Something of a trend is emerging from the online house-rental / sharing realm, as TripAdvisor this week snapped up U.K.-based holiday rental marketplace HouseTrip for an undisclosed amount.
Founded out of London in 2010, HouseTrip grew to offer around 300,000 properties across Europe with a smattering of abodes available in North America too. The company had raised around $60 million in funding to date, however its previous round was way back in 2012, which suggests that its investors were starting to prefer an exit to a bigger company, rather than going all-in and chasing an IPO.
The move also echoes a number of similar deals of late. Earlier this month, hotel group AccorHotels acquired OneFineStay, a “sharing economy” startup that lets homeowners monetize their premium houses while out-of-town. And back in November, travel booking behemoth Expedia acquired Airbnb rival HomeAway for $3.9 billion.
Though TripAdvisor came to the fore as a travel website for user-generated reviews, a natural extension of this is to provide mechanisms to book accommodation too, and acquisitions have proven pivotal to its growth. The Massachusetts-based company has bought a number of vacation rental portals in the past, including Holiday Lettings and Niumba.com, and HouseTrip fits neatly into this plan. “We’re committed to growing TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals and providing travellers the best possible selection of high quality homes, no matter their destination or budget,” said Dermot Halpin, president, TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals.
Moving forward, HouseTrip’s inventory of properties will be funnelled into TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals, though it’s not clear what kind of notification existing HouseTrip hosts will receive. The HouseTrip brand will also continue as part of TripAdvisor.
With the HouseTip acquistion, this is one less independent startup operating in the competitive house-rental market. But perhaps more than that, it’s a sign that Airbnb’s growth is too much to contend with.