HouseTrip operates an online platform for renting vacation homes, listing roughly 130,000 properties across about 15,000 locations. The company emphasizes making home rentals as simple and professional as booking a hotel, using algorithms and ranking systems to improve host and guest experiences. Management plans to scale operations, expand inventory, and add services such as tourism assistance and property-management tools for hosts. At the time of the article the site employed 18 engineers and intended to hire more to support growth. HouseTrip aimed to book 3 million nights of accommodation in the year and reported that many hosts in top destinations recoup earnings within three months, with average host profits ranging from £650 to £5,000 per month. The company is led by founder and CEO Arnaud Bertrand. HouseTrip is a holiday lettings marketplace that built a reputation by removing the need for guests to negotiate directly with homeowners, adding a degree of security. The company relaunched to appeal to a wider market beyond its original holiday-apartment focus. It has positioned its product around simplified, secure bookings and host inventory expansion. HouseTrip recently completed a $17 million Series B funding round led by Balderton Capital; Index Ventures reinvested pro-rata and had earlier invested $2.7M in April. The new funding will be used to develop the product, generate more inventory through additional outreach to holiday apartment hosts, and expand reach via marketing and localisation. HouseTrip operates a holiday lettings marketplace that lets homeowners list holiday homes without charging an upfront listing fee, instead taking a commission at the point of rental. The site holds guest payments until two days after the start of the rental to give holidaymakers greater peace of mind. The company was established in late 2009 and has relaunched its site as of today. HouseTrip raised funding to support that relaunch and further growth. Last year the site had 8,000 properties listed and over 50,000 nights booked; the company expects another 22,000 properties to be added in 2011. The product emphasizes removing direct negotiation and international money transfers to simplify bookings for both owners and guests.

Total raised

$60M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Oct 2012