People are already gearing up for South By Southwest (SXSW) 2012 in Austin, Texas after the first wave of speaker, performer and film announcements were posted in November 2011. The #SXSW Twitter hashtag has been alive with anticipation for one of the premier annual festivals for Music, Film and Technology and Interactive content. People stream to Austin for the festival every March from all over the world and hotels fill up fast. Attendees are already running into obstacles finding lodging using the traditional online travel sites.
Enter the “@Brandflair Theorem:”
SXSW + HomeAway = Love
While many reading this are familiar with SXSW and the lodging challenges each year, you may not have heard of a little Austin diamond in the rough called HomeAway. Truth be told, they are not a small fledgling start up. To the contrary, HomeAway is one of the most successful small to mid-size businesses to call Austin home in the past decade (word is they are a great employer as well).
In their own words “HomeAway is the world’s leading online marketplace of vacation rentals, with sites representing more than 625,000 paid vacation rental home listings throughout more than 145 countries.” This includes Austin, Texas. But wait, there is more. HomeAway also operates BedandBreakfast.com which is another rich source for finding lodging alternatives.
What does this mean to you? If you are traveling from out of town to SXSW this year these are great resources to help book some cozy local homes for the time you are here. If you live in Austin it may be a great opportunity to extend Texas hospitality to those from out of town and earn some dollars on the side.
Finally, I have not heard of any official partnership between SXSW and HomeAway. I did mention the idea to some friends who work for HomeAway but we all know how some things get lost in the shuffle. No matter. As long as this post provides a few SXSW attendees and Austinites help with the festival housing crunch it is a win-win! Just remember to please leave your accommodations and Austin better than you found them.
@BrandFlair Theorem proved!
Links:
Note: I am in no way affiliated with SXSW or HomeAway. But do me a favor and post back if you find a place to stay after reading this post. Would love to know how this helped people out.
About John Boyle
I have not heard this HomeAway, thank you for sharing the info. This is a great help for individuals like me who always love to travel.
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