A recent look (http://dtn.fm/PJWt1) at Expedia’s (NASDAQ: EXPE) increasingly dominant share (http://dtn.fm/C6oGP) of the roughly $1.3 trillion and growing travel market by research firm Morningstar forecast global online penetration as climbing steadily through 2020, from around 40 percent last year, with online travel bookings seeing as much as 10 percent growth per year. One of the hottest segments in this massive market is alternative lodging, where the rise of decentralized, peer-to-peer architectures and sharing economy models have helped augment the overall space (http://dtn.fm/1RyI9), with the most notable example being privately owned and operated short-term accommodation marvel Airbnb.
In many ways, Airbnb has offset aggressive pricing by hotels in what is traditionally a cyclical industry, creating a market where consumers have more choice at a better value than ever before. This sharing economy is now able to compete directly with incumbent operators in a major way and demonstrates why, in an industry where increasingly dominant Expedia recently gobbled up HomeAway, with its one million plus vacation rental listings, for nearly $4 billion, players like Priceline Group (NASDAQ: PCLN) are finding themselves increasingly outgunned.
It’s also a reason why alternative lodging-focused Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI), which recently moved to lock down a key partnership with enterprise platform and solutions provider Primero Systems in order to facilitate final integration of its NextTrip.com platform, is such an interesting target. With some 1.2 million homes under contract via the AlwaysOnVacations acquisition that make MKGI bigger than HomeAway, a travel agent-based strategic overlay to supplement its market traction (a distinct feature unlike anyone else in the industry), and a partnership with Recruitergroup.com that gives the company access to a distribution base of some three million people, Monaker Group is well-positioned to benefit as the industry grows.
In a recent and exclusive interview with investor relations firm MissionIR (http://MKGI.MissionIR.com/interview.html), CEO Bill Kerby explained the importance of being the first in the industry to really nail the package deal concept and provide consumers with the best bundled alternative lodging and associated activities deals possible.
For more information, visit www.monakergroup.com
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