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Monday 11 May, 2020
TOP STORY
STRz podcast 6: Jesse DePinto, Frontdesk
Frontdesk co-founder Jesse DePinto is the latest guest on our podcast, in which he discusses the company's recent $6.8m funding round and the viability of the master lease model.
If you missed our last newsletter....check out the stories below:
1. Airbnb to trim workforce by 25 per cent
2. Sonder in talks over $150-$175 million investment
3. IHM launches Urban Living webinar series
4. Booking.com fined record £6.1 million in Hungary
5. Florida rental industry starts petition over lockdown ban
Editor's comment
11•05•20 Welcome to the latest ShortTermRentalz newsletter!
• In our latest podcast episode here, Frontdesk co-founder and chief product officer, Jesse DePinto made some fascinating observations about what the short-term rental space could look like post-Covid-19, including the viability of the master lease model and the acceleration of standardisation.
In light of Stay Alfred and Lyric's struggles, DePinto admitted that while there may yet be a path forward for the master lease model, it would exist in a very different format post-pandemic, with a shift towards more of a hybrid model that combines revenue-sharing agreements with a sort of minimum guarantee rent. He added that "the writing was on the wall" when tracing back to the collapse of WeWork's IPO and suggested operators would have to move away from a "growth at all costs" strategy and long-term lease commitments.
If short-term rental bookings are to "rebound" he said, the need for standardisation will accelerate, particularly in terms of cleaning, safety and security. Airbnb has already started pushing its new cleaning standard protocols but it will also need to prove it has learnt from previous tragic incidents [e.g. shooting in Orinda], whereby criminal backgrounds will be more scrupulously monitored in private and mixed use buildings to ensure the longevity and long-term success of the short- and mid-term rental industries.
Other key takeaways from our chat included:
• Frontdesk's average night stays have risen from three to 20, and will likely level out to around ten
• 'Work from home', and soon 'Work from anywhere', will accelerate the shift away from 12-month leases
• The 'great redistribution of travel' will see increased popularity for 'drive-to' and rural vacation rental markets
In other content, Abode PR director Jessica Gillingham explored the notion of traveller anxiety caused by Covid-19 and how we can ease it, as well as rebuild trust in the industry when the pandemic dissipates.
Ahead of URBAN LIVING FESTIVAL 2020: stay-live-work on 25-26 November at Tobacco Dock London, IHM has also launched its own Urban Living webinar series - check out the schedule here.
If you have a story you want us to tell the industry, please click here and get involved with the community by joining our ShortTermRentalz LinkedIn group here.
Paul Stevens, news editor
paul@internationalhospitality.media
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International Hospitality Media is the premier specialist in online publishing; conference, exhibition and events, and advisory services for niche growth sectors of the hospitality industry. The company publishes three industry-leading b2b websites - BoutiqueHotelNews.com and ServicedApartmentNews.com and ShortTermRentalz.com which keep their respective sectors up to speed with news, comment and opinion.
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