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Airbnb and HomeAway, Are They Headed in the Wrong Direction?

Are Vacation Rental Marketplaces Going in the Right Direction?

With the many changes being made in the vacation rental space, are Airbnb and Homeaway's decisions opening a gap for a new emerging marketplace, Tripz.com?

Many technology advances as of late are put in place to protect commissions not the traveler. Tripz.com is looking to change that and bring a quality experience to travelers and owners alike.”
— Kyle Gale of Tripz.com
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA, February 14, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Some of the biggest names in the vacation rental business have made drastic changes to their platforms recently, pushing the respective marketplaces into a much different direction.

That includes HomeAway removing contact info from their listings and withholding it until after booking, while AirBnb places a new importance on “instant book” listings over approval to book.

In short, both sites are slowly reducing or eliminating communications between renters and owners, becoming more like booking engines and less like open marketplaces in the process.

But the question is: is the industry ready for these new changes? Will this new model succeed, or will there be a fallout as a result? Up and coming Tripz.com sees these changes as an opportunity to bring back the savings, open communication and uniqueness that the industry is asking for.

Repeating History or Shaping the Future?

In 2011, Brian Sharples, the founder and former CEO of HomeAway, gave a speech at Capital Factory Demo Day. During his talk, he shared a few of the lessons he’d learned during the founding and managing of HomeAway.

That included a story about how Expedia had acquired the top vacation rental business Vacation Spot back in 1999 – but saw it totally fail within a year.

Through conversations with Expedia’s former management and customers, he found the two biggest problems. The first was the transition from a subscription-based payment system to one that relied on percentages of the rental price, much like a typical hotel. Customers overwhelmingly rejected the change.

The second – and perhaps more important – factor was the elimination of direct communication between renter and owner. This also proved to be a huge negative with their client base.

Because when people are renting out their own property to strangers, they want the opportunity to talk with them before handing over the keys. And likewise, customers want the chance to ask questions about a rental before parting with their cash.

Just like that, Expedia had ditched the core of what made the vacation rental business so successful in the first place. The affordable pricing and direct, personal communication was gone – and their customers disappeared along with them.

Yet five years after his speech, Brian Sharple and HomeAway began taking the exact same path, eliminating those pre-booking conversations between renter and owner. Did they fail to follow their own advice, or do they know something about the market that the rest of us don’t?

Filling a Hole in the Marketplace

Of course, whether AirBnb and HomeAway’s recent changes turn out to be blunder or brilliance, there seems to be an opening left in the marketplace. That is, providing a more classic vacation rental experience, with easy connections between renters/owners and prices lower than a typical hotel.

And sites like Tripz.com are looking to step up and fill that hole. Unlike AirBnb and HomeAway’s current setup, Tripz doesn’t limit communications between users, and it doesn’t charge booking fees like other sites.

It’s bringing back the uniqueness, the personal connections, and the savings that the rigid and formulaic booking sites no longer provide.

What to Expect Going Forward

Will that be enough to earn them a significant market share and establish Tripz.com as a new, strong rental marketplace within the industry? Only time will tell for sure.

But if past business successes and failures are any indication, it certainly could happen. And future trends are looking bright for Tripz.com with a huge influx on vacation rental owners flocking to the site.

Technology is making it easier and easier to communicate with people from all around the world – and consumers crave that sense of connectedness, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat.

That same technology is also further decentralizing the way people do business. People would rather do business with individuals or smaller businesses, even if there’s a larger marketplace connecting them – and it’s easier than ever before to make it happen.

Don’t expect a site like AirBnb to fail overnight or at all for that matter. But don’t be surprised if sites like Tripz.com start to establish themselves as major players in the market either, filling the void left by competitors and providing that same open marketplace that users value. Tripz is carving out a space on the premise of not charge its travelers unnecessary fees and take money from its vacation rental owners.

Nick Tomasovic
Travel Writer
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