Interview: Guesty co-founder and CEO, Amiad Soto, on 2018 and investment trends
ShortTermRentalz spoke to Amiad Soto, co-Founder & CEO of property management platform, Guesty, about the company’s busy 2018 and potential investment trends in 2019.
- How does Guesty use smart technology and automation tools to support property management companies?
“The Guesty platform provides property managers and management companies with an end-to-end solution to simplify the complex operational needs of short term rentals – needs which can be incredibly time consuming. With Guesty, management companies can manage listings from multiple online travel agencies including Airbnb, Booking.com, Agoda and more, and rely on our guest-centric tools including: Unified Inbox, Automation Tools, 24/7 Guest Communication Services, Payment Processing and more.”
- You announced in April that you were awarded almost $20 million in series B funding: how will you use this money to power a takeover of the vacation rental software industry?
“We plan to use the recent investment funds to expand our global presence, enhance our platform with features that continue to simplify the property management needs of our clients, as well as strengthen our existing partnerships while forging new ones.”
“By building out our product and R&D teams, we are investing in enhancing the Guesty platform to meet the ever-changing needs of customers and adhere to the ebbs and flows of the industry itself. Ultimately, our platform aims to help clients save time and increase their ROI – all so they can grow their business.”
- You’ve also hired your first COO – Vered Raviv Schwarz – and held your first conference in Tel Aviv: what do these announcements indicate about the direction Guesty is heading in for the future?
“Guesty’s swift growth meant we needed to hire more senior leadership to meet the needs of not just our business, but our employees as well. Vered is an incredibly talented leader who is helping take the company to the next level, especially as we expand globally. Together we have formed an impressive management team to navigate Guesty’s expansion, product direction, marketing activities and more.”
- You’ve announced several integrations this year with the likes of Agoda, Booking.com, RemoteLock, Slickspaces, VirtualKey and ClearBanc: what do you hope to get out of these agreements?
“We are proud of our robust portfolio of partners. Not only can you directly link OTAs like Airbnb and Booking.com to your Guesty account, but within our platform you can also choose services that can benefit your business – such as dynamic pricing tools, smart lock solutions, payment processors and more. In the coming year, Guesty will continue to forge partnerships with companies that share our goal of facilitating easy, short-term rental management and ultimately, positive guest experiences.”
- Speaking more generally, what do you think will be some of the investment trends occurring in the vacation rental industry in 2019?
“One main trend, in my opinion, will be increased consolidation of software tools into platforms. Guesty always took the approach of being one place to manage all aspects of our clients’ business, instead of them needing to juggle 20 different tools at once. As our marketplace grows, more of our customers’ tasks will be able to be completed from the Guesty dashboard while being fully integrated with – and complementary to – one another.”
- What challenges are property management systems like your own facing in this fragmented but exciting era for the short-term rental industry?
“We are growing along with our clients which is more exciting than challenging. Many of our clients began with a couple of properties and have blossomed into companies now boasting thousands. The needs of a large-scale property management operation differ from those with a handful of listings, thus, we will continue to enhance our products to support larger property management companies.”
Anyone seeking to find out more information about Guesty can visit its website at www.guesty.com.
