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Thursday 12 November, 2020
TOP STORY
Lyric pivots from leasing as Mint House takes over last location in New York City
Lyric is pivoting from leasing to selling software after it was announced that its last location at 70 Pine Street in New York City would be taken over by Mint House.
If you missed our last newsletter....
1. Airbnb to file for $30bn+ IPO this week
2. Expedia claims "better than expected" Q3 driven by Vrbo
3. GuestReady reaches €1.5m crowdfunding goal in 24 hours
4. Join our LinkedIn group here
5. AJL Atelier opens Barcelona office and hires Kalaf
Editor's comment
12•11•20 Welcome to the latest ShortTermRentalz newsletter!
• As many companies have pivoted their business models to survive during the pandemic, the news that Lyric is transitioning from leasing to selling software is not all that surprising, unless you consider that the startup raised $160 million in a Series B round with Airbnb only 19 months ago.
As we reported earlier this year, Lyric has been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak, including the departure of 20 per cent of staff before the nadir of the pandemic and co-founder Joe Fraiman's exit in July for personal reasons.
Now the startup has exited 70 Pine Street in downtown Manhattan to be taken over by tech-enabled hotel company Mint House, which provides apartment-style accommodations to business travellers. The latter is certainly one firm to keep an eye on in 2021, as it plans to almost double its portfolio by the end of 2021, occupancy rates have remained stable at around 80 per cent, and it has acted to reassure guests by introducing a 74-point cleaning and hygiene protocol and "ghost kitchen" room service.
Lyric, like the now-defunct Stay Alfred, would have been hit by heavy lease commitments [such as the Q&A Residential Hotel] and the decimation of business travel. Rather than leasing apartments, Lyric will focus on selling software via its revenue management platform Wheelhouse to accelerate the growth of the segment.
• In the meantime, Airbnb's filing for its IPO, ahead of what is expected to be one of the largest stock market listings of the year, is set to be pushed back until next week at the earliest.
While the delay stems from uncertainty around Donald Trump's refusal to concede the US presidential election to Joe Biden, IPO hopefuls like Airbnb will want clarity as soon as possible to minimise the potential volatility across market option prices before it plans to go public with a $30 billion valuation.
Read our analysis of the election with the insights of thought leaders on what a Biden win means for the short-term rental industry here. You can also watch my take on Airbnb's IPO here.
If you have a story you want us to tell the industry, please click here or contact me at my email below.
Paul Stevens, editor
paul@internationalhospitality.media
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