US: Short-term rental hospitality platform RedAwning has partnered with payment startup Affirm to introduce a new “easy payment” scheme.
Guests will now have the option to make a booking for a rental property now and pay over a period of time.
By partnering with Affirm, which provides instalment loans for tech consumers, the company hopes to expand the variety of properties its average guests can afford. Payment plans will be flexible and affordable for participating guests and will allow property managers to appeal to a new market.
Tim Choate, founder & CEO of RedAwning, said: “We know vacation rental stays can be a large purchase for many travellers, so we are excited to offer this industry-first approach. Demand for vacation rental travel is increasing and our addition of a pay over time option enables even more guests to travel, rent a nicer home, or take a longer trip.
“This new offering further expands on our industry leadership for property owners and managers too,” he added.
Affirm has created partnerships with a wide variety of different tech and consumer goods companies, including Walmart, Peloton, Addidas and Purple to provide point of sale loans. The company has been considering an initial public offering since this past July and submitted its paperwork to the US Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] earlier this month.
RedAwning has committed to including this programme option for all 35,000 of its North American rental properties. Owners and property managers within the company’s network do not need any additional action in order to participate.
This is the next in a line of partnerships RedAwning has made over the past year, expanding its offerings to include Amazon Smart Concierge, a mobile app, and Stripe payment processing. The company partnered with revenue management and dynamic pricing software, PriceLabs, in March to provide smart pricing, and with Meero to provide high-quality photography for its properties.
