Monday 8 June, 2020 TOP STORY STRz podcast 8: Vector Travel's Mickey Kropf on business models' "reckoning" Vector Travel founder and CEO, Mickey Kropf, joins Episode 8 of the ShortTermRentalz podcast to discuss how business models in travel will face a "reckoning" post-pandemic. If you missed our last newsletter....
1. Vacasa secures $108m Series D round led by Silver Lake 2. Airbnb chief ethics officer Chesnut departs 3. Frank Salt to launch holiday home division 4. Join our LinkedIn group here 5. Loftium cuts staff and misses rent payments 6. Protests cause Airbnb to delay post-pandemic travel update
Editor's comment
08•06•20 Welcome to the latest ShortTermRentalz newsletter!
• While the last couple of months have seen a spate of closures, layoffs and furloughs, Vector Travel founder and CEO, Mickey Kropf, has shared his optimism for the future of the short-term rental industry, despite business models facing what he calls a "reckoning".
Speaking on the latest episode of the new ShortTermRentalz podcast, Kropf predicted operators would gravitate away from more risky lease arbitrage models, which are difficult to manage at scale, and shift towards revenue-share or hybrid models. As the industry moves gradually towards the recovery phase, he believes businesses will be more prudent about their unit economics, work to deliver a great guest experience while still being profitable, and target efficiency over speed, given the plight of companies including Stay Alfred and Lyric.
That said, the shoots of recovery are slowly beginning to appear after the sudden spikes in booking cancellations seen in March and April.
At Vector Travel, Kropf predicted that the recovery phase would take some time, layered on the backdrop of seasonality, but that corporate and leisure travel would surge once again as the pandemic recedes. His optimism is backed up by a return to 75+ per cent occupancy rates and increased booking windows, as the business pivots towards more mid-term, 30+ day stays.
In Europe, the European Union has announced it is expecting to reopen its internal borders later this month and into July, raising travellers' hopes that they will be able to resume their summer holiday plans. Whatever happens, domestic staycations are likely to see a surge in popularity as families seek escapes in rural getaways, which is evidenced by Airbnb reporting a swell in reservations over the last month.
• Investment is the topic of our next NO COST Urban Living webinar, which takes place on 17 June at 2pm BST and is hosted by IHM editor-in-chief George Sell. The session will look at investor sentiment around short-term rentals, hotels, serviced apartments, student housing, co-living and hostels, and last week, we announced that Resonance Partners founder and CEO, Florian Schmitz, would be joining the panel.
Also joining the discussion will be:
Click here to register for the webinar now.
The webinar series is a precursor to the URBAN LIVING FESTIVAL 2020: stay-live-work on 25-26 November at Tobacco Dock London.
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
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