After a shaky start, the vacation rental and room sharing industry is catching fire, with some analysts expecting it to surpass the hotel industry by 2020. Investors have taken notice, chasing the stocks of three publicly traded companies, which have an indirect exposure to the industry. Finance 3/24/2017By buying shares of all three companies, the only trend the investor has to watch is the growth in the room sharing and vacation rental industry. Airbnb is a pure play in the vacation rental and room sharing industry -- accounting for 9% of the total lodging units in the 10 largest U.S. cities and continuing to add units at a significantly faster pace than the U.S. hotel industry, according to a CBRE report. Housli’s platform splits the market into three groups -- vacationers, students, and professionals -- to target the different needs of sharing economy renters and hosts.

Source: Forbes April 16, 2017 14:15 UTC