Articles tagged “vrbo”

The vacation rental sector is still pretty fragmented with plenty of single destination specialists still around. Awaze, with its private equity backing, wants to change this.

The short-term rental sector is rapidly expanding. Beyond key platforms in this sector, there is a growing ecosystem of property managers, startups and vendors that are competing to commercialize this space as regulators consider the rules and who's responsible for enforcing them. Find out who's joining Airbnb at this house party.

Google is following its hotel playbook in giving its own vacation rental and apartments business preferential treatment in Google search. As antitrust regulators take a look at Google's practices, and if travel is part of the review, this twist will be high on the agenda.

Is Airbnb going to eat Expedia's lunch? The brand name Vrbo, really? Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom faces some real challenges as the online travel agency pecking order will likely be disrupted in coming years.

Expedia Group doesn't intend to hoard piles of cash for a rainy day. The company purports to favor share repurchases over acquisitions, all things being equal, but if a rainmaker of a deal comes along, then Expedia may pounce.

Is the Boston-Airbnb settlement, which calls for short-term regulatory platforms to comply with a city ordinance, a model for future agreements? Too soon to tell but what's clear is that the alternative accommodations industry will one day transition from outliers to regulated entities.

When Expedia Group acquired HomeAway, now renamed Vrbo, in 2015, officials obviously knew they weren't getting an Airbnb. Still, they may have obtained less than they bargained for because the journey so far has been very bumpy.

Once again — and this time it's the issue of pricing transparency in alternative lodging — European regulators are out in front of their counterparts in other parts of the world, including those in the United States. Travelers shouldn't have to be detectives in trying to figure out what their lodging tab will be.

When Priceline ended traveler fees on airline bookings a decade ago, the other online travel agencies generally followed. Whether Expedia will match Booking.com and start charging hotels commissions on resort fees is a much more complex issue. Part of it depends on how much resistance Booking gets from hotels to its new policy.

Expedia officials can try to assure hoteliers that the rise of alternative accommodations is no big deal for their businesses. But you can be certain that figuring out how to manage this changing dynamic is of paramount concern for all parties involved.