Vrbo, the other Airbnb has seen a big spike in downloads in the last few weeks. So high that it's now getting more downloads than Airbnb in the US, according to our estimates.
Since Christmas, Vrbo's daily downloads in the US have been outpacing Airbnb's by roughly 10%.
The thing is, this seems to be a pattern that's based more on time and less on demand, which means it's Verbo that's drumming up those downloads with paid ads more than the market really looking for an Airbnb alternative.
In a market that's not only dominated by one player but is also pretty much just one player, it's nice to see competition. But here's the thing, Vrbo isn't some independent 3rd party. It was years ago, but after multiple acquisitions it landed in the hands of Expedia, the travel booking service.
Why's that important? Because Expedia, which normally deals with hotels, is now looking to take advantage of the market Airbnb created, and has the resources to do it.
I'm not a user of Vrbo so I'm not sure if it can compete, but I did see someone calling it the "Wish version of Airbnb". That's both good and bad, but in an industry where service matters, probably the latter.
December saw a curious split: downloads dropped 2% while revenue sat at $1.3B. ChatGPT and TikTok dominated both charts as the mobile industry enters a new maturity phase.
Wall Street bet $2 billion on Polymarket, and downloads surged 1,172% in December. The prediction market banned in 2022 is now where Wall Street looks for signals.