AirBnB.

Okay, okay. You’ve likely heard of them. Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past 10 years.

But you don’t think of them as a long term rentals company/product. If you’re like the rest of the world, you think of them as a travel company.

For years, they’ve been one field in their database away from being one of the largest rental platforms in the world. A couple weeks ago, there was a Bloomberg article referring to their potential expansion into long term rentals.

The news comes as no surprise to me given how closely I follow the company (due to both my travel obsession and Horizon’s overlap with AirBnB, and inspiration from it).

In 2013, I wrote:

Zillow, Trulia, and Move should make sure they don’t get blindsided in the rentals space a few years from now.

I’m not going to say they were blindsided, but I really don’t think the real estate portals realize what they’re up against. AirBnB has what literally no one else in the industry has. Frequently engaged home owners.

That said, I still believe they need a new brand to execute on the long term rental opportunity (on the renter side). There is no way AirBnB will be thought of as a place to find long term rentals anytime in the next decade.