Big Boys in Travel Are Looking At Vacation Home Rentals

A big week for our industry.  My friends over at FlipKey collected on an investment from TripAdvisor, and then Orbitz announced a partnership with Zonder to provide a vacation rental referral service to their travelers.  This activity resulted in an article in the Motley Fool about Expedia and the vacation rental industry.

Motley Fool article about Expedia and Vacation Home Rental Market

So what does all this mean?  Not sure any of us know for sure, but it tells me a couple of things:
- The big travel companies are very interested in the vacation home rental industry
- Online bookings, not just referrals and reservations, is going to be come even more critical
- Taking their business online is essential for vacation rental property managers
- Vacation rental property managers stand to win, and win big, if they are ready for a new era
- HomeAway has some big decisions to make about their strategy
- We need to stay very focused on the Customer - the Traveler

What do you think it spells for our industry?

Ralf
LiveRez