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Canada: Vacation rental property management software Hostaway has announced the hiring of Ken Weary as its new chief operating officer [COO] to support the company’s growth as it dominates the sector across North America and Europe.
The former Hotjar COO takes over the role from co-founder Saber Kordestanchi, who will move to the role of chief strategy officer, the first of its kind for the company.
During Weary’s seven years at Hotjar, where he oversaw all internal HR, legal, finance and business operations, revenues grew by 20 times. With a fully remote culture, Weary was responsible for scaling teams from 14 to over 400 people, distributed across 45+ countries.
Weary will take on the role of COO with immediate effect.
Marcus Räder, co-founder and CEO of Hostaway, said: “As an accomplished international software-as-a-service [SaaS] executive and operations leader specialising in scaling B2B companies to new heights, we are excited to welcome Weary to the Hostaway leadership team. His hands-on experience in end-to-end mergers and acquisitions [M&A] transactions is also extremely relevant as we begin to assess takeover targets following our recent investment round.
“With a laser focus on the needs of our customer base, Hostaway has continued to go from strength to strength. We are very excited to continue to expand our product and services under Weary across all global markets to better serve the property managers and host and increase our market share,” he added.
In May last year, Hostaway closed a capital raise worth $175 million, and the business claims to be on target to achieve annual recurring revenues of $100 million.
Hostaway COO Ken Weary said: “Since its founding, Hostaway has focused on its customers. They’ve innovated and maintained a strong focus on financial fundamentals and personal accountability. As a result, their revenue has increased, and their team has grown to keep up with customer demand, all while remaining profitable.
“I am thrilled to join a team that navigates challenges with agility and values the future of work by embracing a 100 per cent remote working model. Hostaway’s story is a testament to what’s possible when companies adapt, prioritise their customers, and remain committed to the things that really impact business results,” he added.
In September, Hostaway hired veteran SaaS, data and media company CFO, Ashley Milton, to support its next phase of growth.
As an all-in-one vacation rental software for ambitious property managers, Hostaway offers deep channel integrations with premium partners such as Vrbo, Booking.com and Airbnb, and a marketplace of over 150 software partners.
