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> vacation rentals outside of major metropolitan areas that AirBnB has conquered from craigslist. Last time I looked, many/most vacation rentals are multiply l
by ohazi 8y ago
> vacation rentals outside of major metropolitan areas that AirBnB has conquered from craigslist.
Last time I looked, many/most vacation rentals are multiply listed on VRBO, etc. Is there a reason to think that AirBnB is stickier than the other vacation rental sites?
- dominotw 8y ago> Is there a reason to think that AirBnB is stickier than the other vacation rental sites? 1. Has more volume of listings. 2. There are much cheaper options on airbnb than other sites like VBRO. 3. More trustworthy and better brand recognition.
- nostrademons 8y agoThat hasn't been my experience. The other way around has - most VRBO listings are cross-listed on AirBnB, but AirBnB has a large superset of VRBO listings. As a guest, that makes me want to go to AirBnB over VRBO, because I know they'll always have selection, while if I go to VRBO I see largely the same listings I would've on AirBnB. My experience is that as long as you go to a tourist destination (like Hawaii, Croatia or Santa Cruz) VRBO is fine, but as soon as you start to go off the beaten track (like Northern Northern California past Redding, or suburban rentals near major cities, or rural college towns) AirBnB has much more selection. I just did a quick test at my alma mater (Amherst MA) and VRBO had 4 listings, AirBnb had 15. When your reputation score stays with the platform and is a major factor in who will host you, it behooves you to pick one platform for all your travel and stick with it, so getting the "long tail" of non-resort travel is a big coup for AirBnB.
- yesiamyourdad 8y agoI believe that this is because historically VRBO had a listing fee but they didn't have a booking fee and didn't take a cut of the booking. AirBnB I believe takes only a cut of the booking, so it costs nothing to have a listing and you price your booking taking the cut in mind. The economics work better for a place that rents sporadically. HomeAway pivoted VRBO after the buyout to have both a listing fee and a booking fee.
- aphextron 8y ago>You're ignoring a massive market for vacation rentals outside of major metropolitan areas that AirBnB has conquered from craigslist. But it’s still at the end of the day just a real estate play. If AirBnB wants to make another dollar, they have to list another property. They can’t just jack the prices like Netflix because they have serious competition on every front. There’s no services they are launching which will provide the kind of returns that technology investors are looking for. It’s linear growth at best.
- the_watcher 8y agoThey've started exploring helping people add ADUs and will almost certainly investigate how they can continue to increase their supply. That said, on the high end, they absolutely can continue to increase prices, and that's probably a much stronger lever than most think.
- onlyrealcuzzo 8y agoAlso, isn't EVERY analyst predicting a recession sometime between now and 2 years from now? In the event of one, vacation rentals are the first thing people cut back on.
- the_watcher 8y agoAirbnb's defense is that they'll be offering alternatives to hotels (in both business travel and as cheaper vacation options).