Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental News

Cracking down on Airbnb "Super Hosts," or those who use the platform on a "professional" full-time basis to operate illegal hotels, is becoming a serious hot button issue. If Airbnb wants to become more widely accepted, it has to assure local and state governments that its platform isn't becoming a front for illegal hotels.

Being able to include Additional Hosts for a single listing makes a lot of sense in many cases, but we wonder if this feature could also make it easier for so-called "professional hosts" or commercial operators to manage their multiple listings on the platform as well.

For travel companies, the key to personalizing the offline travel experience is collecting as much personal information as possible from the customer online.

While it's pretty clear that the hotel industry and Airbnb are at odds with one another, it's still obvious that more transparent data is sorely needed to understand the true impact of Airbnb and other home sharing platforms on cities and communities.

Airbnb's business model, which includes a traveler-booking fee, wouldn't be competitive when competing for hotel-room bookings against Expedia and Booking.com, a new report argues. But business models aren't set in stone the last time we checked.

Because Oasis Collections provides local destination representatives to welcome guests at its listings, and also act as private concierges, that made the company attractive to Accor because it's easier to control the quality and uniformity of the guest experience to a degree.

Many U.S. cities remain relatively problematic for short-term rentals as 38 of the 59 largest U.S. cities part of this study have no legal foundation for short-term rentals and 32 have restrictions in place.

One of the reasons HomeAway thought it would be in its interests to get acquired is that it faced substantial risks in transitioning to an online bookable platform and tacking on a fee that travelers have to pay. Now it has Expedia's marketing muscle and tech skills to support all the changes, and a tested product official to help lead the effort.

Whether official or unofficial, the recent studies of Airbnb activity are revealing more and more about the business happening on Airbnb.

Generator Hostels offers a viable option for business travelers by offering single rooms and focusing on how programming and design can drive social engagement among guests and locals. That energetic vibe is also attracting hip consumer brands to partner with the innovative hospitality group.