Articles tagged “short-term rentals”

The Guild, a hospitality startup, is not quite a hotel but not quite Airbnb. It's betting on $25 million in new funding to expand its apartment-like accommodations to urban centers to attract more business travelers.

The tug-of-war between hotels and short-term rentals intensified in 2019, with both sides making strategic moves to display their strength. There were wins and losses for everyone, and the result so far has been a deeper blurring of the lines between the two sectors.

Many Airbnb hosts of the mom-and-pop variety — yes, there are a few left — feel aggrieved when they welcome guests into their homes and have to bear the consequences of hostile reviews penned with the worst intentions. Airbnb is trying to tip the balance back toward hosts — and is probably making neither party totally happy.

The short-term rental market is a long-term growth sector. Yet its dynamics are being upended as professional management becomes popular and online travel companies seek smarter ways to sell the lodging. Here are several takeaways from Skift's first event to focus on the sector's opportunities.

Hospitality giants moving into the short-term rental space hasn't always gone smoothly. But Marriott's vice president of Homes & Villas said that the company isn't getting its feet wet anymore — it's found a business model that works and wants to grow it.

It's all about its anticipated public offering at Airbnb these days. Shore up the plethora of safety issues, make peace with regulators, and bring in seasoned operational executives that the Wall Street crowd will look favorably upon. Was Belinda Johnson a casualty in that push?

Airbnb — and other players in the short-term rental space — have a daunting task in trying to verify millions of home listings, along with an expanded array of tours and activities. With this push, it might just open up more players to liability from content offered on their platforms.

In a very crowded and highly competitive short-term rental field, it makes sense that Expedia Group's Vrbo would try to stand out, albeit as a travel business serving families. Why go after the backpackers and younger generation when that isn't your core customer anyway?

No pain, no gain, right? Expedia's Vrbo unit, which is almost an afterthought when it comes to discussions about Airbnb, Booking.com, and Google, has been undergoing a difficult transition. In itself, changing the leadership isn't the answer, but along with other changes, perhaps it won't hurt.

Airbnb has avoided these policies under the guise of being just a platform, much like the rest of the tech platform companies. We just hope at some point that tragedies are not the only way to propel change that lots of stakeholders have been asking for all along.