Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental News

It’s encouraging to see Airbnb tackle this issue head on and try to effect some real changes but we wonder if the company is taking enough steps to make a major difference.

Lawsuits like this make us wonder if the laws we have now are appropriately equipped to address the complicated, tangled intricacies of disruptive online platforms like Airbnb, HomeAway, and their peers. They also make us long for the days when cities and platforms might better work together to apply commonsense regulations for short-term rentals.

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

This is a clear sign that the sharing economy isn’t in its infancy anymore.

Given what happened with Didi Chunxing and Uber, can other businesses like Airbnb compete in China? What can vacation rental and homesharing companies learn from homegrown Chinese startups like Tujia?

Just because Anaheim won’t fine Airbnb, HomeAway, or other alternative accommodations providers, doesn’t mean they won’t try to fine the hosts who advertise illegal listings on those sites.

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

The island nation of Iceland, which is roughly the size of Portugal and located about 1,100 miles northwest of London, is a flashpoint for the encroaching forces of tourism, globalization, and of course, Airbnb, too.

On several fronts, it's obvious that Airbnb is working hard to diversify and expand its products. And Samara, an Airbnb design studio, which is headed by co-founder and chief product officer Joe Gebbia, is the latest manifestation of that.

For all the challenges facing this year's Summer Games, chief among them a lack of hotel rooms, the beauty of Airbnb's flexible supply scheme makes it ideal for major events like the Olympics.