One of the last lodging frontiers, vacation rentals, is at the forefront of the PhoCusWright conference in Hollywood. As the movers and shakers of the online travel industry convene, aggregation of the vacation home market is happening on at least four fronts. The leader in the industry is yet to be shaken out, but this sector of the industry will never be the same.
The four main players in the vacation home rental field at this conference are VacationRoost, HomeAway, LiveRez and Zonder. Each take a slightly different path toward bringing together these properties and completing transactions.
I had a chance to chat with Arthur Frommer who is a big advocate for the vacation rental industry. He sees this lodging sector as an answer for higher hotel rates and higher airfares. Plus, we discussed changes in American vacation patterns where travelers are more amenable to staying in the same location for a week at a time rather than hopping from city to city. This is where vacation rentals really shine in terms of savings and getting a feel of the destination.
Both Zonder and VacationRoost provide an online travel agency approach to the vacation rental market. Both offer guarantees and both provide the ability to book instantly online. Zonder has inked a deal with Orbitz and is included in their lodging offerings where available and VacationRoost has just been named as one of the technology innovator finalists at PhoCusWright. Both have inventory that is for the most part limited to the Western Hemisphere both work strictly with managed properties.
HomeAway has aggressively been buying up smaller players and presents an aggregated list of vacation rentals including vacation rentals by owner and managed properties. HomeAway puts vacationers in touch with the property owners or management companies. The booking and transactions take place between the traveler and the property owner without HomeAway serving as a commerce intermediary. HomeAway is by far the major player in the industry with its inclusion of owner-rented units and extensive European properties.
LiveRez has taken another more limited approach serving up an online technology solution for vacation rental management companies. LiveRez is less of an aggregator and more of an enabler for associations of vacation home owners and managers to streamline and automate the reservations process. Theoretically, as I understand it, LiveRez software can be used by property management companies that also participate in the Zonder and VacationRoost aggregations.
Other players in this field are LeisureLink, which provides technology solutions to manage properities and provides an interface with travel agents, and Endless Vacation Rentals by Wyndham Worldwide that offers a vacation rental extension to Wyndham’s other lodging offerings. EastWest and ResortQuest have also been very active as major management companies with thousands of properties.
Flipkey provides TripAdvisor-type reviews of vacation rentals. In fact, Tripadvisor has taken an investment position in the company. Flipkey uses a closed confirmation systems that only allows reviews of properties by customers who have stayed in the vacation homes being review.
Bottom line: Vacation rentals are coming into their own. Travel journalists are beginning to write about this part of the industry, that was once only a lodging afterthought except at ski and golf resorts. As the tools for booking, guarantees and reviews grow and improve, this is a side of the industry that will see dramatic growth.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
