After an unimaginable year, I’m incredibly excited and humbled to share that Guesty is announcing its Series D funding round of $50M, bringing our total funding to $110M! This news cements Guesty as the highest-funded and largest property management software fueling the alternative accommodation ecosystem for businesses of all shapes and sizes worldwide.
- A year of recovery. The short-term rental ecosystem has shown incredible resilience. Shortly after the onset of the pandemic, droves of consumers turned to rentals as the demand for more space and distance from others increased immediately – whether it was to work-from-home in a new location to escape a crowded city, visit family members without staying in the same abode, or to explore the world as a digital nomad – the longer-stay amenities of rentals made it easier to adjust to the lines of living and working blurring together.
- The result: An increased user base with new demands that Airbnbs and short-term rentals in general are in a unique position to fulfill: a change of scenery, more space for families, and being connected in the great outdoors, to name a few. Case in point: The CEO of Airbnb (a Guesty partner) recently noted that the “company will need millions more hosts to meet surging demand.”
- This demand, and the rising guest expectations that have come along with it, will only continue amid global vaccine distribution and the new reality of working from anywhere. In fact, Guesty US 2021 summer short-term rental reservation volume (June through August) currently is 282% higher when compared to US summer 2020 volume, and 32% higher than what we saw pre-COVID in 2019. And our UK 2021 summer reservation volume alone is currently 180% higher compared to last year and in August specifically, only 10% lower when compared to pre-COVID, 2019 volume.
In addition, today we are also announcing that following news of our acquisition of MyVR, we are acquiring another notable property management software, Your Porter. Your Porter is a Dutch company focused on a mobile-first product for property management companies. Both acquisitions will continue Guesty’s goal of powering hosting businesses across the spectrum – from small, family-run operations to enterprise-sized hospitality brands – and will further consolidation and standardization in this space.
So, what’s next?
As we look optimistically towards a year of recovery, we will use the investment and our growing team to power a year of hypergrowth in key markets, enhance our product capabilities to serve diverse customer segments, onboard top-notch talent to deliver top-notch service and solutions and ultimately, be a pillar of support for the entrepreneurs who have built businesses off the democratization of hospitality.
On behalf of the entire Guesty family, thank you for your continued support and cheers to a bright 2021!