Articles tagged “vacation rentals”

Alternative accommodations aren't very alternative anymore. It's time for the sector to get the ad tech tools it deserves.

The death of hotels was greatly exaggerated. Advantage Booking.com and Expedia — not Airbnb — if travelers indeed are now seeking out both hotels and vacation rentals in comparable numbers.

As a public company, Airbnb would be a dream for reporters, analysts, and investors because of the required disclosures about financials and strategy. It could also prompt competitors to up their game, and perhaps be more forthcoming about the numbers behind their own short-term rental businesses.

The online travel agency lineup in Google vacation rentals involves strategic considerations: take advantage of the bookings, and strengthen Google's competitive position in the process, or risk going without.

While many travel companies are struggling to survive, Google has the resources to keep innovating and rolling out new products despite the travel advertising downturn. As with flights and hotels, Google's new tours and activities advertising business will have a far-reaching impact — unless regulators step in.

If the future of travel will tilt toward non-urban destinations, which are not Airbnb's strength, its stock market registration papers will have to show how the company is addressing that weakness.

Nothing like a world-shattering crisis to force companies to look into the mirror and contemplate a makeover. Will consumer travel preferences change forever because of coronavirus? Forever is a very long time.

A silver lining in the coronavirus fiasco, for companies that survive it, is that the crisis gives many the chance to reset and take stock of their operations. Neglecting to do that can be an opportunity that may never resurface.

The proverbial handwriting is on the wall for Airbnb, Facebook, Google, Tripadvisor, and Yelp, among others. The regulators are coming! The regulators are coming!

In this tragic and topsy-turvy year, market conditions can change before the end of this sentence. As of this writing, Airbnb seemingly has a path to go public at a valuation that it can likely live with.