Articles tagged “vacation rentals”

Airbnb has spawned an ecosystem of startups offering ancillary services, but Handy has a leg up on its competition with a brand and customer base already built up around the country.

In the HomeAway-Airbnb-Booking.com love triangle, it is maverick Airbnb and Booking.com that actually have the most in common in terms of their preference for instantly confirmable bookings. And, like a scorned lover, HomeAway has been ratcheting up its criticisms of Booking.com.

Welcome to a lodging company, HomeAway, that is NOT targeting millennials but instead is going after "whole families." It has little to do with short-term rentals and it may turn out to be short-term thinking.

The Priceline Group won't admit it but its management is feeling the heat from Expedia Inc.'s moves. Adding Orbitz Worldwide to Expedia Inc. will only increase Expedia's inorganic growth, which is growth nonetheless.

The global distribution world has long offered vacation rentals to travel agents but the investments by Amadeus Ventures and former Sabre CFO Jeff Jackson in BookingPal symbolize new and more serious interest.

HomeAway just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Now there is a big question as to whether it will still be an independent company by the time the 11th anniversary rolls around. The company would be expensive to buy, but the betting here is that someone will acquire it, sooner rather than later.

Many vacation rental owners are not going to be happy about HomeAway's online booking push -- but it is in the best interest of travelers and HomeAway's shareholders are going to back the move, as well.

Airbnb is either quietly building out host services for launch or keeping tabs of the growing crop of startups, which are ripe for acquisition once their product is stabilized and customer base large.

Property managers using Flipkey have three business models to choose from: pay per lead, pay an annual subscription fee for an unlimited quantity of leads, or pay a commission per confirmed booking. Lots of choice, depending on each owner's situation.

Smart hoteliers are making a foray into private rentals. There will be bumps along the way, but it's clear there's an opportunity for hotels that offer a mix of traditional lodging and private, exclusive stays.