Booking Unveils Host Tools as Short-Term Rental Rivals Address Their Weaknesses
Skift Take
Booking.com wants to service professional managers while going after individual vacation rental owners, too. Airbnb wants to tap into the professional-manager set while branching out into resort areas, and HomeAway wants to get more urban. These companies' offerings will converge, and it's likely their business models will, too.
Booking.com on Tuesday unveiled new tools to enable professional vacation rental managers to vet instant-booking guests and to set policies across all of their listings. It's the latest signal that the Amsterdam-based lodging site, as well as competitors Airbnb and Expedia's HomeAway, all are take steps to address their market weaknesses.
In addition to announcing the availability of new tools to improve the professional management of vacation rentals, Olivier Grémillon, vice president of Booking.com's recently formed Booking Home division, said the company is investing a lot in its short-term rental capabilities in the U.S., and intends to "double down" on its advertising, including on TV, in 2019.
For one such U.S. national TV advertisement, Watersports, which touts Booking.com as a platform for booking any type of lodging, the company has spent more than $42 million since January 30, according to an estimate from TV advertising analytics firm iSpot.tv.
Until this year, and for the prior five, Grémillon managed global strategy and headed Europe, the Middl
