VacationRenter unveils growth and expansion plans
San Francisco: Vacation rental startup VacationRenter has announced plans to expand internationally after achieving exponential growth this year.
The company, which aggregates the most suitable vacation rentals from recognised sites to help travellers find the perfect place to stay, reached $100 million in gross booking value run rate last May, and it expects to book over $600 million this year. The company recently exceeded 50,000 bookings per month.
VacationRenter’s growth is indicative of the company’s goal to make the time-consuming rental search process easier and seamless for travellers. Using automation and AI technology, VacationRenter selects accommodation options from vacation rental platforms and showcases the most suitable results available.
The site also offers resources such as travel guides, price trends, rental options, nearby attractions and proprietary reports to allow travellers to plan their ideal trip for the best possible value.
The company aims to establish itself as the “go-to” site to find a vacation rental and is on track to take its mission worldwide. Over the coming months, the startup will begin rolling out features such as localising content, bringing on new partners and adding new currencies.
In its first year in operation, VacationRenter has built an experienced team and successfully attracted top talent like Marco del Rosario, who spent five and a half years at Google working on travel partnerships and products. At VacationRenter, del Rosario led product, marketing and partnerships as head of growth in his first eight months before stepping in as COO last month.
Del Rosario said: “Vacation rentals are a fantastic option for travellers, but it’s hard to find the perfect one. Our growth to date is a testament to the service we provide travellers, and we look forward to expanding and making VacationRenter more accessible to international travellers over the next year.”
The growth in the past year has put VacationRenter in the position to look toward the future, by bringing on additional executive leadership, expanding the team and building smarter ways for travellers to find rentals through automation and AI. VacationRenter was built inside Wilbur Labs, San Francisco-based startup studio that funded a $3m financing round for VacationRenter last year.
Wilbur Labs co-founder David Kolodny said: “Automation is changing how companies can help consumers – and how fast companies can scale. VacationRenter is a great example of that, and we’re excited to double down on our investment as the company enters a new phase of growth with an independent team that has deep travel expertise.”
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