There has been a consolidation within the vacation rental space. Last year, Expedia announced the acquisition of HomeAway for $3.9B. Why? Because the vacation rental market is underserved and very large. Homeaway has done a great job consolidating the smaller VRBO sites and becoming the largest vacation rental search company in the world.
There are over 6M vacation rentals throughout the world with a market size of over $85B. Within the US, there are roughly 3.3M vacation rentals.
There are still a lot of booking inefficiencies when it comes to short terms vacation rentals. For example, most AirBNB and VRBO hosts still leave the key under the mat. There are even companies sprouting up to help solve for these problems by offering offsite locations for guests to pick up keys.
The easiest and most cost effective way to offer guests keyless entry and unique key codes is to use home automation for vacation rentals.
With smart locks and management software, vacation home owners are able to offer a seamless check-in experience for their guests; increasing the customer experience and inevitably owner reviews.
One step further in this enhanced vacation experience is to automate the locks and temperature. The lights and temperature would already be set and programmed to fulfill the guests needs before the vacation even starts.
The future of home automation for vacation rentals is just getting started. The hotel industry will continue to consolidate and acquire companies within the vacation rental space because market share for vacation rentals is slowly starting to catch up to vacation hotels.
