Last night , it announced its acquisition of HomeAway , a sharing - economy style holiday rental web site , for nearly $ 4bn in a transaction expected to close in Q1 2016 . The travel industry has experienced a wave of consolidation over the past year , as more traditional companies seek to keep new competitors , such as Airbnb , at bay . Off 3 Years of Major Deals In tandem with the acquisition announcement, HomeAway revealed it will change its business model midway through 2016 and will add a booking fee for consumers. Expedia has been one of the most acquisitive in the sector over the past few months , buying Travelocity , Orbitz Worldwide and Australia 's Wotif . Travel site , Skift , notes : “ In the past , Expedia officials stated that while they were certainly interested in vacation rentals , and would aggressively onboard apartment listings in coming years , this would remain the case . However , with more than 1 million paid listings in more than 190 countries , Expedia ’s pending acquisition of HomeAway is a game - changer in that it saves Expedia years of building up its own vacation rental supply in an increasingly important lodging sector . " Furthermore , HomeAway announced it will introduce a booking fee for the first time in Q2 2016 . HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples said the company ’s “ traveller ’s fee ” would average around 6 % of the booking but would be levelled on a sliding scale .
Last night , it announced its acquisition of HomeAway , a sharing - economy style holiday rental web site , for nearly $ 4bn in a transaction expected to close in Q1 2016 . The travel industry has experienced a wave of consolidation over the past year , as more traditional companies seek to keep new competitors , such as Airbnb , at bay . Expedia has been one of the most acquisitive in the sector over the past few months , buying Travelocity , Orbitz Worldwide and Australia 's Wotif . Travel site , Skift , notes : “ In the past , Expedia officials stated that while they were certainly interested in vacation rentals , and would aggressively onboard apartment listings in coming years , this would remain the case . However , with more than 1 million paid listings in more than 190 countries , Expedia ’s pending acquisition of HomeAway is a game - changer in that it saves Expedia years of building up its own vacation rental supply in an increasingly important lodging sector . " Furthermore , HomeAway announced it will introduce a booking fee for the first time in Q2 2016 . HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples said the company ’s “ traveller ’s fee ” would average around 6 % of the booking but would be levelled on a sliding scale .