Skift Take
Vacation rental bookings are increasingly going online but there is still a dichotomy in models -- instant confirmations versus a 24-hour fail-safe vetting period. Because of the fragmented nature of the vacation rental market, one-size-fits all doesn't seem to be in the offing.
HomeAway laid down the law to vacation rental owners in the United States: When they renew their subscriptions, their properties must be online bookable.
Some of HomeAway's foreign-based sites, such as Stayz in Australia, already require properties to be online bookable, and HomeAway is considering, but isn't yet mandating, that all properties outside the United States likewise be online bookable instead of enabling offline bookings involving guests and hosts.
HomeAway's decision to move toward online booking makes its model more similar than it was previously to rival Booking.com's way of doing business -- but there still is a big difference. Booking.com's more than 625,000 vacation rentals are all online bookable with an immediate confirmation, while hosts using HomeAway's sites, including VRBO in the United States, Arbitel in France, and FeWo-direkt in Germany, have the option of making their online bookable listings instant bookings or with a window of up to 24 hours to vet the guests
