Barefoot Technologies Blog- Vacation Rental Industry News

So HomeAway has done it. They have now officially gone in competition with rental agencies. HomeAway, announced today, a tool that allows owners to duplicate what an agency does.  Granted the tool is very limited, but it does provide credit card processing and the ability to automate the rental agreement. For owners using this, one thing they should ask is: can it be used on non HomeAway bookings, and if so, does HomeAway have any rights to that tenant’s contact info if an adds a new tenant? We would love to know the answer to that question ourselves. From the professional managed side of things, it will not be long before HomeAway starts doing travel insurance and damage waivers and everything else Expedia provides.  

If this does not make you raise an eyebrow on the value of vacation rental industry, then nothing will. Although AirBNB is not technically vacation rentals, it is an example of the world looking or being forced to look at other lodging markets beyond hotels, B&B’s, campgrounds and staying with your best buddy.  This model focuses on a company marketing someone else’s products and taking a commission. As you can see Wall Street sees huge values in this model between this funding and HomeAways imminent public offer.  ”Assuming Airbnb's funding deal closes, the company will be getting $100,000 in valuation for every single one of the site's 100,000 or so rental listings.”

The National Association of Realtors (NAR), reports that the market share of vacation and investment home sales held steady in 2010, compared to 2009. However, the sales volume actually declined with the overall market.

First we saw YouTube blow up, and then it was all about Facebook and Twitter. The latest trend online is discount services like Groupon, LivingSocial, as well as Facebook deals. Now, Google wants to get in on the action.

As of right now, the U.S. dollar is weak compared to the Euro, as well as the UK pound.  Now, $1 will only get you €0.69. The dollar being weak is an issue if you have planned on traveling abroad this summer since your dollar does not buy as much as it used to. This will hopefully keep more Americans in this country.

The price of gas dramatically increased over the last month or so, and is now around $4/gallon in most states, if not more. This has led to many vacationers thinking twice about their plans for the summer months.