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Online Travel
Does Vacasa’s technology and scale really give it a defensible position in North America? Moats are so overrated.
Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago
Oyo's potential IPO has likely run head-on into the collapse of several recent public market debuts in India with a couple of lawsuits potentially figuring into the regulator's delayed decision. Oyo will eventually go public, but that maiden public appearance likely won't resemble the initial vision.
Short-Term Rentals
It isn't that Vacasa has no competition in North America in vacation rental management, but there isn't a strong challenger at the moment after Vacasa bought out its strongest competitors over the last two years. In such a hot market, look for that void to get filled pronto.
Pressure from regulators and maybe disgruntled partners prompted Google to add free booking links in search results and Maps in travel. Google certainly hasn't leveled the proverbial playing field among advertisers and non-advertisers, but hotels and smaller online travel agencies may see some benefit.
Hey, when opportunity knocks, answer the door if you think there is an ample addressable market. That's what Inspirato did as it develops a corporate rewards or incentive program and seeks to broaden its products into flights and adverture travel, as well.
Just about every travel company — Sonder included — wants more direct bookings because of the lower costs and chance to build customer relationships. Still, Sonder may be at a growth stage where adding distribution channels can be an important hedge against over-reliance on the bigger ones.
Google Travel turned off Russia advertisers, but is still getting a limited amount of advertising for Russia travel from ad partners outside Russia. In contrast, Skyscanner and Kayak don't display any information about Russia travel.
Travel Technology
Some hoteliers risk being overly ambitious in their tech efforts coming out of the pandemic.
Sean O'Neill | 2 years ago
Airbnb went deep while Booking Holdings went wide in terms of product development in 2021. Airbnb assuredly will get back to broadening its product line, if not in 2022, then later.
Airbnb bookings in Ukraine are very well-intentioned and much of it may be going to hard-hit individual hosts. However, Airbnb doesn’t expressly identify professional hosts so a chunk of the funds may be unwittingly going to big property managers that aren’t even based in Ukraine.
