HomeAway's new mission is to make the entire rental experience even better than staying in a hotel by leveraging the power of mobile.
Austin, Texas (PRWEB) November 12, 2014
HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ: AWAY), the world’s leading online marketplace for vacation rentals with more than one million listings, today announced plans to integrate three disruptive, market-leading San Francisco-based companies: Uber, Instacart and Gogobot. Once on HomeAway’s platform and industry-leading app, each will simplify the vacation rental experience by making it easy to find transportation, stock up on groceries, plan local activities and choose restaurants based on recommendations from both HomeAway owners and Gogobot’s database of travelers.
“Our integrations with Uber, Instacart and Gogobot represent the first of many services we plan to make available on our platform and the HomeAway app, with a focus on ensuring that our travelers better enjoy their time together,” says Brian Sharples, HomeAway CEO. “We’re also excited about our investment in Gogobot, as we believe it represents the next-generation review platform for the travel industry.”
With the Uber integration into the HomeAway app, travelers can easily book transportation from the airport or while staying in their rental property. The integration rolls out initially in the U.S., with plans to ultimately include the over 200 destinations where Uber operates around the world.
Similarly, Instacart’s integration into the HomeAway app will give families the option to get fresh, local food delivered to their vacation rental in cities such as Austin, Denver and Portland – in as little as one hour. Instead of trying to find a grocery store in an unfamiliar destination, shopping and waiting in line, travelers can simply order meals and snacks from large national chains like Whole Foods Market and Costco, as well as local, artisan stores.
HomeAway’s multi-million dollar, minority-stake investment with social review engine Gogobot will accelerate Gogobot’s growth and expand its reach to more travelers. The integration, on the other hand, will drive recommendations from local experts, such as HomeAway owners, and help vacation rental guests discover the best places to stay, eat or play. Using Gogobot, travelers can access reviews and recommendations from like-minded people who are either Facebook friends or members of Gogobot travel communities, known as ‘Tribes’, such as Family Travelers, Foodies and Outdoor Enthusiasts.
HomeAway plans to integrate Gogobot’s reviews and Guides of more than 60,000 destinations into its app and websites. In addition, Insider Guides – custom online guidebooks powered by Gogobot and created by HomeAway’s vacation rental owners – will become more widely available on Gogobot’s site and within its app.
“Nearly ten years ago when HomeAway was founded, our mission was to make the process of finding and renting a vacation home as easy as a hotel,” adds Sharples. “Our new mission is to make the entire rental experience even better than staying in a hotel by leveraging the power of mobile and the exploding industry for local services that are capitalizing on the power of this platform.”
Using HomeAway’s app, owners can currently supply guests with content about the vacation rental home such as directions to the property, Wi-Fi passwords and curated guidebooks that highlight the owner's favorite local attractions, restaurants and activities. The service has been available to property managers since HomeAway acquired Glad to Have You in March and HomeAway began marketing the app in August to individual U.S. owners.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements, subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are based on HomeAway management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements include information concerning HomeAway’s expected, possible or assumed future results of operations, growth and business outlook; and integration with new or current partners.
Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by terms such as “will,” “to create,” “continues,” “plans,” “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “could,” “look forward to,” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause HomeAway’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to the effective integration of products and services of Gogobot, Uber and Instacart, the operation and adoption of such products and services and such other risks and uncertainties described more fully in documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). All information provided in this press release is as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, HomeAway assumes no obligation to update this information, even if new information becomes available in the future.
About HomeAway
HomeAway, Inc. based in Austin, Texas, is the world's leading online marketplace for the vacation rental industry, with sites representing over one million paid listings of vacation rental homes in 190 countries. Through HomeAway, owners and property managers offer an extensive selection of vacation homes that provide travelers with memorable experiences and benefits, including more room to relax and added privacy, for less than the cost of traditional hotel accommodations. The company also makes it easy for vacation rental owners and property managers to advertise their properties and manage bookings online. The HomeAway portfolio includes the leading vacation rental websites HomeAway.com, VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es and Toprural.es in Spain; AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil; HomeAway.com.au and Stayz.com.au in Australia; and Bookabach.co.nz in New Zealand. The Asia Pacific short-term rental site, travelmob.com, is also majority owned by HomeAway.
HomeAway also operates BedandBreakfast.com, the most comprehensive global site for finding bed-and-breakfast properties, providing travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels. For more information about HomeAway, please visit http://www.HomeAway.com.