In two separate reports released this month, Phocuswright emphasizes the fast growth of the vacation rental market, which has become one of the most popular segments of the industry. Private accommodation grew by 11 percent in 2016, which was nearly twice as fast as the overall U.S. travel market, according to the report ‘A Market Transformed: Private Accommodation in the U.S.’ (http://dtn.fm/AdOQ7). This growth pace is expected to slow down in 2017 and even 2018, but this segment is expected to continue outpacing the overall travel market throughout this time span, the document underlines.
The increasing role of private accommodation and alternative lodging rentals is also outlined by the sixteenth edition of Phocuswright’s ‘U.S. Online Travel Overview’ (http://dtn.fm/u4Wc8). According to this report, the alternative lodging rental market now accounts for almost one-fifth of the entire accommodation market. In addition, booking rates for vacation rentals are growing increasingly faster than those reported by hotels.
Once regarded simply as a cheaper alternative to traditional accommodation or a largely offline alternative typically reserved for family vacations, private accommodations have become increasingly popular since moving online with the help of intermediaries such as Airbnb and HomeAway. Gradually, they have become the accommodation of choice for a new generation of younger tourists whose traveling preferences focus mostly on creating memories and personal experiences by interacting with the places and people they visit more closely. The success of this private accommodation market has also attracted the interest of large travel and accommodation groups such as Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) and The Priceline Group’s (NASDAQ: PCLN) Booking.com, both of which have already started building their ALR inventories. In 2015, Expedia completed the acquisition of the HomeAway platform for $3.9 billion.
This trend is likely to continue in the future, with the private accommodation market set to continue gaining more ground over the traditional hotel and lodging segment, according to Phocuswright experts. “The segment’s shift online, the expansion of the concept to include private homes in urban markets, the entrance of OTAs, and numerous innovative startups have all contributed to powering a period of tremendous growth,” said Douglas Quinby, Phocuswright’s vice president, research. “Against a backdrop of strong performance for the U.S. travel industry, the private accommodation segment has grown much faster than travel overall,” he added.
With a continuously growing portfolio of alternative lodging units that currently stands at more than 1.1 million worldwide, the NextTrip.com platform is representative of Monaker Group’s focus on this market segment and its commitment to offering customers comprehensive travel solutions and personalized tours. The NextTrip.com platform is unique on the market at the moment, being the only one to offer travelers real-time booking and access to everything they need to organize their journeys down to the smallest details, from ALR options to hotels, rental car services, airlines, concierge and more. In addition to the NextTrip.com platform, Monaker Group offers a wide range of tourism services, including highly customizable tours and travel solutions, through its Maupintour subsidiary.
For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com
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