Google Travel unveils free cancellation filter and planning information
Worldwide: To restore confidence in travel, Google Travel has unveiled a number of new tools it is adding to its platform, including “travel trendiness” to ascertain the availability of vacation rentals and hotels in a chosen region, and a filter to mark out which properties have free cancellation policies due to the pandemic. The added […]
Airbnb partners with Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada
Canada: Airbnb has announced that it is partnering with the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada [ITAC] to help promote tourism for its operators. Both groups hope that the partnership will promote historical learning and understanding for both Canadians and international tourists. Airbnb has developed a website dedicated to highlighting indigenous experiences in connection with this […]
LateRooms launches LateCottages for last-minute rental bookings
UK: Last-minute hotel booking platform LateRooms has announced the creation of a companion site, LateCottages, for the short-term rental industry. Users will now be able to rent one of over 100,000 professionally-managed self-catering accommodation properties at the last-minute. Rest Easy Group, parent company of the two sites, launched LateCottages last month in order to cater […]
Oxford Economics: Airbnb contributed $320m to Indian economy in 2019
India: Airbnb contributed over US $320 million [INR 22 billion] to India’s Gross Domestic Product and supported close to 50,000 local jobs in 2019 alone, according to the Oxford Economics’ The Economic Impact of Airbnb in India report released this week. The landmark report explores the total economic impact of Airbnb in India between 2015 and 2019. The […]
San Francisco tourism expected to fully recover in 2025
US: According to research by San Francisco Travel Association [SFTA], the number of visitors to the city is expected to contract by over 50 per cent with a predicted $10.7 billion loss in visitor spending for 2020 and 2021. For the first time in ten years, the SFTA is forecasting a significant drop in visitor […]
Inaugural Destinationaire Award winners announced
Worldwide: The five winners have been announced for the inaugural Destinationaire Award, which was launched last month by the host of the Slick Talk podcast, Wil Slickers. Over 40+ nominations for the first ever Destinationaire Award were received, but every nominee was very much deserving of the title “Destinationaire”, according to Slickers. As the nominations […]
BecoStay founders on launching ‘eco-friendly’ home platform mid-pandemic
Belgium: ShortTermRentalz spoke to Boris Olympio and Bérengère Ely, the co-founders of eco-friendly booking platform BecoStay, which launched in June, to discuss starting a business mid-pandemic, the push for global sustainability, and competing in a competitive travel market. What is BecoStay? BecoStay has been created to connect owners of eco-friendly homes and eco-travellers together. Our goal is to […]
AirDNA and STR report: Rentals weathering pandemic better than hotels
Worldwide: Short-term rentals are weathering the pandemic better than hotels in 27 markets, according to a joint report by leading accommodation data providers, STR and AirDNA, which compared the impact of the coronavirus crisis on hotels and short-term rentals from January 2019 through to 27 June 2020. The report found that while both accommodation types […]