Major online travel agencies are growing their short-term home rentals business, eating into a market dominated by Airbnb.
Expedia and Priceline Group, powerhouses in the hotel bookings market, are beefing up their online home listings, the Wall Street Journal reports. The industry refers to this segment as the private accommodation market, which includes short-term home, room and vacation rentals, according to industry research group Phocuswright. Already this market is about one-fifth the size of the hotel market and growing at a faster rate, the Journal reports.
Airbnb has been encroaching on the online travel booking market for some time now. After announcing in May that it had broken even, turned a profit and would likely reach $3B in profits by 2020, the home-sharing behemoth began to shift its focus from its core home business to online travel.
Airbnb announced plans to buy Canada’s Luxury Retreats International in February, a move that would put it in direct competition with agencies like Expedia and Priceline. The acquisition would cost Airbnb $300M and allow the home-sharing behemoth to grow its new tourism services business, which offers local excursions like mushroom hunting and truffle tastings.
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