Good morning,

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

Vrbo turned on paid search placement worldwide so hosts can now bid to sit at the top of search results, AirDNA launched a new dynamic pricing tool called Adapt, and we break down 5 new things the latest AI models can do for vacation rentals.

Lets dive in. 

NEWS

Headline Roundup

• Vrbo adds Paid Placement to vacation rental search (The Host Report) 

• Airbnb tests direct-booking links that cut the host fee to 6% from 15.5% (The Host Report) 

• AirDNA launches a new dynamic pricing tool called Adapt (The Host Report) 

• Analysts weigh how Airbnb's new business chief could reshape its marketplace strategy (Simply Wall St) 

• Legal STR registrations in NYC top 3,500 for the first time since September 2023 (City Limits) 

• Hospitable reports that it processed $1.7m in lodging taxes in the month of August (10 Minute Hotel) 

• Europe prepares a new law to support Airbnb crackdowns (Reuters)

See how we can help you get a +40% increase in repeat guests.

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INTERESTING INSIGHTS

5 New Things AI Can Do for Your Vacation Rental That Might Surprise You

More than 80% of vacation rental hosts say they already use AI for guest messaging. At this point, that’s probably the most common way hosts use the technology.

What’s caught my attention recently is how quickly AI is getting good at things that are way more interesting than just guest messaging. 

These 5 examples show how new AI models could help you do things that used to require technical skills, expensive software, or someone else’s help.

1. Turn a still photo into a video

Videos grab more attention and are more engaging than a still image. In Facebook’s own testing, they found that videos performed roughly 35% better than a static photo.

AI can now take an ordinary listing photo and add realistic camera movement, turning it into a video clip.

String a few of these clips together, and the photos (that you already paid for) can become a surprisingly engaging video for your direct booking website or social media. And you can do it without paying a videographer to come to the property.

2. Turn listing photos into a 3D walkthrough

Guests want to understand what they’re booking, and individual photos don’t always make it easy to understand the full layout of the house.

New AI models can take listing photos and turn them into a surprisingly good 3D walkthrough that looks almost like a drone flying through the property.

The AI isn't perfect, but it's probably 90% of the way there. And keep in mind: the tech is improving so fast that AI today is the worst it will ever be in the future. It’s not hard to imagine these 3D walkthroughs eventually becoming common on direct booking websites, helping guests better understand a home before they book.

3. Help uncover tax deductions

The STR tax loophole is one of the biggest tax advantages of owning a vacation rental. When all the requirements are met, owners can combine cost segregation with 100% bonus depreciation to create major tax savings. You can read our full breakdown here.

Now companies are starting to use AI vision to scan property photos and records for fixtures, finishes, appliances, and other details. That can help create a more complete list of the assets inside a property and potentially uncover more tax deductions that a standard estimate might miss. 

Using AI to help make a tax study more accurate is a pretty cool use of the technology.

4. Build a direct booking website from scratch

FLOHOM recently announced that its new website was built from scratch with AI.

This isn’t a case of writing one prompt and receiving a fully finished website. It still required an eye for design, some basic technical skills, and a willingness to put in the time… But that’s what makes it interesting: someone without a computer science degree can now work with AI to design and build a custom website that used to require a developer.

5. Turn AI into an SEO analyst

SEO has traditionally required technical knowledge that most hosts simply don’t have. AI can make a lot of that knowledge way more accessible.

It can crawl a website, inspect competitors’ XML sitemaps, organize pages into topic clusters,find content you’re missing, identify orphaned pages, and check technical SEO issues like internal links, canonical tags, and structured data. It can even monitor Google Search Console data and schedule recurring content refreshes. 

Basically, AI can do way more than just write a blog post. It can help you understand how your direct booking website compares to larger competitors, then show you what you can improve to get more visibility in search results.

MARKET INSIGHTS

Mortgage Rate Snapshot

Mortgage rates hit their highest level in more than a year last Wednesday, then eased after Fed Governor Chris Waller downplayed the need for another rate hike. Rates ended the short holiday week roughly flat, just below their highest level since June 2025.

Regulations Update

• West Columbia, South Carolina passed STR rules with a two-night minimum stay, a 21-and-older requirement, two guests per bedroom, one parking space per bedroom, and a 45-minute owner response window

• Hillsborough County, Florida unanimously approved a registry for 3,000-plus vacation rentals with a $200 annual fee per unit and a required on-call representative

• Gilbert, Arizona voted 5-0 to raise short-term rental licensing fees, increase penalties for unlicensed properties, and expand enforcement

• Folly Beach, South Carolina operators filed a proposed class action seeking refunds of a 1.75% permit fee a court struck down as an unauthorized tax

• The Los Angeles City Attorney sued operators of at least 30 illegal short-term rentals over expired permits, hidden locations, and post-wildfire price gouging

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