I agree with all the issues outlined above – the booking pattern is different from hotels, the availability management is an issue because of the fragmented nature and ownership of the properties. In comparison to hotel bookings it’s all in the dark ages. Then factor in the customer concern about spending a lot more money than you would at a hotel and all the unanswered questions you might have when booking such a holiday – it all makes for a fantastic challenge and great opportunities.

We’ve built our new booking system to accommodate self catering properties – our first property will be trained and live within a week – wish us luck!!

But there’s a lot of money to be made in this segment and the OTAs have the infrastructure and technical know-how to distribute inventory, so it’s not logical in a way that they’ve let HomeAway and its competitors step into the breach. Expedia does own Flipkey via TripAdvisor, but there is no shared back-end between the companies; you could argue it’s a first step but a really small one.

What’s really fascinating about this segment (and other niche segments in the long tail) is that the agglomeration of content and creation of distribution channels HAS to be driven by companies like HomeAway, because the supplier base is fragmented in so many ways – culturally, geographically and financially.

The holiday rental industry prides itself on its unique and non-commoditized product, but this lack of commodity may not be in the owners’ interests in this case, as control of distribution is handed over to third parties.

Given the OTAs struggles with control of inventory in the other segments (witness the Choice-Expedia drama), it’s odd that they would let this eminently controllable segment slip away.