Duff on Hospitality Law

This week’s Update features a heavy dose of short-term rentals as the long-awaited Airbnb IPO finally arrives and many hoteliers seek to capitalize on growing (COVID-induced) traveler demand in this segment. Enjoy.

Accor and Marriott’s Interest in Short-Term Rentals Grows
(“Did Accor Just Tiptoe Into Short-Term Rentals?” December 3, 2020 via Skift Travel News; “Short-Term Rentals at Marriott Grow Beyond Just Being an Experiment,” December 3, 2020 via Skift Travel News; “Accor Launches Website Dedicated to Private Rentals and Extended-Stay Hotels,” December 3, 2020 via Lodging Magazine) (subscription may be required)
In separate stories recently, industry reporter, Skift, featured efforts by both Marriott and Accor to advance their short-term rentals offerings. While the number of short-term/vacation rentals available through Marriott’s Homes & Villas remains relatively low (particularly when compared to Marriott’s one million-plus traditional guest room offerings), the inventory continues to grow rapidly. Since October, Marriott has added 4,000 new listings. As of late, the Marriott platform was offering nearly 16,000 listings in 250 global destinations. Recently, Accor made industry headlines with the launch of its Apartments & Villas website, which features Accor’s existing extended stay hotel offerings (15-hotel portfolio), branded residences (Raffles and Fairmont residences) and private rental offerings (primarily through its existing One Fine Stay platform). Unlike Marriott’s offering, which features newly added rental inventory (unaffiliated with any existing Marriott property), Accor’s offering represents a new way of marketing its existing short-term rental portfolio (roughly 50,000 properties in 350 global destinations). Whether the launch of this new platform by Accor signals a renewed focus on adding new – never before affiliated – private rentals (like Marriott’s approach) remains to be seen. The long-term success of either of these offerings will in large part be determined by travelers’ continuing interest in the segment long after COVID subsides.

This week’s Update features our next PhocusWire Hot 2021 Startup, Volara. For those of you who have implemented (or considered implementing) voice-activated guest solutions, Volara is likely a familiar name. Enjoy.

Increased Interest in Contactless Engagement May Fuel Volara Growth in 2021 
(“VIDEO: Volara - Summit pitch at Phocuswright Conference 2020,” November 25, 2020 via phocuswire.com)
U.S.-based startup, Volara, is no stranger to the hospitality industry. Founded in 2016, Volara was one of the first developers of hospitality industry applications for voice-activated devices like Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Nest. For Volara, 2021 will be the year to leverage the industry’s growing (pandemic-induced) demand for contactless engagement and touchless controls solutions. We’ve linked the headline above to the recent 2020 Phocuswright Conference Innovation Summit pitch presented by Volara President, David Berger.

Beginning with this edition, we’ve rebranded the name of our weekly Update from “OTA & Travel Distribution Update” to “Online Travel Update.” Why, you ask, did we change the name that has served us so well these past five years (yes, it has been more than five years since we launched our weekly Update)? Well, the new name reflects both the fact that our client mix continues to grow, with several high-end bespoke tour operators and cruise industry members added to our online travel portfolio, and that the work we do for these diverse clients has evolved well beyond traditional B2C online travel agent (OTA) contracts. Wholesale (B2B) distribution, search, metasearch, payment methods, privacy, tax, connectivity, e-commerce and website, and application development and operation have all become an important part of our travel practice. While we will continue to focus on stories involving the OTAs, you should also expect to see updates on these other critical substantive areas. We hope you enjoy, and always welcome your thoughts and feedback.

PhocusWire 2021 Hot Startups: Meet Kyte 
(“Hot 25 Startups 2021: Kyte,” November 9, 2020 via Phocus Wire)
Our second story featuring the PhocusWire 2021 Hot Startups highlights airline (B2B) distribution solution, Kyte. U.K.-based Kyte is one of several recent startups seeking to leverage the new distribution capability (NDC) to provide airlines the ability to offer flights and other ancillary products and services to consumers or third-party distributors. Current users of Kyte’s solution include British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific and American Airlines. 

This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including the first of many upcoming profiles of PhocusWire's 2021 Hot Travel Startups focused on distribution and online travel. Enjoy.

JetBlue to Distribute Short-Term Rentals
(“JetBlue to Debut Short-Term Rentals as Part of Its Growing Non-Air Offerings,” November 11, 2020 via Skift Travel News) (subscription may be required)
Short-term rentals – the apparent darling of leisure travel during the COVID-19 pandemic – continue their march to legitimacy. Last week, JetBlue announced plans to add short-term rentals to its existing non-air portfolio of products and services. The new inventory will be provided by a to-be-named partner, but customer service will be handled directly by JetBlue (and not the supplier partner.) Potential supplier partners identified by JetBlue include Airbnb and Expedia’s Vrbo.

Fall is upon us and like every fall, there is no shortage of upcoming travel and tourism industry events to attend. Over the next few months, our team will be busy attending and speaking at a number of industry-related events.

Upcoming events include:

I am just back from the 5th Annual HR in Hospitality Conference, held in Washington DC last week. The Conference was an information-packed two and one-half days. There were terrific presentations, interesting panel discussions, great audience questions, and many opportunities to informally connect with others in the hospitality industry who focus on human resource issues. I have already marked my calendar for next year’s Conference to be held February 27-29 in San Francisco.