Booking Adds 150k Attractions, Airbnb Pressures Vancouver on FIFA Rules, RMS Links Rooms with Dining

Booking.com Adds 150K Attractions with FareHarbor Integration

• Booking.com has launched a global integration with FareHarbor, the tours and activities platform owned by Booking Holdings, which will gradually add over 150,000 attractions to its inventory through FareHarbor’s distribution network. 
• While the rollout spans thousands of destinations, the company has emphasized a significant focus on expanding its U.S. attractions offering over time.
• Booking.com has integrated with FareHarbor, a Booking Holdings-owned software platform for tours and activities, adding over 150,000 new attractions via its distribution network. 
• FareHarbor now joins Musement, Viator, and Klook in powering Booking.com’s global Experiences ecosystem, which spans 5,000+ cities in 115 countries.
• New listings include popular tours like Spain’s Montserrat hike, Greece’s hot springs, and the Prague Christmas Market.
• Booking.com is also using AI to group and recommend activities, and now includes attractions as eligible bookings that help travelers level up their Genius status, just like stays, flights, and car rentals.

Snigdha’s Views:

• Attractions and experiences are becoming a core battleground for OTAs, all racing to capture value beyond the stay.
• Airbnb has relaunched Experiences with a focus on local, host-led activities. Vrbo partnered up with BabyQuip for family travel perks, while HomeToGo is rolling out Book CLUB tie-ups to drive loyalty. 
• Now, Booking.com is ramping up its own strategy, leaning into scale and instant availability, much like the approach that helped it grow STRs globally.
• We already called out that Attractions could be the next big bet. In its Q2 2025 earnings call, leadership flagged Attractions as an emerging growth lever, noting that bookings had more than doubled year-over-year.
• The company also hinted at upcoming partnerships and explicitly positioned the vertical as central to the company’s “Connected Trip”.
• Booking.com also acknowledged sluggish performance in the U.S. Now, just a few months later, this new FareHarbor integration looks like a direct step to address that gap. 
• As more travelers book tours and activities on the same platform as their stay, listings near popular experiences are more likely to surface in recommendations. 
• With Booking.com’s AI and Genius rewards driving stickiness, guests are nudged to plan bundled trips, keeping them engaged longer and boosting your property’s visibility within curated journeys.

---

Airbnb pushes Vancouver to relax STR rules ahead of FIFA 2026

• Airbnb is urging Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia to introduce temporary STR exemptions during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 
• A new Deloitte report commissioned by the company projects a 70,000-night accommodation shortfall during the most critical nine days of the tournament, potentially leaving 15,000 fans per day without lodging during peak demand.
• Airbnb says B.C.’s STR law (in force since May 2025), among Canada’s strictest laws and limits rentals to principal residences and residences in most cities, including Vancouver.
• The law sharply cuts down supply and could significantly constrain supply, just as 350,000+ soccer fans are expected to visit the city for 7 matches, including 2 featuring Team Canada.
• The Report notes hotel rates are forecast to spike over 200%, similar to Vancouver’s Taylor Swift concerts in 2024. 
• Airbnb warns of a $78M CAD economic loss, 630 jobs, and $4M in tax revenue at risk, including $45M in missed visitor spending and reputational risk for Vancouver as a host city.
• With FIFA ticket sales already underway and match schedules expected in December, Airbnb stresses that the time to act is now.
• The Business Council of British Columbia and other stakeholders are backing Airbnb’s proposal. 
• Airbnb argues that special event hosting rules, also called “event exemptions,” have been successfully deployed elsewhere, including in the UK and Japan

Snigdha’s View:

• Airbnb is using the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 as strategic leverage to challenge British Columbia’s STR, positioning itself as part of the solution.
• As an official FIFA partner for 2026–2027, Airbnb could directly benefit from any temporary easing of restrictions, potentially unlocking thousands of new listings.
• Other cities like Kansas City and Edinburgh have shown a willingness to temporarily flex STR rules during surges in demand.
• If Airbnb succeeds and Vancouver temporarily relaxes rules during FIFA 2026, it could open a unique window for non-primary residences to legally operate during the event.
• For managers in host cities like Mexico City, Boston, or Toronto, temporary exemptions could open new opportunities for non-primary listings, but only for those ready to act quickly.

---

RMS Integrates with ResDiary to Unite Room & Dining Reservations

• RMS, the cloud-based hospitality platform used by hotels, motels, serviced apartments, and STRs, has officially integrated with ResDiary, a specialist table reservation system under The Access Group umbrella. 
• With this integration, guests can reserve tables alongside their room bookings, streamlining dining operations for properties with in-house restaurants.
• Real-time data syncing between the two systems aims to minimize manual entry and supports a more personalized guest experience.
• With audit trail tracking built in, operators can see every reservation action, from creation to cancellation, ensuring data accuracy, simplifying accounting, and offering deeper insights into guest behavior.
• This transparency also supports GDPR compliance, which is increasingly critical for professional operators handling sensitive guest data.
• Future updates will add booking validation tools and real-time availability alerts to improve service delivery.

About RMS

RMS is a cloud-based hospitality management platform used by over 7,000 businesses in 70+ countries, including STR operators, serviced apartments, hotels, and campgrounds. It offers a unified system to handle bookings, guest communications, payments, and performance tracking.

About ResDiary

ResDiary is a cloud‑based table reservation and restaurant management system used by over 9,000 hospitality venues worldwide. It enables venues to accept commission‑free bookings through their own website, Google, social media, and other channels, while providing tools like waitlists, promotions, deposits, and yield management. 

 Snigdha’s views:

• Hospitality operators juggling accommodation and dining often face fragmented systems, where rooms are booked on one platform, meals on another.
• This disconnect creates extra work, missed upsell opportunities, and a disjointed guest journey.
• The RMS–ResDiary integration addresses that exact pain point. By unifying room and dining bookings into a single interface, it cuts down manual entry and improves real-time data flow, meaning operators can offer more personalized service and boost ancillary revenue.
• For managers of serviced apartments or STRs above cafés or linked to boutique restaurants, this kind of integration could streamline operations significantly. 
• Even for STR-only operators, it’s a signal of where expectations are heading: guests increasingly expect seamless, end-to-end journeys, from check-in to check-out, dining, experiences, and beyond.