Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental News

With requests narrowed down to satisfy the judge, Airbnb will need to make new arguments to battle the subpoena.

A more narrowly tailored request from the Attorney General will strip away some of the fishing expedition elements and focus on the information it does have from the data dive.

It remains to be seen what Booking.com does with its new Villas.com and how heavily it gets promoted, but Booking.com clearly is committed to the vacation rental sector, and will likely make many more moves. HomeAway has to do much more to get its digital act together.

Until the judge rules, there is going to be a great deal of activity from Airbnb's PR team, as well as its 'grassroots' group, Peers.

Airbnb's combative tone speaks to the severity of the issue for the sharing brand.

These new terms are out there to get Airbnb ready to go legit. But there's still much work to do, including making hosts feel comfortable as the service goes mainstream.

Once Airbnb figures out taxes, it may have a leg to stand on as it argues for a repeal of the laws that make two thirds of its NYC rentals illegal -- taxes or not. Then there are the leases, landlords, and condo boards to deal with.

For a company with few physical assets, Airbnb demands a high value for its listings. But this value reveals more about how the lodging economy is evolving more than it tells us about what the sharing economy leader is really worth.

Well, you know what they say. Regardless what the activity is, there's an app for that. And, now there is. Hourly room rentals via a mobile app. We know HotelTonight is poised to broaden its offerings a bit, but we doubt the company will try to mimic Breather on this one.

With so many diverse types of accommodations available these days and with the world getting younger, the timeshare business may be losing its luster (although that luster was tenuous, at best).