Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental News

Airbnb has nothing to worry about. Marriott is mainly interested in using rentals as a tool to build brand loyalty. So the Bethesda, Maryland-based hotel giant won't threaten the established players in short-term rental booking.

Behind the scenes, there may be abundant reasons that Booking Holdings and Airbnb, for that matter, won't be dabbling in Google's vacation rentals business for the time being. Perhaps they are seeking to boost direct traffic or are unhappy with the economics and user experience. Expedia may be positioned to take some advantage.

Do or die? Test and learn? Now or never? As Airbnb marches toward going public in 2020, a key question in many minds will be how Airbnb deals with Google — and at what price. There are no slam-dunk answers.

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.

While $1 billion in revenue is impressive, it's not the first time Airbnb has achieved the number. What matters for the homesharing platform is the growth narrative. Now that the timing of the company's IPO is pegged for 2020, we know just how long we will have to wait to see how the story line plays out.

The European Union is the largest tourism destination in the world. Its accommodation sector is critical infrastructure supporting all of those travelers. Understand what shifts are taking place not just at the top level but also across subsectors, countries, and companies.

We've seen this playbook before. Google isn't making much money off its vacation rental business, and doesn't need to sweat it. With its domination of search, Google will take its time, build its global property numbers, and test what works. Competitors know what's coming.

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.

The hotel business was never an easy one for online travel companies. Far from it. But compared with the complexities of alternative accommodations, executives at Booking Holdings may come to regard the hotel business as a relative cakewalk.