HomeAway is mimicking Airbnb's pay-per booking model in some ways, although HomeAway isn't getting into peer-to-peer apartment rentals in any big way just yet.
Vacation rental owners will get added muscle with the new ability to subscribe to one plan and list consistently across 15 of HomeAway's international sites. The normalizing of rate plans, though, will mean a financial hit for some VRBO advertisers.
HomeAway is making use of resources in its own backyard and furthering the ambitions of student travel-startups that could end up helping HomeAway's vacation rental business.
Flipkey will continue to try to differntiate itself through reliable user reviews and inbound traffic from TripAdvisor, but it will need to overcome its parent company's propensity to under-invest in its non-TA properties.