Vacasa enters partnership with Google

Google is looking to professionalize and increase its portfolio when it comes to vacation rental offerings, following in the footsteps of platforms like Airbnb, Expedia and others in the sector. The multimedia conglomerate is looking to enlist property managers and enter into new partnerships to make this a reality. 

Along those lines, U.S. vacation rental property manager Vacasa announced that it has directly connected to Google, delivering its more than 14,000 vacation rentals as listings in Google Hotels, which currently offers both hotels and vacation rentals.

Vacasa, which has grown organically and through acquisition, and has a $162 million purchase of Wyndham Vacation Rentals pending, is the first vacation rental software platform to connect directly to Google using its own application programming interface (API). The largest vacation rental manager in North America, Vacasa said it will eventually get those 9,000 Wyndham vacation rentals into Google search, as well. While Vacasa’s strength is in the U.S. and Canada, it also offers homes in Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

“We expect Vacasa’s partnership with Google to increase the visibility and guest demand for vacation homes we manage, thereby increasing revenue for our homeowners,” said Vacasa Founder and CEO Eric Breon. “In addition, those who have an established preference for hotels may see vacation homes through their Google search and feel inspired to try a vacation rental for a future trip.”

Breon pointed to changing traveler preferences, and Google’s efforts. “We’ve seen a growing number of people opt for vacation rentals over traditional accommodations, and Google is optimizing its platform through these types of partnerships to better serve consumers,” Breon said.

The Vacasa CEO argued that it expects a first-mover advantage in terms of being the first full-service property management company to tie up with Google. “It also allows Vacasa to gather early performance data on the campaigns, allowing the opportunity to optimize our efforts earlier than future partners,” Breon said.

Google declined to comment on the Vacasa integration.

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