To say that the vacation rentals industry has turned on its head over recent years would be an understatement. It’s gone from being something of an ‘as and when’ business model, to a fully-fledged industry which seems to be growing at a frantic rate.
The likes of Brian Ferdinand have commented on this growth over recent times and it seems as though companies such as Airbnb are largely to thank. They have kick-started the progress, although they are now not necessarily the only thing which is propelling it further.
We’ll now take a look at the vacation rental business in full detail and highlight some of the reasons it is exploding beyond anyone’s expectations.
It all started with Airbnb
Well, let’s start this story from the beginning. As we’ve already stated, it all started with Airbnb.
Their concept has transformed the vacation rentals business and while they are a huge cog in the whole industry, they’ve also promoted alternative avenues for growth. In other words, they have made vacation rentals fashionable again and are responsible for both direct and indirect growth of this market.
Hotels are jumping on board
One of the ‘indirect’ methods that we’ll talk about is the way in which hotels are jumping on the bandwagon. Whether this is because their domination of the market is threatened, or they just want to take a stake of the ever-increasing vacation rentals pie, they are getting involved.
Many of the big-name hotel chains, with Choice Hotels being one of the best examples, are investing in vacation rentals. When such big brands jump on board, it adds yet more credibility to the market and makes the whole industry even more enticing.
The gap between hotels and vacation rentals is merging
We’ve just touched upon the credibility-factor with this market, and this next point will just emphasize this point even further.
One of the main reasons why a lot of people turned to hotels was because of the convenience. Everything was provided; from bed linen, to bars of soap. Visiting someone’s rental property on the other hand didn’t really provide such luxuries – most of the time you were given a roof and required to bring anything else as extra.
Now, the gap has merged. Guests in vacation rentals are treated like hotel vacation guests and ultimately, it gives a best-of-both-worlds solution.
Airbnb is fueling the industry
We said that this story started with Airbnb, and let’s now close this piece on their revolution. While they may have fueled the initial surge in growth of vacation rentals, they are still doing their bit to make sure that this continues. For example, as well as being the market leader for those people who are hunting for a rental property, they are also investing in their own technology which can allow property owners to link their properties with their own API and just make management all the more easier.
In a nutshell, as well as the famous brands jumping on board, the vacations rental industry is always going to be attractive to the smaller owners and there are no signs of this changing anytime soon.