ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Vrbo is out with its 2021 trends report. Here to talk about it is the president of Vrbo, Jeff Hurst. Jeff, good to have you. I have to say, I feel a little behind the eight ball. Usually, I'm very on top of family travel. But with the pandemic, I haven't given it much thought. But I know your trend report saw a few things-- road trips and outdoor destinations-- big trends. Tell us about it.

JEFF HURST: Absolutely. And so as people have adapted to how do you travel during COVID, two things have really taken off. And it's taken guidance from local authorities on how do you social distance. And people are doing that by spending more time with their quarantine crews but doing it in new places.

They're taking road trips. They're going to lakes and rivers. They're exploring national parks. And they're increasingly doing it in whole homes that Vrbo has been known for for over 25 years. And so we're seeing a lot of travelers enjoy places like Emory, Texas, and Slade, Kentucky, and getting out and enjoying nature and teaching their kids to fish and being with the ones they love in a different house than the one they're in all the time.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Yep, and getting back to nature. That's definitely a trend for my family, as well. Look, I've heard of staycations, but you're talking to me about flexcations. What is it? And is it here to stay even post this pandemic?

JEFF HURST: I definitely think it's here to stay. And so "flexcation" is the term coined by Vrbo that really talks about the intersection of a lot of professionals' newfound flexibility to work from home and how they incorporate that into taking trips with their families.

And so historically, an American three-day weekend may have involved leaving your house at noon on a Friday and cutting out of a few hours of work to spend time with your family over the weekend. And increasingly, people are taking slightly longer trips and incorporating the ability to have high-speed internet from a whole home on Vrbo and work remotely to get more time with their family in a new destination. I do think it's a trend that's here today because-- here to stay because I think it's a trend that's going to be here to stay in the workforce for an indefinite time.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You know, I'm curious how many first time Vrbo users you have because of the pandemic. Are you seeing a lot of new customers, as opposed to the repeat customer during these past few months?

JEFF HURST: Absolutely. We've seen more growth in new customers since the pandemic began than before. And a lot of it's because customers-- you know, travelers are exploring new destinations. And many of these destinations, the primary type of inventory available are Vrbo whole homes.

And so we're enthusiastic to be introducing people to a category that's been around for decades. And you know, from what we can see in the reviews and their experiences is that they're having great trips. And we expect that this will be a durable part of how people have changed behavior from the pandemic moving forward-- is that they're more likely to consider Vrbo whole home rentals in the future than they would have been in the past, where they're more conditioned to go back to the same type of resort or hotel that they've traveled to before.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: How much demand are you seeing for long-term rentals, right, people who might want to go to a rural location for a month or longer as they try to get out of these hot spots in cities across the country? How much of that is comprising your overall business?

JEFF HURST: We don't disclose the exact amount, but I would say that that is a category that's trended up. And so, in general, what we've seen is that trips have kind of exacerbated what we call the book ends. You're seeing a higher percentage of these really long stays, and then also a higher percentage of weekend stays just around the corner.

And so a lot of people are booking something that's really far out, they're dreaming about a longer stay in the future, or they're actually using a service to temporarily relocate. But even more people are taking advantage of a moment where it feels safe to travel in three days or right around the corner. And they're booking a long weekend to go get away. And so it's a little bit of both, in terms of the way that the travelers' behavior has changed.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You know, I like this stat out of your trend report-- more than half of travelers say they're more likely to go on a bucket list trip as soon as it is safe to do so. I think there's all that pent-up demand. And now, you know, you don't realize how much you missed something since it-- until it's taken away. Tell us more about that stat. And is there one particular place that people have on their bucket list?

JEFF HURST: Yeah, it's interesting. And so I wouldn't say there's a common place on a bucket list. But what I would say is that people really are feeling a need to make up for lost time. And so they're doing-- kind of two behaviors jump out. One is they're more likely to take the bigger trip next year because they feel like they missed out on a lot of travel and connecting with the people they love this year. The second behavior is a lot of people are actually taking do-overs. And so there is a trip they missed out on, and they're going back to the same place next year because they were so excited about an occasion that didn't come to be.

And some of those do-overs are actually, you know, significant family events. They're getting together for a reunion. They're getting together for a wedding. And that's been exciting to see-- that people are going to invest the time in the future to make up for that time they missed.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You know, something-- I don't think I'm alone on this-- something I do, as well, I'm on vacation, I sort of start thinking about my next vacation. I know it's something that gives family something to look forward to. But because these are such uncertain times, what about people who say, look, I don't want to commit to something because what if I can't cancel it down the road? Have cancellation policies become a little more nimble during this time at Vrbo?

JEFF HURST: They have. And so we've introduced new policies. And our partners around the world have been embracing them and opting into more flexibility for travelers. And so, for the vast majority of those dream vacations where people are planning them far out in advance, they're fully refundable on Vrbo. And we encourage people to kind of, like, lock it in and have something to dream for.

The behavior you're describing is totally normal across what we see. People get together for Thanksgiving, and they plan their next trip. They get together for Christmas or New Year's, and they plan their next trip. And that part of planning is a fun part of being together. And so we've worked really hard to introduce more flexibility and make it possible for people to have confidence that when they book something into time of such heightened uncertainty that they can have certainty that we've got time to think it through, get information, while still being fully refundable.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Now, I know you're already owned by a publicly-traded company, Expedia. Airbnb is going to be going public. They're on their roadshow this week. You're-- you're a lot smaller than Airbnb. And I'm curious-- I mean, in many ways, I know, it is a different business model. But in some ways, you do directly compete. How difficult will it be to compete with Airbnb after they're capitalized?

JEFF HURST: Oh, I don't expect it to be any more difficult. You know, we're focused on serving families and providing them with great vacation experiences in our incredible whole home inventory. And lots of our competitors have different focused.

And we used to be a private company. We went public. We were acquired by Expedia Group. And so we've run the gamut, have a set of experiences that whatever happens with the capitalization of a competitor, no matter who they are, it doesn't change the way we spend our time and the way that we obsess over how can we help every family take the best trip of their lives? And we think we're the best in the world at that. And that's what we're going to continue to work on.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right. Jeff Hurst, president of Vrbo, thanks for being with us and sharing those trends with us.

JEFF HURST: Thank you.