Airbnb is starting to sweep up some of its competition around the world with confirmation that it has this week bought rival brand Crashpadder in the UK.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed by either Crashpadder or Airbnb, with the only official notification so far coming via the Crashpadder homepage.
Crashpadder is based in London and launched three years ago, gradually attracting over 7,000 hosts in 100 countries and 2,500 cities around the world.
The service is extremely similar to Airbnb, essentially acting as a marketplace for home owners to rent out houses and apartments for short-term stays.
Crashpadder says it will automatically move existing accounts belonging to hosts to Airbnb.
Founders Stephen Rapoport and Dan Hill posted a statement on the site:
"We've known the founders of Airbnb almost since we started, and beyond being great guys, they share a common vision that aligned perfectly with ours. We felt the best way to continue to improve the experience for you - our community - was to join with Airbnb."
The move signals an attempt by Airbnb to expand outside of its home market, despite already having already booked five million room nights in 19,000 cities since its launch.
But despite the bluster of its home tech press, labelling any site which dares to have a similar idea and user experience as a "clone", Airbnb faces well-backed competition in the form of Wimdu outside of the US.
Both companies secured massive investment rounds last year - $90 million for Wimdu and $112 million for Airbnb - and are clearly aiming at establishing a foothold in as many cities as possible, as quickly as possible.