Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental News

While regulation is catching up with the alternative accommodations scene, the sector itself is still booming thanks to its social and tech-savvy consumers.

Given the popularity of alternative accommodations providers like Airbnb, should the hospitality industry rethink its definitions of hospitality and service? What can hotels learn from Airbnb about delivering hospitality and, by contrast, what is Airbnb learning from hotels? Here’s what Airbnb Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy Chip Conley had to say about hospitality’s continuous evolution.

Want to fight back against Airbnb as a hotelier? Create a hotel that people actually want to hang out at. Airbnb, as a networking company between hosts and users, has largely abdicated this space-- so far.

By tackling the issue of trust, not only will companies in the sharing economy be able to raise standards, they might also be able to keep regulators off their backs.

These are the hospitality trends we were talking about this week.

Airbnb is doing all it can to scale up its listings globally, including using more management companies. The problem for Airbnb as it goes corporate is how will the guest experience retain any semblance of authenticity.

Is Airbnb's valuation for real? We'll have to wait for it to go public to see how it would really stack up against the market caps of major hotel chains.

Once again it is consumer behavior that is driving change in online travel -- this time for vacation rental bookings and instantly confirmable online bookings. OK, Expedia's acquisition of HomeAway and Airbnb's goal to curb racism on its platform are also pushing things in the instantly bookable direction. When companies are sluggish in adapting to consumer trends, as HomeAway was to a certain extent in its standalone incarnation, they suffer.

The U.S. alternative accommodations market remains a one-horse race with Airbnb leading its rivals, but the brand's smart first-mover advantage has also turned it into the whipping boy for local tax authorities and hotel lobbies. This turbulent landscape leaves plenty of room for new consumer-facing brands but also opportunities across the broader alternative accommodations ecosystem.

Given the timing of this announcement, there's no doubt the AccorHotels acquisition may have had something to do with Marsh's decision to depart the company he founded. It'll be interesting to see, however, what Marsh pursues next, and if the company will expand rapidly under AccorHotels and Frank's direction.