Priceline Group and Expedia on sharing economy

Priceline Group’s new president & CEO has drawn attention to the increase in shared accommodation on the group’s platforms, especially Booking.com, which itself reported a 33% increase in properties over the last year to 1.15 million hotels, apartments, homes and other accommodation. This includes approximately 591,000 instantly bookable vacation rental properties – a 49% increase year-on-year.

At the same time, president & CEO of Expedia, which owns sharing platform HomeAway – told delegates at this year’s IHIF in Berlin that the sharing economy was “a threat and an opportunity”, potentially a threat to pricing, but also introducing new travellers.

“If you look at eBay 10 years ago it was entrepreneurs and now it is professionals. The sharing economy will be professionalised.”

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