Articles tagged “short-term rentals”

The short-term rental ecosystem, from property managers and platforms to business-to-business vendors, is rapidly expanding. As this continues, there is a fine balance to be struck where the sector professionalizes — without commercializing beyond recognition.

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.

On March 1, Taj Hotels will start taking bookings for its official foray into homesharing with its new brand, Amã, with nine bungalows. It's further proof of the Skift Megatrend that in hospitality, "everything is converging."

Just as challenging as it is for Airbnb to offer more hotel-like options, it seems in some ways even more daunting for hotel companies to start offering more Airbnb-like accommodations.

Booking.com wants to service professional managers while going after individual vacation rental owners, too. Airbnb wants to tap into the professional-manager set while branching out into resort areas, and HomeAway wants to get more urban. These companies' offerings will converge, and it's likely their business models will, too.

When it comes to the acquisition game, Expedia Group CEO Mark Okerstrom is one of the travel industry's savviest players. It's fun to see him back at it, after a mostly quiet period of him settling into the company's top job.

Seems like both Hyatt and AccorHotels are struggling to find ways to make private accommodations work with their current business models. But we don't think they should give up hope just yet.

Leave it to Marriott to figure out a way to make homesharing work for the hotel industry. But as we've noted before, this space has its challenges, and figuring out the logistics and differences between managing homes and hotels will be crucial.

Airbnb has crafted an ideal template for telling the same old story when it comes to dealing with short-term rental regulations around the world, and more cities just don't seem to want to hear it anymore.

If Airbnb is successful with Airbnb Plus, it will ensure that alternative accommodations are no longer seen as an alternative. But making it a success will be easier said than done.