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US: Vacasa founder Eric Breon has announced his new venture in the vacation rental space with the launch of rental management platform Fairly.
The startup, which is designed to provide a comprehensive SaaS platform for vacation rental homeowners and service providers to collaborate, has officially emerged from stealth mode and completed an internally-funded $10.1 million pre-seed round in the process.
At the core of Fairly’s model is the belief that individualised care, simplified management, flexibility, best-in-class automation tools, and a local, community-driven approach are the keys to a successful vacation home rental that results in high guest satisfaction, positive reviews, and increased revenue.
Fairly co-founder and CEO, Eric Breon, said: “The vacation rental management model is broken. Large property managers generate more revenue, but they generally fail when it comes to delivering what matters most: exceptional guest experiences. The average five-star rating for third-party property managers on Airbnb is about 4.62, which is significantly below the median review score.
“At Fairly, we’re empowering homeowners & caretakers to deliver individualised care while we automate the back-office tasks. We’re retaining what’s great about individual caretakers, and we’re pairing that with a tech stack that out-competes the big companies,” he added.
Unlike traditional property management services, each homeowner at Fairly is supported by a two-person team of their choosing:
- Caretakers who are responsible for the day-to-day operations on behalf of the owner, from guest communications to cleaning and maintenance.
- Advisers, typically real estate agents, who can leverage their market knowledge and expertise to help homeowners navigate local permit and registration requirements and find local specialists as needed, ensuring property owners maximise their investment.
Subechya Person, co-founder and chief product officer at Fairly [and former VP of product and design at Vacasa], said: “Running and maintaining a vacation home rental today can be extremely complicated: you either give up all control and pay high fees with a traditional property management company, or try and do it yourself by piecemealing together a few different tools. It doesn’t have to be this hard.
“With Fairly, homeowners enjoy peace of mind, increased earnings, and the freedom to choose their level of involvement. We partner with exceptional housekeepers by giving them the tools they need to step into the caretaker role, expand their services, and build their businesses. Real estate agents benefit from a new stream of income by partnering with Fairly to ensure owner satisfaction and property success.
“Together, we’re creating a community driven by a commitment to integrity, customer-centricity, and innovation. A community where everyone prospers,” added Person.
In addition to its care team model, Fairly automates time-consuming processes such as labour management, yield management, finances, tax remittance, guest services, and AI-powered dynamic pricing to ensure homeowners can focus on enjoying their investment.
Jeff Flitton, co-founder and chief technology officer at Fairly [and former CTO at Vacasa], said: “At Fairly, we’re excited to bring a modern vacation rental management platform to market. Owning a vacation home can be rewarding, but managing it on your own can be overwhelming.
“We’re committed to automating all the complex and, frankly, mundane and repetitive aspects of vacation rental management for first-time vacation rental owners so that they can focus on what matters most to them. By connecting exceptional people through our cutting-edge platform, we’re excited to raise the bar for what a great vacation rental management experience should be,” he added.
Breon departed Vacasa in February 2020, just before the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, when he was succeeded by former OpenTable CEO Matt Roberts as CEO. A year later, the Portland-based company went on to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company [SPAC] TPG Pace Solutions, although Vacasa has since seen its share price drop from a high of $203.60 to a current figure of $4.14, while also laying off staff over two redundancy rounds this year, and raising $30 million with the option for an additional $45 million amid ongoing restructuring efforts.
After founding Vacasa in 2009, Breon grew the organisation substantially to more than 25,000 homes under management and 6,000 employees worldwide, off the back of purchasing Wyndham Vacation Rentals.
