Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental News

Comprehensive coverage of vacation rentals and short-term rentals in both urban and traditional vacation destinations. Get breaking news, original reported stories, trends, interviews, and more.

Short-Term Rentals

Airbnb Mulls Removing Cleaning Fees as a Separate Charge

Hosts may be sabotaging their own bookings by levying excessively high cleaning fees. It is turning off many people to Airbnb, which is a concern for the company.

Dennis Schaal | 14 hours ago

News Blog

Short-Term Rental Firm RedAwning Bought Channel Manager Lexicon Travel Technologies

California-based RedAwning announced it acquired channel manager Lexicon Travel Technologies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. A vacation rental in the RedAwning portfolio. Source: RedAwning Channel managers have tech systems to assist accommodations in distributing their properties to websites such as Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking, and sometimes to global distribution systems, among other outlets.…

Dennis Schaal | 4 days ago

Short-Term Rentals

Airbnb to Ease Host Sign-Up Process, Add More Search Categories

Airbnb is taking steps to increase its traction with hosts, namely to find new ones and to keep them. Its level of success will depend on how well it executes these changes in practice.

Dennis Schaal | 5 days ago

Short-Term Rentals

HomeToGo Made Progress in Booking Strategy That Other Metas Abandoned

A public company, HomeToGo is still very small. However, in metasearch, albeit for short-term rentals, it is going places where larger rivals were unsuccessful.

Dennis Schaal | 1 week ago

Hotels

New Marriott Apartment Brand Bets on Blended Leisure and Business Travel

Marriott International is debuting an extended-stay brand in the U.S. and Canada. Why buy a startup like Placemakr or Limehome when you can build your own brand?

Sean O'Neill | 2 weeks ago

Short-Term Rentals

Vacasa CEO Prioritizes Improved Tech for Sales Team Over New Acquisitions

In contrast to some other newbie CEOs, Rob Greyber articulated a clear vision about a new strategy during his first earnings call at the helm of Vacasa. If his focus on execution becomes reality, then the company could get turned around in earnest.

Dennis Schaal | 2 weeks ago

Short-Term Rentals

Sonder Makes Modest Progress on Long-Term Corporate Travel Bet

Sonder's growth is slowing by design and because of macroeconomic conditions. It is committed to the promised land of 2023, when it hopes to turn red ink to green.

Dennis Schaal | 2 weeks ago

News Blog

Property Manager AvantStay Lays Off 22 Percent of Workforce in Second Round of Cuts

In a second round of cuts since mid-year, property manager AvantStay laid off 144 staffers, about 22 percent of its workforce, according to a published report from Short Term Rentalz. An Avantstay property in Isle of Palms by Charleston, South Carolina. Source: AvantStay. This followed the Los Angeles-based vacation rental firm eliminating some 43 jobs…

Dennis Schaal | 2 weeks ago

Short-Term Rentals

Airbnb Finally Displays True Costs Up Front

Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast looks at Airbnb’s new price transparency, why U.S. tourists are spending more than tourists to the U.S., and Choice Hotels’ upgrades.

Rashaad Jorden | 2 weeks ago

Short-Term Rentals

Airbnb to Display Total Prices Up Front and End Checkout Task Drudgery

Airbnb has responded to years'-long criticism about a lack of transparency in the way it displays its prices. Now, will competitors do likewise?

Dennis Schaal | 2 weeks ago