Airbnb News

Marriott took a big leap in launching its own short-term rental business to take on Airbnb. But it's definitely still too early to expect the world's largest hotel chain to challenge on that front.

The short-term rental sector is rapidly expanding, and it is not just Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com that benefit from this. A growing ecosystem of property managers and B2B vendors are professionalizing the sector, while making a decent penny.

The professionalization of Airbnb may mean cleaner bedsheets and more front desks. But it may also contribute to higher home prices to the detriment of housing-squeezed neighborhoods — and a brand identity that is in dire need of a reboot.

Meeting planners often stick with traditional hotel room blocks for event housing, meaning they miss out on all the flexibility offered by Airbnb.

Airbnb keeps on improving its business travel platform. So when will the events industry finally take advantage of it?

Travel tech's "platformania" may be cooling off. One reason is fiercer competition, according to a new study.

Once again — and this time it's the issue of pricing transparency in alternative lodging — European regulators are out in front of their counterparts in other parts of the world, including those in the United States. Travelers shouldn't have to be detectives in trying to figure out what their lodging tab will be.

The lifestyle hotel space has gotten very crowded, especially over the last 18 months. But it appears Life House has a viable fallback plan in place in case expansion plans don't work out.

Sonder's hotel-style serviced apartments operate in that sweet spot between Airbnb homeshares and full-on hotels. There are, of course, plenty of rivals doing a similar thing, but this funding round will enable Sonder to expand its business and give it a competitive edge.

Oyo's dynamic pricing strategy could turn out to be a bit of a double-edged sword in the U.S., where the company faces greater competition. On one hand occupancy is sure to go up for many of its hotel partners, but if a majority of rooms are booked last-minute at incredibly low prices, hotel managers can start enduring some losses.