Articles tagged “homeaway”

Airbnb's current stance would likely be much different if its path to an IPO was uncluttered by web of local and state laws that could trip it up.

Perhaps the immediate challenges that TripAdvisor and HomeAway face will be temporary bumps in the road. For Hotwire, it's a toss-up on whether it can get its mojo back, and American Express Global Business Travel and Travelocity have already seen their best days.

When the vacation rental site encourages you to eat like a local, they also mean you're going to need to cook and shop like one too.

Many of these angels have some big wins on their resumes, some more than one. They see a huge opportunity in vacation rentals, a high-growth market where there is tons of room for improvements both on the management end, and the guest experience.

Convergence is coming to the vacation and urban rental sector with more direct bookings happening online and sites cross-contaminating inventory. Expect a merger of markets and payment methods on all rental sites.

It looks like that supposed great divide between vacation rentals and Airbnb-style apartment rentals and shares isn't so immense. Or at least HomeAway will find out if it is cut out for the sharing economy.

HomeAway's transition to offering a pay-per-booking model, with some parallels to but not a carbon copy of Airbnb's, may be more difficult than HomeAway and investors expect.

Short-term apartment rentals and vacation-home rentals are two different animals, but the poll done for Airbnb, HomeAway, and TripAdvisor seeks to obfuscate the differences.

Whether it's more room, unique decor, or something as simple as a kitchen, vacation rentals and apartment shares will always offer travelers something hotels can't deliver. But its not enough to make a significant change to an industry that does so many other things quite well.

When HomeAway says Airbnb isn't a direct competitor, we think HomeAway doth protest too much. These markets will undoubtedly converge over the long term.