????如今的網站設計大多光鮮亮麗，現代感十足，而布萊恩?沙普爾斯運營的一個網站，風格明顯有些落伍，甚至有點丑陋。但每當他打算對度假租屋服務網站VRBO.com進行美化時，總會發生令人困惑的事情：客戶預訂數量不升反降。

????沙普爾斯是VRBO母公司HomeAway的CEO，旗下還有VacationRentals.com和其他十幾個在全球提供假期房屋租賃的網站。他說：“網站越難看，反倒越能帶來好的結果。”所以，沙普爾斯表示，VRBO在逐步修改網站設計。“如果我們在一夜之間完成網站美化，恐怕反而會給我們的業務帶來滅頂之災。”

????不論是網站過時的外觀，還是圍繞競爭對手之一——媒體寵兒Airbnb的各種傳言，似乎都不能阻礙這家公司前進。HomeAway最近發布收益報告之后，公司股價在一天內暴漲超過12%，達到歷史最高的50美元左右，公司市值超過了42億美元。上周，HomeAway收購了房產管理和度假出租手機初創公司Glad To Have You。后者通過開發手機應用，幫助業主與承租人進行溝通。目前，收購交易的價格并么有公布。

????HomeAway的收益報告一方面讓投資者松了一口氣，另一方面也相當于通過了對沙爾普斯的認證。HomeAway大部分收入來自業主在這家公司出租房屋支付的手續費。但去年晚些時候，HomeAway推出了一種新的選擇，允許業主免費展示物業，只要在達成預定后支付手續費即可，做法類似于Airbnb。投資者擔心，免費展示可能影響HomeAway的核心業務。雖然網站新增71,000套免費展示物業，但付費展示的數量依然在以健康的速度增長。在一份投資者報告中，摩根大通（J.P. Morgan）分析師道格?安穆斯寫道，結果顯示，到目前為止“尚未出現現有產品利潤侵蝕的情況。”

????沙普爾斯表示，免費展示“為不放心預付費用的業主打開了一個新市場。”這家公司大多數客戶每年的平均租金收入為28,000美元，預先付費對他們來說依然是筆更劃算的買賣。公司在全球共有890,000套付費展示的物業，2013年共產生了3.46億美元收入，同比增長24%，凈收入達到1,800萬美元。

????沙爾普斯于2005年成立了HomeAway，先后收購了17家競爭對手網站，逐漸將公司打造成了一家全球性的公司。沙爾普斯對于圍繞Airbnb和其他所謂共享制經濟的典型代表產生的輿論喧囂非常不滿。

????沙爾普斯說：“在HomeAway所處的行業，人們一直以來都在分享，而HomeAway就是這個行業一個很好的典范。HomeAway賺錢了，這就是我們跟Airbnb的區別。”

????Airbnb拒絕發表評論。

????雖然Airbnb和HomeAway在業務上存在區別，但兩者似乎難免產生碰撞。雖然Airbnb以合租業務起家，但了解這家公司的人表示，目前在公司掛牌展示的物業，有三分之二都是整租物業。Airbnb公司主攻舊金山、紐約或柏林等城市市場。而相反，HomeAway卻致力于房屋或公寓整租。在它網站展示的物業大多位于度假勝地，比如夏威夷或太浩湖。HomeAway的物業中，約有40%由管理公司展示，而不是業主本人。

????In this day of flashy, modern web design, Brian Sharples runs a site that is decidedly antiquated, and well, kind of ugly. But every time he tries to spiff up VRBO.com, the vacation rentals site, something confounding happens: Customers book fewer properties.

????"The uglier it is, the better it converts," says Sharples, who is CEO of HomeAway, the parent company of VRBO, VacationRentals.com, and about a dozen other sites that offer vacation homes around the world. That's why, Sharples says, VRBO has introduced design changes very gradually. "If we did it overnight, it would crush the business."

????Neither the dated look nor the buzz surrounding one of its competitors -- media darling Airbnb -- seems to be holding back the company. Following HomeAway's (AWAY) most recent earnings report, the company's shares soared more than 12% in a single day to an all-time-high of nearly $50, giving the company a market value of more than $4.2 billion. Last week, HomeAway acquiredGlad To Have You, which makes mobile apps that help property owners communicate with renters, for an undisclosed sum.

????The HomeAway earnings report came as a relief to investors and as a validation to Sharples. HomeAway earns the majority of its revenue from fees that property owners pay to list their rentals. But late last year, HomeAway introduced a new option that allowed owners to list properties for free and pay only when they book a rental, like they do on Airbnb. Investors had feared that the free listings could hurt HomeAway's core business. But paid listings continued to grow at a healthy pace, even as the site added some 71,000 new free listings. In a report to investors, Doug Anmuth, an analyst with J.P. Morgan, wrote that the results indicated that so far "there is no cannibalization of existing products."

????The free listings "opened up a new market for people renting their properties who were afraid to pay up front," Sharples says. For most of his customers, who earn $28,000 a year in rentals on average, paying up front remains a better deal. The company says it has some 890,000 paid listings worldwide, which in 2013 generated $346 million in revenue, a 24% rise from a year earlier, and $18 million in net income.

????Sharples, who founded HomeAway in 2005 and has since expanded it into a global enterprise in part through the acquisition of 17 rival sites, often bristles at the buzz around Airbnb and other poster children of the so-called sharing economy.

????"HomeAway is an example of an industry where people have been sharing stuff for a long time," Sharples says. "HomeAway makes money. That's the difference between us and Airbnb."

????Airbnb declined to comment.

????Airbnb and HomeAway may be in different businesses, but they appear to be on something of a collision course. While Airbnb got its start with shared rentals, people close to the company say that about two-thirds of its listings now are for entire properties. The company still focuses primarily on urban markets like San Francisco, New York, or Berlin. In contrast, HomeAway is dedicated to renting entire homes or condos and most of its listings are in vacation destinations like Hawaii or Lake Tahoe. Nearly 40% of HomeAway's properties are listed by management companies, not by homeowners.