2017 Interesting Year For Listing Sites

[Essar]

Airbnb buys Luxury Retreats - moving away from "sleep in the fridge" cool small accommodation provider.

Booking.com getting priced out by small App providers like BidRoom.

TripAdvisor now a likely takeover target - PriceLine and Expedia look favourites. Review site to ota not working out as planned. Maybe TV advertising is the way to go? doh!

HomeAway includes 800,000 Expedia properties - hotels, yea that'll work - on their sites taking it up to 2.1m properties.

Hilton decides that holiday rentals look interesting and buys Accor who has just bought up 5 small listing sites because "it's just another somewhere to stay".

TUI groups' holiday rental sites make up 63.2% of revenue overall.


Could be another interesting year a head. There will come a point when these corporates actually work out that if it wasn't for the individual holiday rental owners their business models would be down the toilet. They might start to be more flexible and friendlier in their approach - don't plan any investments on that happening anytime soon though.

[COYS]

There will come a point when these corporates actually work out that if it wasn't for the individual holiday rental owners their business models would be down the toilet. They might start to be more flexible and friendlier in their approach - don't plan any investments on that happening anytime soon though.

"Interesting" would be one way of putting it Essar.
Good point re: business models, though I'm not sure the giants see it quite the same way.
It's not so much all them wanting a bigger slice of the pie - it's wanting each others & everybody else's too, that makes me despise their current practices so much. Monopolism is a truly odious US business driver where biggest = best, at any cost. Meanwhile, back in the real world that is rarely the case.
Yes indeed, an interesting year ahead

[kg1]

Airbnb buys Luxury Retreats - moving away from "sleep in the fridge" cool small accommodation provider.

Booking.com getting priced out by small App providers like BidRoom.

TripAdvisor now a likely takeover target - PriceLine and Expedia look favourites. Review site to ota not working out as planned. Maybe TV advertising is the way to go? doh!

HomeAway includes 800,000 Expedia properties - hotels, yea that'll work - on their sites taking it up to 2.1m properties.

Hilton decides that holiday rentals look interesting and buys Accor who has just bought up 5 small listing sites because "it's just another somewhere to stay".

TUI groups' holiday rental sites make up 63.2% of revenue overall


Could be another interesting year a head. There will come a point when these corporates actually work out that if it wasn't for the individual holiday rental owners their business models would be down the toilet. They might start to be more flexible and friendlier in their approach - don't plan any investments on that happening anytime soon though.

I won't hold my breath but there's always hope😉😉

[kg1]

Airbnb buys Luxury Retreats - moving away from "sleep in the fridge" cool small accommodation provider.

Booking.com getting priced out by small App providers like BidRoom.

TripAdvisor now a likely takeover target - PriceLine and Expedia look favourites. Review site to ota not working out as planned. Maybe TV advertising is the way to go? doh!

HomeAway includes 800,000 Expedia properties - hotels, yea that'll work - on their sites taking it up to 2.1m properties.

Hilton decides that holiday rentals look interesting and buys Accor who has just bought up 5 small listing sites because "it's just another somewhere to stay".

TUI groups' holiday rental sites make up 63.2% of revenue overall.

I won't hold my breath but there's always hope!


Could be another interesting year a head. There will come a point when these corporates actually work out that if it wasn't for the individual holiday rental owners their business models would be down the toilet. They might start to be more flexible and friendlier in their approach - don't plan any investments on that happening anytime soon though.

[CSE]

Booking.com getting priced out by small App providers like BidRoom.

Just signed up to Bidroom. Search locally and for cities known to us in Europe.
Nothing searched for was listed!
only 25 listed in their city base.
I do hate it when you have to give an email before you use a website, so they got a throwaway one.
Even then before I had finished searching they "spammed " the email with a hurry and reserve email.
Reviews by TA not a a plus point.
Maybe later it will work, so the judge is out on this one at the moment.
An article written by Mr Ros. http://ehotelier.com/insights/2016/11/0 ... e-booking/

[Ben McNevis]

I hadn't known about bidroom before (except that many South Africans sleep in one).

How does it generate income?

[AndrewH]

I hadn't known about bidroom before (except that many South Africans sleep in one).

Yes. Say it out loud. Very Good

[Barbara Ann]

I think it's a waste of time and energy trying to figure out what's going on with all these websites, we'll only know when it happens.

[russellt]

it's a waste of time and energy trying to figure out what's going on with all these websites

I can understand that view. If you're not involved then it must appear like a lot of fruitless wheel-spinning. However, they're(we're) trying to create some change because the market appears fixed in favour of those with the deepest pockets. Owners are being taken for granted.

Doesn't sit well with me, and I guess the many others who are trying to create some form of change.

[GRL]

Doesn't sit well with me, and I guess the many others who are trying to create some form of change.

Exactly - bending over backwards to please the likes of OD et al and lining their pockets with MY money goes against everything I stand for. It is one of the reasons I am part of the group of owners who have set up the FB group Book Your Holiday Direct with the Owner to deliver more direct bookings to myself and the other owners who are members.

[greenbarn]

I think it's a waste of time and energy trying to figure out what's going on with all these websites, we'll only know when it happens.

I actually think it’s already happened, and it’s fairly obvious what they’re attempting to do.

But I do think it’s a waste of energy trying to fight them as they set all the rules and own the battleground, and they really just want to fight each other until a victor emerges, or they’re all dead.
However, it’s interesting to watch.

Having suggested it’s a waste of energy trying to fight them I’d better qualify that: it’s a waste of energy trying to fight them at their own game, and nobody can now afford to do that. But while they’re fighting each other with the ultimate goal of being the sole means for owners being able to rent and for guests to find us, both owners and guests can - and are - gradually finding alternatives.
When the victor emerges, or they agree a blood soaked stalemate, they may find the “prize” no longer pays for the cost of the war.
Oh dear.

[e-richard]

I think it's a waste of time and energy trying to figure out what's going on with all these websites, we'll only know when it happens.

But its not a waste of time figuring how to run our own businesses and since they still dominate the industry, any insights into what they are doing, as illustrated by Essar above, should be helpful to us.

I do think it’s a waste of energy trying to fight them as they set all the rules and own the battleground, and they really just want to fight each other until a victor emerges.... .

I totally agree. We, here, are but a tiny mosquito bite on the a$$ of an elephant.

[russellt]

at their own game

Exactly right. My approach is to target what I believe to be a weakness in their armour, but it will take a willing community to press home a potential advantage and build an alternative option for our guests.

[CSE]

Small shop owners against the supermarkets? Even so called convent stores businesses relies on the wholesale from larger brands.
Spar; One Stop; Nisa; Booker Group etc. Latest news is that Waterstones have opened 3 "unbranded" book stores.

Is the "little man" ever going to prevail? Outlook is not looking positive at the moment. Good luck!

[russellt]

Small shop owners against the supermarkets?

Not sure this is the best analogy, unless you presume that it is the small shop owners who also own the fields where the wheat & corn are grown and the cows are fed. We own the core assets!

Is the "little man" ever going to prevail?

The little man is a huge chunk of the UK economy. It's our innovation and tenacity that gets us there.