Worldwide: Vacation rental search engine VacationRenter has unveiled upgrades to its platform and expanded its inventory through new partnerships. With more than 30 million users across the globe, VacationRenter has made improvements to its platform to simplify and personalise the user experience. A re-envisioned home page now offers personalised travel…

Ari Andricopoulos, CEO and co-founder of RoomPriceGenie, explains how the role of the revenue manager is shifting in response to industry dynamics. As a discipline, revenue management is often regarded as one of the newer kids on the hotel management block. That said, it has ascended the ranks in terms…

UK: Ahead of the upcoming Short Stay Summit at Tobacco Dock, London, on Thursday 19 May 2022, STRz speaks to some of the industry leaders on the topic of the specialist insurance needs of the short-term rental sector. We hear the views of Louise Birritteri of Pikl, Leo Walton of…

UK: Cheval The Edinburgh Grand, the luxury all-apartment residence, has joined Virtuoso’s portfolio. Virtuoso, the global network of agencies, which specialises in luxury and experiential travel, has more than 2,200 suppliers in 100 countries. General manager of Cheval The Edinburgh Grand, Gavin MacLennan, said: “We are thrilled to be part…

Pauline Houston, VP of global business development at SilverDoor, shared key trends at the Institute of Travel Management’s webinar The Rise of Serviced Apartments in Travel Programmes. Key Trends Key trends noted by SilverDoor during the pandemic showed how people changed the way they managed business travel, how long they…

Worldwide: Tech startup Wayaj has launched Alight, a sustainable booking platform which allows travellers to book hotels and offset their trip’s carbon footprint. Alight uses tools such as the Carbon Footprint Calculating Engine (CFC Engine) and Hotel Sustainability Ratings (HSR) to help travellers make informed travel choices. The platform lists…

US: Airbnb has announced it will allow its employees to work from anywhere without their salaries being cut. At other tech firms including Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter, pay has been cut for employees who have chosen to work remotely. Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky outlined the new corporate policy…

UK: LaSalle Investment Management, a global real estate investment manager, is launching a €500m pan-European urban hotel aggregation strategy via a strategic partnership with NUMA Group, a European digital hotel operator and technology developer. The aim of the partnership is to acquire, refurbish and operate vacant city centre hotels, serviced…

Ukraine: Airbnb.org has announced a number of new partnerships with charities to offer free, temporary housing to up to 100,000 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. In its latest update on its response to the humanitarian crisis, Airbnb’s charitable arm revealed that it was collaborating with Global Empowerment Mission [GEM]…