The Future of Short‑Term Rentals: How Brokerage Consolidation Could Influence Local Accommodation Supply

Urban travellers and operators: why you should care about brokerage consolidation now

Pain point: you depend on clear, up-to-date inventory, fair pricing and transparent booking channels—yet the companies that list and manage short‑term rentals are consolidating fast. That consolidation changes who controls listings, how prices move and what urban accommodation looks like in 2026.

This article explains how recent brokerage conversions and mergers — from large franchise shifts to broker-to-broker takeovers — ripple through the short‑term rental and serviced apartment markets. You’ll get practical steps for travellers, property owners, serviced apartment operators and municipal planners to navigate those changes.

The snapshot: what happened in late 2025–early 2026

By 2026 the real estate brokerage landscape continued a wave of consolidation that accelerated through late 2024 and 2025. Major franchisors and national brokerages have been converting affiliated firms, acquiring regional players and repositioning brands to capture technology advantages and scale.

Two examples illustrate the trend:

• RE/MAX converted two large Royal LePage firms in the Greater Toronto Area, adding roughly 1,200 agents and 17 offices — a rapid increase in local market presence and distribution reach.
• Century 21 New Millennium refreshed executive leadership, signaling strategic consolidation and renewed emphasis on national platforms and shared services among franchisees.

Those moves are representative: more brokerages are consolidating to gain technology, marketing muscle and cross‑border reach. But when brokerages grow, the effects are not limited to traditional sales and lettings — they shape the supply, pricing and availability of short‑term rentals and serviced apartments, especially in dense urban markets.

How brokerage consolidation influences market supply

Consolidation changes the ownership of distribution channels: larger brokerages command more listings, deeper relationships with property owners and stronger negotiating power with third‑party platforms and corporate travel buyers.

Inventory concentration and aggregation

When a national or regional brokerage absorbs smaller firms, two inventory changes happen:

• Aggregation of listings — multiple previously independent short‑term units may now be managed or marketed through one centralised brokerage platform. That increases visibility of those units to corporate accounts and OTA (online travel agency) partners.
• Productisation — brokerages standardise amenity descriptions, photography and serviced appliancess, turning a scattered set of short‑term rooms into a coherent portfolio that’s easier for travel managers and business travellers to buy.

Result: in many urban cores, a smaller number of players control a larger share of bookable short‑term inventory. That can increase listing quality but reduces diversity in the independent host segment.

Conversions: long‑term to short‑term, and the reverse

Brokerages with deeper capital and management teams are more likely to convert stock between long‑term rental, short‑term rental and serviced apartment models depending on demand and regulation. In strong corporate travel recovery pockets (2025–26 saw renewed business travel), many owners and managers switched to serviced apartment models to capture higher ADRs (average daily rates) for weekly bookings.

Conversely, in cities tightening short‑term rental rules, large brokerages can aggregate units and convert them back to mid‑ or long‑term lets with professional leases, offering stability to owners while maintaining asset utilisation.

Pricing impact: who wins and who loses

Consolidation shifts pricing power, distribution fees and discounting behaviour.

Dynamic pricing at scale

Bigger brokerages invest in proprietary revenue management systems that use market telemetry, occupancy trends and competitor rates to set prices. That means:

• More accurate yield management across networks of units — often higher overall room revenue for owners when managed by scale players.
• Faster reaction to demand spikes (events, conferences) and troughs (off‑season), leading to compressed price volatility for travellers who compare only a few nights.

Implication: travellers who shop only OTAs at short notice may see higher baseline pricing in consolidated markets because professional managers squeeze out casual hosts with inferior pricing tools. Larger managers often follow advanced seller playbooks for pricing and automation that independent hosts lack.

Fee structures and hidden costs

Consolidated brokerages negotiate different fee splits with OTAs and may redirect bookings to direct channels to save on OTA commissions. For travellers this can produce:

• Lower published rates on direct websites, paired with mandatory service fees or minimum stay policies.
• Transparent bundled pricing for serviced apartments (utilities, cleaning, Wi‑Fi) that can look higher up front but are cost‑efficient for stays of a week or more.

For cost‑conscious travellers, understanding the full price (including taxes, service charges and optional extras) is now more important than ever.

Availability and distribution: platform power versus local nuance

Consolidation alters how inventory flows between global OTAs, local directories and direct corporate channels.

Preferential placement and channel bias

National brokerages often set channel strategies that favour certain distribution partners. That produces three practical outcomes:

• Some listings are pushed heavily to global OTAs to maximise occupancy quickly.
• Higher‑value serviced apartments and corporate‑friendly units are steered to direct corporate channels and travel management companies (TMCs), sometimes bypassing consumer marketplaces entirely.
• Local listings that once lived on neighbourhood directories or small platforms may be folded into franchise websites with unified search algorithms, reducing visibility for independent hosts.

Travel managers and business travellers gain easier access to vetted, bookable serviced apartments. Leisure travellers searching for quirky neighbourhood listings may find fewer independent options—or higher prices for the remaining independents.

Regulatory and local market responses

Cities reacted to concentrated short‑term inventory in 2024–26 with a mix of licensing, caps and data‑sharing rules. Municipalities increasingly require registration of short‑term units, occupancy reporting and local contact details.

Large brokerages are better equipped to comply with these requirements — they can centralise compliance teams — which means compliant inventory is more likely to remain marketable in regulated urban areas, while non‑compliant independent hosts may be sidelined.

Policy risk: what to watch for

• City registration databases and mandatory short‑term rental licences (already expanded across UK cities and many European capitals by 2025).
• Restrictions on entire‑home listings in neighbourhoods with housing affordability pressures.
• Stricter safety, insurance and tenancy rules for units operating as serviced apartments.

Brokerages that can centralise regulatory compliance keep listings live; independents face enforcement risk and delisting. That dynamic further concentrates available, legal inventory under large management companies and franchises.

Marketplaces and directories: adapting to consolidation

Marketplaces (OTAs, directories and metasearch engines) are also responding. In 2025–26 we saw marketplaces deepen partnerships with consolidated brokerages to secure supply and offer corporate integrations. That has three consequences:

• Increased vertical integration between listings and channel tech — marketplaces offer APIs and white‑label connections that make it seamless for brokerages to syndicate large portfolios.
• Growth of private inventory pools for corporate buyers and TMCs — exclusive rates and inventory that don’t appear publicly.
• Greater scrutiny of review authenticity and standardised amenity taxonomies to make large brokerage portfolios easier to filter and book.

Practical takeaways: travellers, operators and policymakers

Consolidation is neither uniformly good nor bad. It reshapes the market. Here’s how each stakeholder can respond practically in 2026.

For travellers and corporate bookers

• Compare full‑stay pricing, not nightly rates. Look for cleaning, utilities and fees bundled in serviced apartment offers — they can be cheaper for week+ stays.
• Use filtered searches for ‘managed by’ or franchise names if you prefer professionally managed units (better contact responsiveness, refunds and safety compliance).
• Negotiate for direct booking perks—late check‑out, airport transfers or waived cleaning fees—especially for stays over 7–14 nights. Consolidated brokerages have the authority to approve direct extras.
• For business travel, ask travel managers to tap private inventory pools and corporate rates offered by large brokerages; these often include flexible cancellation and invoicing options.

For independent hosts and small property managers

• Diversify distribution channels: keep listings on local directories and OTAs while building a simple direct booking page (channel managers now offer low‑cost booking widgets).
• Consider joining a local franchise or co‑op network for marketing and compliance support if enforcement is tightening in your city.
• Invest in basic revenue management tools (even rule‑based pricing algorithms) to compete on occupancy and avoid being undercut by scale managers.
• Document safety and compliance: professional photos, updated amenity lists and registration numbers reduce delisting risk when cities audit platforms.

For serviced apartment operators and larger brokerages

• Leverage scale to offer segmented product lines—short‑stay boutique units, mid‑stay serviced apartments and corporate suites—with tailored cancellation and pricing models.
• Build direct corporate booking APIs and static corporate rate cards; large travel buyers increasingly prefer private inventory and invoicing options.
• Make compliance a selling point: transparent registration, safety checks and accessible local support teams are differentiators in regulated markets.
• Invest in hyperlocal marketing: scale should not mean generic listings. Keep amenity detail and local guides to maintain appeal for leisure travellers seeking neighbourhood authenticity.

For policymakers and city planners

• Design registration systems that publish anonymised supply data so planners can track concentration and housing impacts.
• Require platforms and brokerages to share occupancy and tax data under privacy‑compliant frameworks to enforce caps and protect housing stock.
• Promote a balanced approach: encourage professionally managed serviced apartments near transport hubs while protecting long‑term housing in residential neighbourhoods.

Case studies and observed outcomes (2025–26)

Three observed outcomes from markets that experienced brokerage consolidation:

1. Improved reliability for corporate stays — cities with consolidated broker involvement reported faster booking confirmations and standardised billing for TMCs.
2. Reduced independent inventory in inner suburbs — neighbourhoods with strict registration saw independent hosts exit, leaving professionally managed units as the dominant supply.
3. Firmer short‑stay pricing floors — where scale revenue management was widespread, ADRs tracked higher during weekends and events, squeezing low‑price independent hosts.

Future predictions through 2028

Based on 2025–26 developments, expect the following trends to play out:

• More private inventory pools: Corporates and TMCs will prefer private pools handled by brokerages with compliance capabilities.
• Hybrid models grow: brokerages will operate mixed portfolios—short‑stay, serviced apartments and long‑term leases—optimising allocations dynamically.
• Regulation pushes professionalisation: cities will increasingly require registration, favouring brokered and professionally managed inventory.
• OTAs adapt: marketplaces will offer segmented search for franchise‑managed versus independent units and integrate compliance badges.

What this means for market supply, pricing and availability

To summarise the impact in plain terms:

• Supply: available legal short‑term rental inventory will skew toward professionally managed and franchised units in regulated urban areas.
• Pricing: greater use of dynamic pricing and revenue management will raise price floors, shrink ad‑hoc discounting and stabilise rates around demand cycles.
• Availability: leisure travellers seeking unique, low‑cost stays may find fewer options; business travellers and longer‑stay guests will find more reliable serviced apartment supply.

“Consolidation concentrates market power but also brings standardisation and compliance — the net outcome depends on regulatory design and how consumers adapt.”

Action plan checklist: 10 steps to navigate the changing landscape (quick reference)

1. For travellers: Compare full‑stay total cost, not just nightly rate.
2. For hosts: Implement a channel manager and basic revenue tools.
3. For managers: Develop direct booking APIs and corporate rate cards.
4. For marketplaces: Display ‘managed by’ tags and compliance badges.
5. For policymakers: Build anonymised supply dashboards for planning teams.
6. For investors: Seek portfolios with diversified channel strategies.
7. For community advocates: Push for caps where housing scarcity is acute.
8. For TMCs: Secure private inventory agreements with large brokerages.
9. For serviced apartment operators: Offer week‑and‑month pricing that competes with furnished long‑term lets.
10. For everyone: Monitor local licence requirements and keep records accessible.

Final thoughts: a practical, balanced outlook for urban travel

Brokerage consolidation is reshaping the short‑term rental and serviced apartment landscape. In many urban markets the winners will be travellers and corporate bookers who value reliability, compliance and standardised service. Independent hosts face pressure but can survive by specialising, partnering or aligning with local franchises.

As an urban traveller in 2026, the smart move is to understand which listings are backed by professional management and which are indie. Book strategically—longer stays often unlock better unit economics in serviced apartments, while last‑minute leisure deals require nimble comparison across channels.

For operators and policymakers, the recommendation is clear: embrace transparency, invest in compliance and design policies that balance visitor economy benefits with housing needs.

Call to action

Want a tailored briefing for your city or property portfolio? We produce market-specific supply and pricing snapshots for UK urban areas—highlighting where brokerage consolidation changes availability and rates. Contact our editorial team at hotelexpert.uk for a customised report and practical next steps to adapt and profit from these changes.

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