Expedia to Buy CarTrawler, Airbnb's Car-Rental Engine
An OTA rival is set to own the ground-transport engine behind Airbnb's new car-rental category. Property managers tracking Airbnb's ancillary push should watch how Expedia treats CarTrawler after the deal closes.
OTA Policy Radar
Expedia Group has agreed to acquire CarTrawler, the Dublin-based B2B ground-transport aggregator that powers Airbnb’s new car-rental category. The reported price is roughly $350 million (Skift, May 2026), with closing expected in the second half of 2026. For STR managers the headline is simple: a direct OTA rival is about to own the mobility infrastructure sitting under one of Airbnb’s newest ancillary offerings.
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