Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental News

While there are many issues prohibiting meeting attendees from booking Airbnb, the amount of those who do will skyrocket as more people understand the opportunities for local travel experiences and inherent cost savings. Affordable sharing accommodations also help people attend educational association events who otherwise might not be able to afford to participate.

Booking.com wants to answer the needs of "one customer," the one who books an apartment one day and a five-star hotel the next. Yes, a revolution in lodging is under way and Booking.com is now shouting about it.

TripAdvisor/FlipKey's challenges with the vacation rental industry aren't only technical ones. They also reflect increased supply available from individual homeowners and apartment renters. TripAdvisor, Booking.com and Airbnb are going after this sector and professionally managed properties are feeling the lumps.

The on-demand economy is on the rise, but what does on-demand mean, exactly? In this report, a look at the nature of a technology-driven sea change in consumer behavior and the business models emerging to meet it in the travel industry.

Convergence is happening big time these days as online travel companies around the world, driven by the varied and changing accommodations' needs of their customers, are rapidly expanding and will continue to broaden their array of lodging options.

TripAdvisor, with its hotel and restaurant reviews, hotel bookings and tours and activities, is a much more well-rounded travel site than the younger Airbnb at this stage. Still, TripAdvisor has some Airbnb envy, and wants to take advantage of the sea changes in the global lodging industry.

Expedia's launch of vacation rentals in the U.S. in partnership with HomeAway has been a relative dud as Expedia hasn't shown much commitment to the effort. But Expedia has higher hopes for Europe, where vacation rentals are more commonly in travelers' consideration set.

We've been watching how early adopters in business travel are beginning to partner with Uber and Airbnb. Likewise, segments of the hotel industry are beginning to accommodate the sharing economy. Five years from now that collaboration and cooptation will be in full swing.

For first time Uber is now more popular among business travelers than taxis as a percent of all rides, a seminal moment if there ever was one for the business traveler transport economy.

Airbnb, with its roughly $24.5 billion valuation, would likely be too big for most of the online travel agencies to acquire but if they are forced to enter the sharing economy in a bigger way several years from now they always have the resources to buy their way in.