most for a buyer evaluating an existing 30-night-minimum property, since the purchase price should reflect which of the two businesses is actually being acquired.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a typical Bay St. Louis STR year based on this data sample?

AirROI reports about $25,594 in revenue across 340 listings for August 2025 through July 2026, updated August 8, 2026, with year-over-year revenue down 4.5 percent. That figure belongs to Bay St. Louis alone — Crystal Beach's $44,416 and Vermilion's $29,012 come from separate markets and shouldn't be blended into it. Treating that figure as this market's own baseline, rather than blending in a neighboring town's number, keeps a rate sheet grounded in what Bay St. Louis itself actually supports.

Can Vermilion or Crystal Beach revenue be averaged into a Bay St. Louis forecast?

No. Vermilion, Ohio published $29,012 across 78 listings, and Crystal Beach, Texas published $44,416 across 131 listings, in the same data pull — but neither is a Gulf Coast Mississippi market. Cite the $25,594-across-340-listings figure for Bay St. Louis and keep the other two towns on their own lines in any report or listing copy.

Which months are strongest in Bay St. Louis?

June, October, and May are the three strongest months, with January the slowest. Year-round occupancy across the extract sits at 31.5 percent, and about 28.8 percent of listings, 98 of the 340, carry a 30-night minimum stay. A host planning renovation timing or a marketing push should build around that pattern rather than assuming demand is flat across the calendar.

Where do Bay St. Louis guests come from, and how far ahead do they book?

New Orleans is the top origin market, followed by Baton Rouge. The typical stay is 3.8 nights, booked roughly 60 days in advance — a short regional-trip pattern rather than a long vacation-planning cycle. Superhost status is common here, at 62.4 percent of the extract. That short booking window means last-minute regional demand can still fill a listing even without a long lead time, which is worth reflecting in a flexible cancellation or pricing policy.

Does a "low regulation" tag mean Bay St. Louis has no local permit?

No. The city requires a short-term rental permit, published as a $100 filing. A low-regulation tag on a data dashboard usually means fewer caps or moratoriums than a stricter market, not that no permit exists at all. Confirm the current fee and renewal terms with the city directly before advertising a unit. Skipping that confirmation and assuming a favorable data tag means no compliance obligations exist is a common and avoidable mistake.

Is a 30-night minimum the same thing as high occupancy?

No. Roughly 28.8 percent of the 340 listings, 98 properties, set a 30-night minimum, but that's a booking-platform filter, not a measure of how full those units actually are. A 30-night minimum limits who can book; it doesn't automatically fill a slow month or prove strong remote-work demand on its own. A host evaluating a 30-night listing should look at the property's actual booked nights over a trailing period, not just whether the minimum-stay filter is set.

What should a buyer packet for a Bay St. Louis property include?

The $25,594-across-340-listings revenue figure, the three strongest months (June, October, May), the slowest month (January), the top guest origin (New Orleans), typical stay length (3.8 nights), typical booking lead time (60 days), and the current city permit fee confirmed directly with the permitting desk rather than a scraped "low regulation" label. Assembling these specific figures up front, rather than scattering them across separate documents, gives a buyer a single, verifiable reference for underwriting the purchase.

Is Crystal Beach, Texas the same market as Bay St. Louis, Mississippi?

No. Crystal Beach published $44,416 across 131 listings on the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas; Bay St. Louis published $25,594 across 340 listings in Hancock County, Mississippi. They share a Gulf Coast search intent but not a state, a permitting system, or a guest base — in any comparison. Marketing copy, permitting requirements, and guest expectations should all be built around the specific town a listing actually sits in, never borrowed from the other.

Why is the average revenue lower in Bay St. Louis despite having more than double Crystal Beach's listings?

Bay St. Louis spreads its listing stock across a historic downtown, a marina district, and residential streets several blocks from the water, not a beachfront strip. Crystal Beach's smaller listing stock sits directly on the Bolivar Peninsula shoreline, where nearly every listing is walking distance to sand — a fundamentally different product mix, not simply a weaker market.

What's the risk of using last year's revenue numbers to underwrite a Bay St. Louis purchase?

Year-over-year revenue in the extract is down 4.5 percent even with listing supply essentially flat, meaning a prior-year figure likely overstates current performance. Underwriting off the trailing twelve months rather than an older annual number gives a more accurate read on what the market is actually producing now. Pulling the trailing twelve months directly, rather than reusing a figure from a year or two ago, gives a more honest read on current demand.

How should listing copy differ for a Bay St. Louis property versus a Crystal Beach one?

Copy borrowed from a beachfront market shouldn't be reused on a walkable-downtown property several blocks from the water, and vice versa. A Bay St. Louis Old Town bungalow markets its walk to restaurants and the harbor; a Crystal Beach cottage markets direct beach access — mismatched claims show up in guest reviews once the guest arrives and the actual distance doesn't match the description.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Two Gulf Coast towns, two very different products: Bay St. Louis sells a walkable historic downtown a few blocks from the water, and Crystal Beach sells sand at the door — the revenue gap between them is the two markets.

If your Bay St. Louis listing copy is still borrowing language from a beachfront market it isn't, we can help you write the year this town's data actually supports. Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.