Articles tagged “vacation rentals”

From new products featured prominently in Google search to acquisitions and antitrust probes, Google's competition issues have been fodder for years. Here are some highlights.

With thousands of hotels going out of business and up for sale, and vacation rentals business booming in certain destinations, there will be a ton of disruption and convergence in hospitality. Savvy short-term rental operators can pick off some direct bookings, but the mega online travel agencies will hardly notice.

In the school of online travel hard knocks, new entrants have learned that barriers to entry can be substantial. Amazon, Google, and Airbnb should realize that the devil is in the details, and the complexities.

Alternative accommodations aren't very alternative anymore. It's time for the sector to get the ad tech tools it deserves.

The death of hotels was greatly exaggerated. Advantage Booking.com and Expedia — not Airbnb — if travelers indeed are now seeking out both hotels and vacation rentals in comparable numbers.

As a public company, Airbnb would be a dream for reporters, analysts, and investors because of the required disclosures about financials and strategy. It could also prompt competitors to up their game, and perhaps be more forthcoming about the numbers behind their own short-term rental businesses.

The online travel agency lineup in Google vacation rentals involves strategic considerations: take advantage of the bookings, and strengthen Google's competitive position in the process, or risk going without.

While many travel companies are struggling to survive, Google has the resources to keep innovating and rolling out new products despite the travel advertising downturn. As with flights and hotels, Google's new tours and activities advertising business will have a far-reaching impact — unless regulators step in.

If the future of travel will tilt toward non-urban destinations, which are not Airbnb's strength, its stock market registration papers will have to show how the company is addressing that weakness.

Nothing like a world-shattering crisis to force companies to look into the mirror and contemplate a makeover. Will consumer travel preferences change forever because of coronavirus? Forever is a very long time.