Vacation Rental Search Startups Face Intensifying Rivalry

Airbnb, Booking.com, and HomeAway grab the headlines when it comes to the online booking of alternative accommodations. But smaller startups are fighting for dominance in the fast-growing category of price-comparison search. Just as Trivago aggregates hotel inventory and refers customers to other companies to complete their booking, these startups aim to offer similar price-comparison for non-hotel lodging. Since launching the category in vacation rental search, Tripping has been the most lavishly funded. The San Francisco-based company has raised $55 million to date, it said. But in the past year, additional venture capital funding has intensified competition among the clutch of startups that help consumers trawl listings across booking sources. The most significant new challenger has been HomeToGo, a Berlin-based startup. Five companies claim to be "the world's largest" by various measures. But a few sources at third-party suppliers who see booking volumes speculated that HomeToGo had become neck-and-neck with Tripping in transaction volume by late 2017. That said, all of the companies keep their data private, the sector is still fractured and maturing, and the game's outcome remains up in the air. Last year HomeToGo raised a Series C round. The company declined to disclose the amount but said it was “a significant eight-figure number.” Before that, it had raised $26.6 million in funding. Holidu, a Munich-based metasearch engine, raised an undisclosed Series B last year, bringing its total funding to what it called "an eight-digit figure." The business appeared to be rapidly gaining on the other two in integrations with suppliers. Other contenders for the crown include AllTheRooms, FewoFerien/Holiday Homes, and Hundredrooms — each of which raised modest amounts in the past year. Are These Startups Necessary? As a new set of metasearch companies rises, it is an open question whether consumers are clamoring for a search service dedicated to comparing rentals. When the past stars of metasearch, such as Kayak, Skyscanner, and Trivago, got their start, they weren't caught in the shadows of legacy players. But companies like HomeToGo and Tripping must compete in marketing battles against now-giant brands like Trivago — which since November has been adding vacation rental listings in select markets. Google is crowding out space for brands, too. Since the summer, it has been slowly adding vacation rentals to its search