“More guests seeking hotel-quality experience”: Vacasa’s Matt Roberts

US: ShortTermRentalz spoke to former OpenTable CEO and newly-appointed director at Vacasa, Matt Roberts, about his entry into the vacation rental space and trends in shifting preferences for accommodation for guests.

• How will you be able to apply your experience as CEO at OpenTable to your new role at Vacasa?

As a former CEO of a fast-growing company, I bring deep operational and management experience to my new board of directors’ role at Vacasa. As the company continues to scale both domestically and globally, I can help provide guidance in a variety of areas including financial management, operational execution and product visioning.

• What has attracted you into the vacation rental space at this particular moment in time? And why did you opt for Vacasa specifically?

Over the past decade, the vacation rental industry has experienced significant growth and that’s something we’ll continue to see as consumer preferences shift toward professionally managed homes. This makes it an incredibly exciting time to join Vacasa as they are uniquely poised to be the leader in the space.

• What will be Vacasa’s biggest challenges in expanding further afield both internationally and domestically over the coming years?

Rapid growth always provides some level of executional challenges especially when you strive to deliver high levels of service to your customers. This will always be an area of focus for Vacasa as they grow into the significant market opportunity ahead of them.

• What sort of trends do you envisage emerging in the vacation rental industry as customer preferences shift towards professionally managed homes?

Companies like Vacasa are in a unique position to attract customers and guests who want a full-service, professionally managed vacation rental experience. Vacasa takes care of everything from marketing each home so that guests know what to expect, to cleaning each property with a local, professional team. We are seeing more and more guests seek a hotel-quality experience in a unique vacation rental.

• How will Vacasa achieve its aim to become the “one-stop shop” in the vacation rental space given the fragmentation and competition that already exists?

By continuing to expand service offerings that take a vacation home through its entire lifecycle. Vacasa can help you buy, design, market, rent and ultimately sell your vacation home when it’s time. Vacasa is the only player in the space currently offering a suite of services that helps homeowners throughout every step of their journey.

For more information on Vacasa, visit the company website here.