Airbnb's pricing changes will likely have a ripple effect, prompting some hosts to reduce cleaning fees and property management websites to switch to showing total prices.
It's clear that vacation rental hosts and property managers crave direct bookings, and many may be making inroads. Still, the marketing power of big brands is tough to compete with.
Whether it’s via Whimstay or others, the Hotwire-like selling of last-minute inventory for vacation rentals is destined to find a role in this very hot sector.
Voice has tremendous potential to transform the vacation rental or private accommodation experience as we know it — but are we there yet? And if not, how do we get there?
In other words, there’s plenty of opportunity out there for third parties or the big players like HomeAway and Airbnb to capitalize on offering more ancillary guest services for professionally managed vacation rentals.