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The industry’s largest professional gathering is under way in Nashville this week, and the conversation is already shaped by platform fee changes and a wave of new operator education. The Vacation Rental Management Association’s annual conference, VRMA 26 Nashville, runs October 4–6, 2026, at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

The final phase of Airbnb’s move to a single host-only service fee arrives next week for hosts in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. October 13, 2026, is the deadline for hosts in the EEA and Switzerland who are still on Airbnb’s split-fee structure to move to the host-only fee, according to a host checklist published by Houfy that cites Airbnb’s Help Center. Hosts outside those regions faced a September 15 deadline.

KeyData’s annual survey finds short-term rental managers more confident about revenue, occupancy, and ADR, while bracing for more competition, a return to OTAs, and wider AI use. Property managers are entering 2027 with a noticeably stronger growth outlook than they had heading into 2026. More than three-quarters expect revenue to increase, nearly two-thirds anticipate occupancy growth, and more than half expect ADR to rise.

Twenty locally led companies managing more than 5,000 homes come together to share infrastructure, technology, and data under one roof NEW YORK, October 5, 2026 — Pavilion, a national vacation rental company, launched today with twenty local companies. Together they manage more than 5,000 homes and welcome about 50,000 guests each month across the United States.

Simon Lehmann opens the STR Academy with Beyond, Guesty, Pikl, and Breezeway as exclusive category partners and seven industry ambassadors, launched during VRMA week in Nashville NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — The technology serving professional short-term rental operators has raced ahead, but operator education has not kept up. That gap closes today. The STR Academy, a structured online program that takes property managers from operator to CEO, opens to the industry.

For more than two decades, the vacation rental industry has been built on a foundational technology layer: the web-based property management system (PMS). From early desktop solutions to modern cloud-based platforms, PMS software has served as the operational backbone of property managers worldwide. That era may be coming to an end. Artificial intelligence is no longer simply a feature layered onto software. It is rapidly becoming the software itself.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA, AND PORTLAND, OREGON, October 2, 2026 — Joe Riley has officially taken over as chief executive officer of Casago. The change follows the company’s successful transition of Vacasa’s markets to Casago franchisees. Casago first announced the leadership change in February, and it was finalized in September when the company completed its last market transitions. All former Vacasa markets are now locally owned and operated by Casago franchisees or other partners.

When revenue and commercial leaders in the vacation rental sector simply glance at reports showing contribution margins across distribution channels, they are likely seeing the “voice” channel continue to lose ground to “website direct” and “OTA/third party.” Yet when you microscope the metrics, the story is actually quite different. In working with over 200 VR/STR clients in recent years, I have had a chance to put the magnifying glass on what’s really happening with the voice channel.

Revenue strategy always starts with a plan, but the market does not always follow it. A major event may not pace the way it did last year, certain property types may start falling behind, owners may get nervous about open dates, and new channel updates can quickly add more complexity to an already busy season.

In this episode of STR Global Unlocked, I speak with Shaun Shirazian, CEO of Lodgify, about one of the biggest shifts happening in short-term rentals and hospitality: the rise of AI search, direct bookings, and the future of guest experience. Shaun shares what Lodgify is seeing across more than 30,000 hosts and 100,000 listings, why the short-term rental market has become more competitive, and why the old price advantage over hotels is disappearing.