HomeAway buys remaining stake in Singapore startup Travelmob

Singapore

NASDAQ-LISTED HomeAway, a US$2.9 billion American vacation rental company, has fully taken over Singapore startup Travelmob. The Austin, Texas-based firm had acquired 63 per cent of Travelmob in an undisclosed, all-cash deal in 2013.

HomeAway said on Tuesday it had bought the remaining minority stake in Travelmob and now fully owns the company. As part of the transition, Travelmob will be rebranded as HomeAway, and the HomeAway Asia team - headquartered in Singapore - will be run by Prashant Kirtane, co-founder of Travelmob. In the last six months, the team launched 14 new, localised sites across Asia, including the big travel markets of China, Japan and South Korea - allowing HomeAway to compete directly with the likes of Airbnb (reportedly valued at US$24 billion) and Singapore-headquartered Roomorama.

HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples said: "We've been committed to investing in Asia Pacific since 2011, and with the Travelmob acquisition complete, we have a very strong and experienced team in place. We plan to ramp up our investments (in addition to US$2 million in 2013) so that we can provide the very best selection of whole homes for Asian travellers."

Currently, 90 per cent of over a million properties in 190 countries listed on HomeAway are whole apartments and homes. The figure is 60 in Singapore, and all of them are in private condominiums, BT has learnt.

"Singapore as a destination is one of the top for HomeAway in Asia, and caters to family and group vacations," said a HomeAway spokeswoman. The platform is uniquely designed to cater to group and family travel, with a dedicated search function to highlight family-friendly properties.

This year, HomeAway customers will yield US$14 billion to US$16 billion in rental revenue, given higher demand for vacation rentals (vs hotels), said HomeAway Apac vice-president Dan Lynn.

Vacation rentals for one offer more value for money, said the spokeswoman. For instance, a family of four holidaying in Tokyo can save up to 70 per cent by staying in a HomeAway property (which costs an average of S$125 per night for an apartment with two rooms) instead of a hotel (S$438 a night for two rooms).

"But it goes beyond value for money. There's all the benefits of having your own home such as a private kitchen and more space, and the bonding and memory-creating experience of staying together under the same roof," the spokeswoman added.

Asian travellers are quickly catching on to the benefits of vacation rental, a concept US travellers are much more familiar with, said Mr Kirtane. "We're seeing significant year-on-year growth driven primarily by women booking vacations for their families. We are absolutely thrilled to be part of the HomeAway family and are looking forward to be part of the next phase of growth."

HomeAway, founded in 2005, went public in 2011, the same year Travelmob was launched. In 2012, Travelmob bagged US$1 million in seed money from Jungle Ventures.

Meanwhile, Start Now - a local startup aimed at promoting volunteerism - on Tuesday announced it has been acquired by Goodtizens Technologies, a do-good-while-travelling enabler platform, for S$530,000.