HomeAway
A vacation-rental marketplace that became part of Expedia Group and was subsequently consolidated under the Vrbo brand.
Last updated November 4, 2026
AI crawler reads
2requests
1companies- Anthropic2
- Profile
- 2
- Controversies
- 0
- JSON · MD
- 0
- First read
- Nov 4, 2026
- Latest read
- Nov 4, 2026
From this site's server log
Overview
HomeAway was an online marketplace for vacation rentals, connecting travelers with owners and professional property managers offering houses, villas, apartments, condos, cabins, and other private accommodations. Founded in Austin, Texas, in 2005 by Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd, the company developed through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions of vacation-rental websites in the United States and abroad. Its early model generally emphasized paid listings and subscription or advertising services for property owners, while later versions added more centralized booking, payment processing, traveler support, and professionally managed inventory. The company expanded rapidly by acquiring established regional and specialist brands. These included VRBO, a major U.S. vacation-rental service, and HomeAway.co.uk, as well as businesses such as VacationRentals.com, OwnersDirect, FeWo-direkt, Abritel, Stayz, and Bookabach. The resulting portfolio gave HomeAway a broad international footprint and a large supply of whole-home accommodations. The brand competed primarily with online travel agencies and alternative-accommodation marketplaces, especially Airbnb, while also overlapping with hotel-booking platforms and traditional vacation-rental management companies. HomeAway became a public company in 2011. In 2015, Expedia Group agreed to acquire the business, bringing it into a larger travel ecosystem that also included Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, and other travel brands. After the acquisition, HomeAway increasingly shifted from a listing-led marketplace toward a transaction-oriented platform. It introduced or expanded online booking, traveler fees, payment services, and tools intended to improve trust, conversion, and operational consistency across its international sites. Expedia Group later made Vrbo the principal global consumer brand for its vacation-rental business. In 2019, the company announced that HomeAway would be rebranded as Vrbo in the United States, and the transition was substantially implemented during 2020. The HomeAway name therefore ceased to function as Expedia Group's primary consumer-facing vacation-rental brand, although legacy domains, regional operations, historical references, and acquired brand identities remained part of the business's development. HomeAway is best understood today as a former major vacation-rental brand and the corporate and platform predecessor of Expedia Group's consolidated Vrbo operation.
History
HomeAway was established in Austin, Texas, in 2005 by Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd. The founders built the company around the idea that travelers could use the internet to find privately owned vacation homes more efficiently than through fragmented newspaper advertising, local agencies, and standalone property websites. The business initially served owners and managers seeking exposure for their properties and travelers looking for alternatives to hotels, particularly for family holidays and longer stays. A major part of HomeAway's growth came from consolidation. The company acquired or assembled a network of vacation-rental businesses serving different countries, languages, and customer segments. The most important early transaction was the 2006 acquisition of VRBO, founded in 1995 and already recognized in the United States as a prominent vacation-home marketplace. HomeAway also acquired VacationRentals.com and expanded internationally through brands including HomeAway.co.uk, OwnersDirect, FeWo-direkt, Abritel, Stayz, and Bookabach. This portfolio allowed the company to combine local brand recognition with a wider technology and marketing platform. HomeAway went public in 2011. Its public-company period was marked by investment in international expansion, search and booking technology, mobile products, payments, and measures intended to improve the reliability of listings. The marketplace historically relied substantially on owner subscriptions and listing fees, but the company increasingly emphasized online transactions and commissions. This shift was designed to make the service easier for travelers to book and to align HomeAway with the operating model of large online travel agencies. In 2015, Expedia announced an agreement to acquire HomeAway for approximately $3.9 billion. The acquisition closed in December of that year. HomeAway became part of Expedia Group while retaining its vacation-rental focus and brand portfolio. Expedia's ownership provided access to broader travel-distribution capabilities, marketing resources, payment infrastructure, and cross-brand expertise. It also placed HomeAway in direct strategic competition with Airbnb, whose rapid growth had changed consumer expectations around alternative accommodation. Following the acquisition, HomeAway introduced and expanded traveler service fees, online booking requirements or incentives in parts of its network, payment services, and tools for property owners and professional managers. These changes improved transaction standardization but generated resistance from some owners accustomed to subscription-based listings or direct control over guest relationships. The company also continued to face the ordinary marketplace challenges of trust, fraud prevention, cancellations, property quality, local regulation, and the balance between owner economics and traveler conversion. Expedia Group ultimately concluded that its vacation-rental portfolio would benefit from a single, clearer consumer brand. In 2019 it announced that HomeAway would be rebranded as Vrbo, and the transition proceeded through 2020. The change drew on the stronger historical recognition of the VRBO name in the United States while presenting it as an international brand. As a result, HomeAway ceased to be the principal active consumer brand, although its acquisitions, technology, listings, and organizational history continued within Expedia Group's Vrbo business.
- 2020
Consumer brand consolidation
[3]The HomeAway identity was substantially replaced by Vrbo across Expedia Group's vacation-rental consumer operations.
- 2019
Rebrand announced
[3]Expedia Group announced that HomeAway would be rebranded as Vrbo.
- 2016
Greater emphasis on transaction-based bookings
[5]HomeAway increasingly promoted online booking and traveler service fees, moving beyond its earlier subscription-heavy listing model.
- 2015
Acquisition by Expedia
[2]Expedia agreed to acquire HomeAway for approximately $3.9 billion; the transaction closed later that year.
- 2011
Initial public offering
[1]HomeAway completed an initial public offering and traded as an independent public company.
- 2006
VRBO joins the HomeAway portfolio
[4]HomeAway acquired VRBO, an established U.S. vacation-rental marketplace that later became the basis for Expedia Group's consolidated Vrbo identity.
- 2005
HomeAway is founded
[1]Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd founded HomeAway in Austin, Texas, to build an online marketplace for vacation-home rentals.
Products and positioning
A global alternative-accommodation marketplace focused historically on entire homes and owner or property-manager inventory rather than conventional hotel rooms.
Alternative accommodation · 2005
Vacation-home marketplace
HomeAway's core service matched travelers with privately owned or professionally managed vacation homes, apartments, villas, condos, cabins, and similar whole-home accommodations. The marketplace was particularly associated with family trips, group travel, and stays requiring more space and household amenities than a conventional hotel room.
Marketplace tools · 2005
Owner and property-manager services
HomeAway provided listing exposure, inquiry management, calendar and availability tools, booking workflows, payment collection, and related services for property owners and professional managers. The precise feature set varied across markets and changed as the platform shifted from subscription listings toward transactions.
Travel marketplace
International vacation-rental sites
Through acquisitions and local operations, HomeAway offered vacation-rental inventory through regional brands such as FeWo-direkt, Abritel, OwnersDirect, Stayz, and Bookabach. These sites gave the group local-language reach and market-specific recognition before broader consolidation under Expedia Group's Vrbo strategy.
Brand decisions
2019
Consolidation under the Vrbo brandStrategyBackground
Expedia Group operated multiple vacation-rental names and sought a simpler consumer proposition that could compete more clearly with Airbnb and other accommodation marketplaces.
Action taken
Expedia Group announced that HomeAway would be rebranded as Vrbo and that the vacation-rental business would move toward a unified global identity.
Aftermath
The HomeAway brand was progressively retired from primary consumer use, while its inventory, capabilities, and history continued within Vrbo.
2016
Shift toward traveler fees and online transactionsStrategyBackground
HomeAway historically relied heavily on owner subscriptions and listing fees, while large online travel platforms generally emphasized completed bookings and transaction revenue.
Action taken
The company expanded traveler service fees, online booking, payment processing, and transaction-oriented participation across its marketplace.
Aftermath
The model made booking more standardized for travelers but produced opposition from some owners who preferred subscription listings and direct control over customer relationships.
2015
Expedia acquisitionM&ABackground
HomeAway had built a large international vacation-rental marketplace but faced increasing competition from rapidly scaling online travel and peer-to-peer accommodation platforms.
Action taken
Expedia agreed to acquire HomeAway for approximately $3.9 billion, and HomeAway became part of Expedia Group after completion of the transaction.
Aftermath
HomeAway gained access to Expedia Group's travel technology, distribution, marketing, and payment capabilities, while its former public-company independence ended.
Transaction value. Approximately $3.9 billion (2015 announced transaction)
Recent events
- Unconfirmed
Reported
HomeAway sues Michigan Department of Treasury over $18.8 million use tax bill[6]
HomeAway, which operates Vrbo.com, filed a complaint in the Michigan Court of Claims disputing an $18.8 million use tax bill for 2020 through 2022, arguing that hosts are responsible for the state's use tax and that the state's unjust enrichment allegation is erroneous.
Sources6 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/homeaway · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled