Booking will begin listing homestays to compete with AirBnB

Booking .com will begin listing homestays to compete with AirBnB

Silently debuting homestays, Booking.com jabs AirBnB

Booking com, the online travel agency giant owned by Priceline Group, has begun listing homestays. These accommodations don’t come from Booking’s traditional vacation rental inventory.
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If Booking.com is committed to the “homestay” category, it is entering the turf of Airbnb, the current market leader in short-term rental customers.
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“Homestays” is now a category that Booking.com users can filter on. It’s distinct from “Apartments,” “Holiday homes,” “Villas,” “Guest houses”, “Bed and breakfasts,” “Hotels (with kitchen),” and “Hostels.”

Booking.com has not officially announced this new category.
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[“Homestays”] tend to be places where a guest is staying at the same time as the owner-residents and where there isn’t usually a promise of breakfast. That said, the category of “homestay” isn’t strictly defined.

According to Booking’s property registration page, a homestay is a “private home with shared living facilities for host and guest.”

Apparently Booking allows reservations for homestays without a credit card unless the property changes the default settings, just like for hostels and hotels. Now private individuals can also enjoy the frustration of no-shows without the possibility of compensation.

I’m curious how the commission rates for homestays compare between Booking and AirBnB. For hostels they are 15% and 3% respectively, which is a significant difference. Perhaps the wide audience that Booking promises is appealing enough to convince homestay hosts to pay the price. Hostels do.

Since hostels and hotels are required to show a business license in order to list on Booking, I wonder if the same requirement stands for homestays. Many hostels and hotels list on AirBnB, which is designed for private individuals who rent out their homes. Their launch on the market created quite a stir among the hospitality industry. Inviting those private individuals to list their homes on Booking, a site designed for commercial accommodation providers, is also likely to ignite some powder kegs among Booking’s professional partners. It will probably make hotels even angrier than when Booking started listing hostels!

How do you feel about Booking listing private homes alongside your hostel? Do you think it will have any effect on your business?