Good morning,

Here’s what’s going on in the vacation rental world this week:

Airbnb’s experimenting with a system that lets hosts discount their way to better search rankings, Vrbo’s offering a way for guests to get refunded if the weather doesn't cooperate while on vacation, and a vacation rental AI concierge just landed inside ChatGPT.

Lets dive in. 

NEWS

Headline Roundup

• Airbnb experiments with discounts tied to search ranking (The Host Report)

• Vrbo partners with WeatherPromise to offer bad-weather refunds (The Host Report)

• AirDNA releases its January 2026 US market review (AirDNA)

• Airbnb backs Michigan bill that would force Vrbo to collect lodging taxes (Crain's Detroit)

• Airbnb expands Reserve Now, Pay Later worldwide (The Host Report)

• Deloitte report predicts increased STR demand for LA 2028 Olympics (National Today)

• RPM Living joins Airbnb-Friendly Apartment Program (Airbnb)

• Awaze launches a ChatGPT app in £45M modernization push (Travolution)

• STR ranking management startup Otamiser raises $2M in funding (PhocusWire)

The #1 Priority for 84% of people booking a place to stay is The Location!

INTERESTING INSIGHTS

Want to rank higher on Airbnb?
A discount might be the cost of admission

Airbnb’s testing a new promotion that lets hosts offer a 10–20% discount to guests with a 4.8+ rating and 3+ reviews. In exchange, your listing gets better placement in search results.

Simple idea. But what it actually means for hosts is more complicated.

A few things to watch out for

Here are the key risks:

• You're paying for the full discount, and it stacks with other active promotions. So a 20% promo discount plus a 10% weekly stay discount can cut profit margins fast if you're not paying attention.

• Some of the bookings this promotion "drives" would have happened anyway at full price. If the visibility boost is just capturing existing demand, you're just earning less for no real gain.

• And then there's the precedent. If Airbnb moves further in this direction, hosts will feel pressured to participate just to maintain baseline visibility. Search rankings have traditionally been performance-driven (best reviews, fastest response times, highest conversion). Pay-for-visibility shifts it toward who's willing to give up the most margin. 

Now layer in competition. If many hosts in your market activate the promotion, and hotels continue to expand on Airbnb, the number of page-one spots available keeps shrinking.

Should you try it?

It depends. If you're running at 90%+ occupancy, extra volume doesn't help much… the discount just cuts into what you're already earning. But if you're sitting at 50–60%, there's more upside. Filling shoulder season gaps at a lower profit margin still beats an empty calendar. And if the promotion fills nights that would have otherwise gone to competitors, that's a real win.

Treat it like any other marketing cost. Test it, measure if the visibility boost drives actual incremental bookings, and cut it if it's just reducing revenue on demand you already had.

Big picture

Most hosts won't take the time to think through if this is right for their listing, run the numbers, or track results. 

The fact that you're even reading this and considering the tradeoffs puts you ahead. That's the edge.

MARKET INSIGHTS

Mortgage Rate Snapshot

Mortgage rates dropped back to 5.99% this week, matching a three-year low. And unlike January's brief dip to the same level, this time the move looks more sustainable after a gradual weeks-long decline.

Regulations Update

• St. Louis approved a 3% fee on STR stays under 30 days, with revenue funding affordable housing and tenant legal aid, now awaiting the mayor's signature

• Houston will require all STR hosts to register with the city starting April 1 ahead of a World Cup-driven surge in Airbnb searches

• Del Mar, California approved STR permit fees of $815 for initial applications and capped eligible properties at 129, grandfathering in all 150 existing operators

See this weeks full regulations report here: (The Host Report)