Articles tagged “sharing”

Expedia partnered with HomeAway on vacation rentals last week. One day it is going to partner with or acquire a sharing economy company built in the Airbnb mold, depending how the market shakes out. When you are as big as Expedia, you can afford to sit back and see how things shape up.

The next six months will be interesting for the rental upstart, and fascinating to watch from the outside. Can it find a balance with regulators and can it keep the user growth momentum going?

This isn't about the sharing, it's about the commerce.

The answer, as always, lies somewhere in the middle.

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.

The subpoena will likely be pared down before it is issued. Some big issues will be coming to a head in this probe, including whether an apartment rental by an individual renders the apartment a hotel that is subject to occupancy tax.

Lists like this are always about buzz rather than reality, so watchers will have to wait until these six reach their forties to see if they can turn their young-ish companies into established players.

It's tough to say that Bloomberg's lasting legacy will be New York City's transportation transformation with so many changes taking place in the past 12 years. We can say with confidence that the improvements are still just small steps towards insuring the city keeps pace with well-designed sustainable urban initiatives abroad.

The study points to the positive aspects of Airbnb's live-like-a-local positioning and the sense of community the brand can offer its hosts and renters, but also highlights the challenges of making that happen in its most popular markets.