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Is Airbnb’s Dynamic Pricing Launch a Step Toward Becoming a Hotel-Like Franchisor?

Airbnb has floated the idea of adding more products and services for hosts, ranging from design services to financing.

Who it impacts: Professional hosts and short-term rental managers, pricing engines like PriceLabs, Wheelhouse, and AirDNA, property management software vendors like Guesty and Hostaway, and hotel franchising executives.

What changed: Airbnb now gives hosts dynamic pricing for free, which puts it up against paid pricing tools. Bernstein expects more host services to follow, from revenue management to cleaning coordination, and estimates dynamic pricing alone could lift Airbnb’s revenue 3-7%.

What to watch: Whether Airbnb starts charging for its pricing tools or buys a property management or channel management system, and whether Vrbo, Booking.com, and Expedia would let an Airbnb-owned tool connect to their platforms.

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Skift Commerce Summit · NYC · November 11

Airbnb is stacking pricing, PMS, and channel tools onto its hosts. Every owner-operator now faces the same call: build the commerce layer, or connect to someone else’s.

Tyler Morse of MCR Hotels, Adam Schwab of Luxury Escapes, and Doria Holbrook of Oro Mobility take that bet head-on. Half a day, NYC, grounded in Skift Research.

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From Skift Research

Airbnb Grip on Short-Term Rentals Keeps Tightening

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Skift Executive Search

People Moves

  • Amélie Thiriet has been appointed CEO of Orient Express, Accor’s brand spanning hotels, trains and sailing yachts. She was previously VP of Sales, Marketing & Communication at LVMH Hotel Management.

  • Hotel Equities has made three senior hires: Olya Brase joins as Chief Financial Officer, Daniel Ben-Efraim as SVP of Sales, and Jenny Moore as VP of Revenue Management. Brase joins from Highgate, Ben-Efraim from EOS Hospitality and Moore from Noble House Hotels & Resorts.

  • Benjamin Jacobi is joining TUI Hotels & Resorts as Managing Director, Commercial, Marketing & Sales, effective 1 November, moving from TUI Deutschland. Christian Bärwind succeeds him as Managing Director for the GAS region and Chairman of the Management Board of TUI Deutschland.

  • Michalis Kouveliotis has become CEO of AEGEAN, succeeding founding executive Dimitris Gerogiannis, who led the airline for 20 years and stays on as an advisor overseeing the Technical Base and Training Center.

  • Marta Barceló Fontirroig has been appointed Vice President for EMEA at Barceló Hotel Group, alongside her role as President of Crestline Hotels & Resorts, the group’s North America subsidiary.

  • Arik De has left Etihad Airways with immediate effect after nearly five years as Chief Revenue & Commercial Officer. Etihad has not named a successor.

  • Antoine Gizardin has joined Accor as Chief Commercial Officer, Europe & North Africa, Premium, Midscale and Economy Brands, after more than three decades at P&G and The Estée Lauder Companies.

  • Christian Lee has moved into a new role as SVP Development at Hilton, leading luxury, lifestyle and mixed-use development across the U.S. and Canada.

  • The Indigo Road Hospitality Group has appointed Catherine Woods as Chief Marketing Officer. 

  • TripAdmit has added John Boulding and Steve Farrelly to its Advisory Board.

This week's people moves shaping the industry. Email us about a move.

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