Until today, the success of a short-term rental property on major booking platforms depended mainly on service quality, reviews, competitive pricing, and performance in reservation management. Visibility was largely the result of good operations.
This appears to be changing.
The three biggest players in the market – Booking, Expedia, and Airbnb – are moving toward a model where increased visibility is increasingly linked to financial exchanges, either through advertising spending or discounts funded by the hosts themselves.
Booking has launched BKNG Ads, a unified advertising platform for Booking.com, Priceline, and Agoda, while Expedia is expanding similar capabilities through the technological integration of its brands and testing sponsored listings on Vrbo.
Although Airbnb continues to publicly reject the paid advertising model, it is running pilot programs that offer higher ranking to listings that accept significant price discounts.
Why it matters for the Greek market
This development is particularly important for Greece, where thousands of short-term rental owners and managers have built their growth mainly on organic visibility within platforms.
Unlike large hotel chains, which have revenue managers, marketing budgets, and specialized advertising tools, many small property managers have not integrated additional customer acquisition costs into their business model.
If the new environment leads to greater reliance on paid visibility, distribution costs may increase significantly for smaller operators.
The role of Artificial Intelligence
The role of Artificial IntelligenceBehind this shift is also the rise of artificial intelligence tools. Travelers are now searching for information through systems such as ChatGPT or Gemini, which often suggest a limited number of options instead of dozens of search results.
This reduces the available “digital space” for exposure and increases the value of each remaining visible position. For booking platforms, building advertising networks is a way to strengthen revenues in an environment where travel search is gradually moving outside their traditional websites.
From bookings to visibility
The transition from a “pay when you get a booking” model to a “pay to be seen” model may represent one of the most significant changes in the travel distribution industry over the next decade.
For short-term rentals, especially in markets like Greece, the challenge will no longer be only the quality of the accommodation or competitive pricing, but also the ability to finance digital visibility in an increasingly competitive ecosystem.
