Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental News

Airbnb and HomeAway clones are a dime-a-dozen. But we found a handful carving out niche market segments that seem promising. These startups focus on travelers interested in corporate-friendly lodgings, architecture and design properties, Asia's top destinations, and exclusive luxury residences.

These are the hospitality trends we were talking about this week.

Stay Alfred's $15 million Series A funding may pale next to the roughly $3 billion that Airbnb has raised. But the company — which services apartment rentals and aims for hotel-quality service — is part of a thriving wave of vendors providing an ecosystem of services around short-term urban rentals.

Signs of HomeAway becoming more aggressive about Asia expansion are evident but there is much to do. Putting in place a new leadership team is just the beginning.

These are the hospitality trends we were talking about this week.

We've always seen Conley as the adult in the room at Airbnb, someone who can explain the meaning of hospitality to the upstarts while also having enough creative entrepreneurial experience to fit in at a startup.

It is the beginning of year two for HomeAway within the Expedia portfolio, but rival Airbnb is also getting aggressive in its digital marketing of vacation rentals and Booking.com is no slouch, either. Perhaps to the chagrin of hotels, the vacation rental category is getting a ton of more exposure.

These are the hospitality trends we were talking about this week.

Luxury hospitality groups and tour operators are saying that their guests today are craving more simplicity, better wellness options, and a greater convergence of experiences combined together in one place.

Although much focus as of late has been on Airbnb's ability to become a new kind of online travel agency, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that it continues to be a major disruptor to the traditional hotel industry, too.