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Vrbo partners with mortgage lender Quicken Loans
Reading Time: 2 minutesUS: North America’s largest mortgage lender, Quicken Loans, has strategically partnered with Vrbo. The partnership will allow Quicken Loans clients to use any rental income earned through listing their vacation rentals on the Vrbo platform to be used to qualify for a conventional mortgage refinance. The program utilises both confirmed and documented rental income so […]
Vrbo undergoes brand and website makeover
Reading Time: 2 minutesTexas: Online vacation rentals pioneer Vrbo has undergone a website makeover and revealed a new way to say its name. The changes are a reflection of Expedia Group’s commitment to Vrbo (the acronym for Vacation Rentals by Owner), the vacation rental business and the customers it serves, such as families and friends who want to […]
City of Seattle announces January launch for short-term rental registration system
Reading Time: 2 minutesUS: The Department of Finance and Administrative Services in Seattle (FAS) has announced the city’s online registration system for short-term rentals will launch on 2 January 2019. The city of Seattle brought in new short-term rental regulations in December 2017, which impacts on short-term rental operators, rental platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO and bed […]
Nova Scotia ministers debate establishing pre-booking levy on short-term rentals
Reading Time: 2 minutesCanada: A working group has called on Nova Scotia to consider establishing a booking levy on shared economy companies such as Airbnb and VRBO. The group, set up just one year ago to review the impact of short-term rental businesses, said forcing rental business owners to pay commercial tax rates “could drive the operators out […]
HomeAway launches virtual reality 360-degree tour product for travellers
Reading Time: 2 minutesWorldwide: HomeAway has launched a proprietary product for travellers which displays virtual 360-degree tours of vacation homes on HomeAway and VRBO. Such a move is unique in the vacation rental industry as the product provides tours ranging from “DIY” tours filmed on personal phones and cameras to professionally-captured footage from leading companies like InsideMaps and […]
San Francisco Airbnb landlords agree to pay $2.25 million for illegal renting
Reading Time: 2 minutesSan Francisco: A San Francisco couple has paid $2.25 million to settle claims they ran an illegal hotel chain through the vacation rental platform Airbnb. Landlords Darren and Valerie Lee agreed to pay the cash to cover fines and investigation costs after offering 14 apartments as short-term rentals instead of lawfully renting the units to […]
Southern Vacation Rentals named winner of HomeAway’s September Hero Award
Reading Time: < 1 minuteFlorida: HomeAway recently named Southern Vacation Rentals as the recipient of its 2018 Hero Award for the month of September. The award was presented in September at the Annual RezFest Vacation Rental Conference hosted by HomeAway in Marco Island, Florida. Southern was recognised for its work with travellers who were stranded, running into problems with […]
VRBO offers exclusive mountain skiing winter vacation in Utah
Reading Time: < 1 minuteUtah: VRBO is offering customers the opportunity to win a winter vacation break and have an entire mountain to ski on all to themselves. The latest giveaway, Win the Winter, will provide one winner and 19 of their closest friends with a prized package of three days away at the luxury ski resort, Eagle Point […]
U.S. rental firms and property owners fighting to protect future of short-term rentals
Reading Time: 2 minutesUnited States: The rapid growth of short-term rentals in the U.S. is pushing regional governments to rein in the practice but some rental firms and property owners are fighting off the lucrative industry’s threat. It was reported in June that voters in Palm Springs, California, approved a ballot measure overturning restrictions on short-term rentals, and […]