‘.villas’ is a top-level domain (TLD) approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as a domain descriptor specific to the real estate and hospitality industries. As per ICANN, as a TLD, ‘.villas’ is intended to promote a sense of luxury and exclusivity tailored for businesses, individuals, and organizations involved in catering to villa-style accommodations and residential options worldwide.
ICANN’s New Generic Top-Level Domain Program has enabled the addition of about 1,200 TLDs to the Domain Name System assisting businesses and organizations to promote their products and services under a more relevant and specific internet address. Launched in 2014, ‘.villas’ is operated by an American company named Donuts Inc. The company is one of the largest portfolio registry of TLDs in the DNS with over 250 domains including ‘.estate’, ‘.properties’, ‘.rentals’ and ‘.vacations’ among others.
The ‘.villas’ TLD can be used to create exclusive online spaces catering to luxury accommodations or properties, tailored marketing campaigns, online reservations, property listings and much more. As ICANN allows registrants to be creative with their domain names, businesses can create attractive and meaningful website addresses. To illustrate, a real estate agency could register www.beachfront.villas or a vacation rental company may prefer www.luxury.villas to promote their offerings.
Purchasing a ‘.villas’ domain is similar to purchasing any other domain and can be done through various domain registries. One popular platform for this is GoDaddy. Although specific availability and pricing details would depend on the domain desired by the customer. As per the standard rules, the domain ownership lasts for a specific period after which it must be renewed, and requires adherence to the terms and conditions of the registry operator and ICANN.
In conclusion, the ‘.villas’ TLD is a specialized digital asset to distinguish and promote offerings related to villa-style hospitality and real estate sectors. Like all TLDs, it is regulated by ICANN rules and is managed by a specific registry operator, in this case, Donuts Inc.
Sources:
1. ICANN (https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/)
2. Donuts Inc. (https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/domain-names)
3. ICANN Wiki (https://icannwiki.org/.villas)
4. GoDaddy (https://www.godaddy.com/domains/villas-domain)
