It’s Not Just Airbnb — HomeAway Starts Adding Hotels Too
Photo Credit: Pictured is a suite at the Sonesta ES Suites Chicago - Lombard in Highland Hills, Illinois. Vacation rental site HomeAway is now listing this hotel through HomeAway's relationship with the Expedia Affiliate Network. Sonesta ES Suites Chicago - Lombard
Skift Take
While Airbnb has been brashly adding independent hotels, HomeAway has been quietly doing the same — although it has been using an entirely different business model given its ties to parent Expedia. Curation may have its place, but all of these companies realize that the more inventory and choice they give consumers, the more likely they are to spend on a stay.
Airbnb announced boldly a few months ago that it was making a concerted push to add bed-and-breakfasts and boutique hotels to its platform as it called out Expedia and Booking.com for their allegedly excessive commissions.
But Airbnb isn't the only alternative lodging brand expanding its hotel ranks — HomeAway and sister vacation rental brands such as VRBO are doing it, too, but with a twist. HomeAway is adding hotels from parent company Expedia Group.
It's been fairly well-publicized that Expedia's core online travel agency brands, albeit with an emphasis on Expedia.com, have been adding HomeAway's vacation rental listings and mixing them in with its hotel listings. In fact, Expedia added 25,000 vacation rentals from HomeAway in the first quarter, and the total Expedia gets from HomeAway now stands at around 150,000.
But HomeAway spokesman Jordan Hoefar said Tuesday that the inventory sharing between HomeAway and Expedia goes in the other direction too. HomeAway is adding h
