Airbnb listings begin to appear on Google rental feature

Worldwide: Listings of entire homes and apartments on Airbnb have started to appear in Google’s alternative accommodations feature, as the search platform looks to step up the visibility of vacation rentals on its website.

Skift reported this week that listings in cities such as Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid were now being displayed on Google’s vacation rental pages, which launched officially earlier this year. Whether or not this is Airbnb dipping its toes in the water or an indication that it will go further in its collaboration, we cannot yet determine.

Both Expedia Group and TripAdvisor’s OTA vacation rental brands were already part of the Google feature, although Booking Holdings recently started to withdraw its listings through Agoda for unspecified reasons.

The strategic venture into Google’s category is a key development in Airbnb’s journey to going public at some point in 2020. After publishing its first quarter results of the year, Airbnb revealed its marketing costs had risen sharply so it may have to count on Google monetising the rental feature in the near future.

Google’s feature is still nascent and therefore will require some testing as more and more big names in the short-term rental accommodation space participate in the category.

Ultimately, Google aims to create comprehensive travel pages with the backing of Airbnb representing a significant endorsement of its compatibility.