Mid-Term Rentals Fill Gaps, But 30-Day Stays Trip Tenant Law
More vacation rental hosts are filling shoulder-season vacancies with 30-night-plus bookings, but crossing that threshold can shift a guest into tenant status under local law.
Industry News
EU Drops Border Queue Safety Valve on September 7
Border posts lose the option to skip fingerprint scans on busy days, raising the odds of longer arrival lines for guests flying in from outside the EU.
Startup Touchpoints Debuts Guest-Journey Analytics for Hosts
A newly launched vendor says its platform tracks guest interactions from inquiry to checkout, but it has not disclosed pricing, integration partners or a customer list.
Expedia Signals New Push to Grow Its Vacation Rental Business
Expedia Group says it wants to speed up growth in vacation rentals, but has released almost nothing on fees, tools or timelines for Vrbo hosts.
St. Louis Steers Rental Fee Cash to Tenant Lawyers
St. Louis is routing revenue from its 3% short-term rental fee into a $1 million legal defense fund for renters facing eviction.
Vrbo Adds Discount Tools to Chase Price-Sensitive Travelers
Expedia has rolled out a batch of new features for Vrbo hosts, led by a tool for building discounts and promotions aimed at budget-conscious travelers.
Utah Project Splits Vacation Home Ownership, Rents Out Owners' Off Weeks
A luxury community in Utah is selling deeded fractional shares in vacation homes and running short-term rentals during the weeks each owner isn't using the property.
Balearic Hotel Lobby Wants Land Registry to Flag Rental Listings
Three hotel associations in the Balearic Islands have asked the regional government to use property registry records to help identify homes being let short-term without a license.
Concert Calendars Are Now Driving Hostel Booking Spikes
Young travelers are booking one- and two-night city trips timed to specific concerts and festivals, and hostel chains are starting to plan occupancy around tour dates rather than seasons.
Forecast Puts Short-Term Rental Market at $362 Billion by 2033
A market research firm projects the global short-term rental management sector will more than double in size by 2033, though the number covers far more than platform bookings.
Self-Check-In Won't Exempt Italian Hosts From Police Reports
New guidance for Italian B&B and vacation rental hosts says switching to keyless entry does not remove the legal duty to verify guest ID and report it to police within 24 hours.
Domestic Demand Lifts Spain's Non-Hotel Rentals in July
Spain's rural houses, tourist apartments, campsites and hostels logged more than 22.5 million overnight stays in July, a 0.9% rise from a year earlier, as Spanish travelers made up for fewer nights booked by foreign visitors.
Spanish Property Network Adds 350 Portugal Agencies in Two Years
DIT Gestión turns 18 on September 5 with more than 1,100 associated agencies across Spain and Portugal, and says future growth will come almost entirely from the Portuguese market.
Airbnb Blurs the Line on What Counts as Direct
Airbnb's test of lower fees for hosts who bring their own guests is forcing operators to rethink what a truly commission-free booking looks like.
Glasgow Draft Plan Could Block New Short-Term Let Listings
Scotland's self-catering trade body says Glasgow's next City Development Plan would treat short-term lets as an unacceptable land use across most of the city, adding a planning hurdle on top of the national licensing scheme already in force.
Canary Islands Lose 7,000 Rentals Since New Law Took Hold
Seven months after tighter licensing rules took effect, the Canary Islands have shed roughly 7,000 vacation rental properties, with La Palma alone losing about one in four of its listings.
Lombardy Lake Rentals Sell 63% of Summer Beds
Operators around Como, Garda, Maggiore and Iseo sold 63.1% of the beds they listed on booking platforms between June 15 and September 13, with international travelers driving most of the demand.
AI Agents That Book Stays Directly Set Off a Distribution Fight
AI tools that can search, compare and book accommodation on their own are pushing hotels, OTAs and rental platforms to decide who controls the booking screen.
VayKLife Buys Xplorie to Merge Rental Perks With Tours
VayKLife has acquired Xplorie, folding the company's bundled attraction-ticket perks into a single activity-booking platform for vacation rental managers.
California Firm Tells Hosts to Pre-File Squatter Paperwork
A California security firm says vacation rental owners can blunt costly squatter disputes by keeping ownership records, signed guest agreements and trespass notices ready before a vacancy turns into an occupation.