在竞争对手Airbnb的阴影中悄悄成长

    沙尔普斯称，最近两个网站的业务重叠部分越来越多，但总体比例依然很小。他表示，HomeAway大约6%的物业同时也在Airbnb上展示，而在几年前仅有2%。重叠最多的市场靠近Airbnb的旧金山总部，比如纳帕和索诺马等，以及HomeAway奥斯丁总部周边的市场。

   他最大的挑战并不是容忍媒体后起之秀的的关注，而是如何在增加免费展示的同时，不影响HomeAway网站上物业供应和潜在承租人需求之间的平衡。目前，这家公司的一支数学家团队正在解决相关的问题：既要确保免费展示的数量充足，以带来预定量，同时又不能伤害在网站上付费展示的业主的利益。

    沙尔普斯说：“到目前为止似乎一些顺利，但这是一种新的模式。而只要出现新生事物，人们总免不了担心。”他随后又补充说：“我对这种模式的担忧远超过对竞争的担忧。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Sharples says that the overlap between the two sites has grown recently, but remains small. Roughly 6% of HomeAway's properties are also listed on Airbnb, he says, up from about 2% a couple of years ago. The markets with the most overlap are those close to Airbnb's San Francisco headquarters, like Napa and Sonoma, and those close to HomeAway's headquarters in Austin.

    Other than putting up with the publicity surrounding his upstart competitor, one of Sharples' biggest challenges is working to increase free listings without upsetting the balance between the supply of properties and the demand from potential renters on the HomeAway websites. A team of mathematicians at the company is working on a related problem: making sure the free listings appear prominently enough so that they generate bookings, all the while not hurting those who are paying to list on the site.

    "It appears to be working pretty well so far, but it's new," says Sharples. "And when anything is new you worry about it." Then he adds: "I worry about that far more than about competition."