Airbnb News

HomeAway’s fee hike spotlights the shifting economics of the vacation rental business. Property owners are weighing how much of a cut technology companies deserve when making it easier for them to put heads in beds.

Airbnb is getting into the very business it has spent the past decade disrupting. Will Niido Powered by Airbnb usher in an era of co-living residences that encourage homesharing?

With the sharing economy accounting for almost one in three vacation beds in Australia, the impact of Airbnb and Stayz is being widely questioned. But with hotel occupancy levels and room prices still rising, hotels and lobbying groups' efforts to restrict private rentals seem like an overreaction.

Expedia and Priceline, watch out. Airbnb is very obviously coming for you. Today, it's bed-and-breakfasts. Tomorrow, it'll be more boutique and independent hotels.

You can't really blame people who live in and around a popular city for wanting to enjoy the attractions that make it special. Their taxes give them that right, after all. It needs to be factored into overtourism calculations that locals sometimes outnumber other visitors at tourism attractions.

If hotels could out-innovate Airbnb, then Schrager is right that would certainly be part of the answer to the threat posed by the homesharing company. However, Airbnb is more nimble than many big chains. And they are unlikely to give up their legislative efforts anytime soon.

Is it just the varied nature of the two advertising platforms, Google's versus Facebook's, that makes Google more effective at identifying traveler intent? Some would make that argument. If the travel industry hopes that Facebook will ever supplant Google as an advertising platform, then buckle up for an extended wait.

For anyone who’s ever had to wrangle a payment from a friend for a trip, this new Airbnb payments feature is a very welcome early holiday present.

While Blecharczyk wouldn't say anything about Airbnb's impending IPO, he did reveal some interesting perspectives on how and where he sees the $31 billion company continuing to grow.

Let's do some math, first: How do you calculate 20x growth when you're not given a baseline for comparison? Our guess is whatever that adds up to, it may not be very much.