I just read on the AP wire that HomeAway Inc just purchased vrbo.com for an undisclosed amount. Now HomeAway owns most all of the top 10 search results for the phrase “vacation rentals”.
Interesting how the vacation rental sites are going the same way as my industry. This year Primedia purchased top ranked RentClicks and Homerentalads which are two of my competitors.
On a side note: Rocky Mountain National park vacation rentals is the page my wife uses when we are looking to head up to Estes Park.
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No, There is only vrbo.com is coming on first page which is own by homeaway.com. All other sites are not related to vrbo or homeaway. For example; vacationrentals.com, alwaysonvacation.com and goin2travel.com
VRBO is definitely the organic search giant; combine that with HomeAway, the pay-per-click giant and you have domination in the search market.
It will be interesting to see how HomeAway integrates their 10-20+ sites they’ve purchased over the past year. What’s your take?
The WVR Group, which owner Homeaway, has been buying up a lot of the larger sites and really is now the 800 lb gorilla in the industry. You can find a list of the sites owned by WVR here:
http://www.compareownerholidayrentals.com/WVR-Group.htm
You can also find a review of Homeaway here :
http://www.compareownerholidayrentals.com/review_homeaway.htm
Kevin
Kevin