Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental News

Airbnb would like to focus on expanding its product into more aspects of travel, but it's going to keep its lobbyists and lawyers very happy the rest of this year and into the next.

If we were Airbnb, we'd be paying very close attention to this latest news.

Airbnb is finally trying to meet lawmakers and housing advocates in the middle, but it's unclear if it's willing to provide cities enough access to its data to know if the proposed guidelines will be met.

Vacation rental owners and property managers are using technology solutions to mitigate their risks in an era when they face the prospect of getting pushed into irrelevancy by the large distribution platforms if they don't agree to instantly confirmable bookings. Buck the instant booking trend? The penalty is seeing their listings drop toward the bottom of the heap.

This report seems to suggest hoteliers don't have much to worry about when it comes to Airbnb but we're dealing more with apples and oranges here than apples and apples.

Despite the large amount of funding Wimdu received in 2011, it was never able to scale its operation on a global basis like Airbnb. The variety of laws restricting the ability of Europeans to list their homes on a roomsharing platform likely hastened its demise.

Can Airbnb succeed in making packaged tours or peer-to-peer travel experiences cool? That's the big question when it comes to its latest investment, which is set to debut at its upcoming Airbnb Open in November. We have a feeling Airbnb just might be able to.

Airbnb has made it clear it's not a hotel company in the traditional sense, but with its latest loyalty play, it appears to be taking its lead from hotel-airline partnerships. Which makes us wonder: Will it eventually launch its own loyalty program in the not-so-distant future? Are other airline partnerships in other global regions also in the works now that they've already formed deals in Australia and the U.S.?

While regulation is catching up with the Alternative Accommodations scene, the sector itself is still booming thanks to its social and tech-savvy consumers.

While regulation is catching up with the alternative accommodations scene, the sector itself is still booming thanks to its social and tech-savvy consumers.