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Latest news
Every story the desk has filed, newest first: the crackdowns, the platform moves, the money, host life, design, the stays going viral, the markets and the world.
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World
Labour Targets Holiday Cottages in a High-Stakes Tax Raid on British Hosts
The abolition of the Furnished Holiday Let regime is no longer a distant Tory threat. The new government is preparing a swift fiscal squeeze that will
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Crackdown
Historic Districts Are Banning Exterior Lockboxes to Deter short-term rentals
Preservation boards are using aesthetic guidelines to block automated check-ins, forcing physical key handoffs and pricing out remote investors.
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Crackdown
Skokie Rolls Back Rental Rules as Suburban Crackdowns Hit a Wall of Reality
When high taxes met high enforcement costs, this Chicago suburb realized that punishing local home-sharers was a losing game. Other towns are watching
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The Money
The Coastal Cool Down: What the Hilton Head Summer Showdown Means for Short Term Rentals
New data from South Carolina's premier beach market reveals a stark shift in the battle for occupancy. As traditional resorts claw back market share,
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Exposed
The Silent Parasite: How Crypto Miners Are Bankrupting Mid-Term Rental Hosts
Tech-savvy renters are converting month-long stays into makeshift server farms, leaving hosts with catastrophic utility bills that completely erase op
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Host Life
The Cost of Global Reach: Inside Booking.com’s High-Stakes 2026 Algorithmic Shift
As the European travel giant reshapes its Genius loyalty program and demands higher discounts, short-term rental operators face a critical choice betw
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Markets
Guesty Acquires Smily to Corner the Nine Billion Dollar French Market
As Guesty swallows yet another localized property management system, independent operators face the cold reality of software consolidation and the dea
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Airbnb Experiences and Host Services Are Back to Save Squeezed Margins
As regulations tighten and ADRs flatten worldwide, the short-term rental giant is turning back to its experiential marketplace to extract more cash fr
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Markets
Shakira Madrid Residency Sends Hotel Rates Soaring to €339 as Domestic Bookings Surge
With hotel bookings up nearly 15% and domestic demand surging by 65%, a 12-night residency in Spain's capital is rewriting the playbook for short-term
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Markets
First Chair Destinations Enters the New England Ski Rental Market
A new regional brand is targeting New England ski slopes, proving that the battle for premium vacation rentals has moved from national roll-ups to hyp
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The Money
Interest Rate Swaps Save Large Short Term Rental Portfolios From Insolvency
While individual hosts struggle under the weight of rising mortgage rates, institutional operators are using sophisticated financial derivatives to fr
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World
Airbnb Bullies a Portland Bed and Breakfast Over Its Logo
A small Portland inn is refusing to bow to corporate legal threats after Airbnb demanded it abandon its logo. Here is why the bully tactic backfired.
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Markets
Airbnb Pledges 250 Million Dollars to Underwrite Stalled Rental Projects
The short-term rental giant is pivoting from defensive lobbying to real estate developer, backing stalled affordable housing with sub-market rate capi
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Platforms
Expedia Unified Loyalty Program Devastates Vrbo Visibility
By forcing independent vacation rentals into the same reward ecosystem as corporate hotel chains, Expedia Group has tilted the playing field against h
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World
The Shard’s Fifty-Million-Pound Empty Apartments and the Rise of the Shadow Hotel
How ten unsold ultra-premium penthouses at the top of London’s tallest tower became a private, high-ticket short-term rental operation for global elit
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The Money
Costa Rica Short-Term Rentals Face Oversupply as Tourist Numbers Lag
With active listings nearing 49,000 while international arrivals flatten, vacation rental hosts in Costa Rica are facing a brutal squeeze of high cost
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World
The Athens Lockout: Inside the Mad Rush Before Greece Freezes Central STR Permits
Greece is halting new short-term rental permits in central Athens for a year. The policy has triggered a massive pre-deadline listing rush and a struc
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Markets
Cannon Beach Shuts the Door on New Permits in the Long War for the Oregon Coast
By moving ahead with a strict cap on vacation rentals, the iconic coastal enclave of Cannon Beach is doubling down on a regulatory playbook designed t
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Markets
The Event Pricing Trap: What PriceLabs Data Reveals About Parisian Booking Spikes
When Céline Dion and the Pope head to Paris, hosts immediately jack up their rates. New data from PriceLabs shows why that strategy is a direct path t
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Host Life
The Cheap Nursery Hardware Quietly Locking In Four-Figure Bookings
Multigenerational travellers do not browse properties for design trends. They hunt down the listing that spares them dragging sixty pounds of baby gea
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Markets
The Direct Booking Moat: Inside the Awaze Financial Paradox
While gross revenues flattened, Europe’s largest managed rental group squeezed out a twenty percent jump in operating profits. Here is how they did it
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Design
The Mid-Century Maintenance Trap: Renting Frank Lloyd Wright’s Michigan Masterpieces
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes in Michigan are architectural masterpieces. But running these historic properties as short-term rentals is an opera
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Crackdown
The Automated Dragnet: How Algorithmic Noise Patrols Are Killing Short-Term Rentals
Municipalities are writing connected decibel sensors and private security dispatches into local ordinances, shifting the entire cost of policing onto
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Host Life
How Airbnb Uses Latino Wealth Creation to Fight Its Toughest Regulatory Battles
A new platform campaign highlights minority property ownership as a path to equity. But behind the narrative lies a high-stakes chess match against mu
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