Booking.com is moving in on Airbnb by adding rental inventory

Priceline Group executives are pushing growth in home-rental inventory at its largest brand, Booking.com. During the quarter that ended June 30, Booking.com grew its inventory of instantly bookable vacation rentals to more than 721,000 properties — a 54 percent growth rate over the same period a year earlier. This quarter was the fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth in inventory and more than twice the rate of growth of its hotel listings, the company stated. To put this in context, the home-rental market is believed to be growing significantly faster than the hotel market, albeit from a smaller base.