The Mainstreaming of Alternative Accommodations — Digital Marketing News This Week
Photo Credit: Alternative accommodation is moving from a niche segment into the travel mainstream, as distribution and supply increases. Flickr / Selamat Made
Skift Take
Airbnb tends to get most of the credit when consumers talk about "alternative accommodation." But ultimately it may be efforts undertaken by online travel agencies like Expedia and Priceline that truly bring short-term and whole-home rentals into the travel mainstream.
The rise in consumers' use of accommodation-sharing services like Airbnb is probably no surprise. But even as more consumers use services like HomeAway, Airbnb, and other alternative accommodations, many travel companies continue to write them off as a niche phenomenon.
That denial has faded considerably, though, as the industry's biggest distribution companies and online travel agencies aggressively acquire and sell alternative accommodation inventory.
Earlier this week, Priceline's new CEO Glenn Fogel told analysts that the company planned to "expand aggressively" by offering more alternative accommodation. Mean
