InvitedHome co-founders, Michael Joseph and Tom Feldhusen, left the company to join the TurnKey Vacation Rentals team.
According to TJ Clark, CEO at Austin-based TurnKey, the duo will join the operations team, as Michael Joseph has been named Vice President of Owner Success, and Tom Feldhusen has been named Director of Onboarding.
“We hired the two co-founders from InvitedHome,” said Clark. “They were interested in getting to the scale that we have, and we really liked what they could do to help our owner care services. These guys nailed it on how to take care of and communicate with owners, and we are excited about taking their luxury-market know how and injecting it into our larger vision of growing our up-market supply base.”
TurnKey expects to manage 4,200 vacation rentals by the end of 2018 and projects growth to approximately 6,500 over the next 12 months. In contrast to other multi-destination rental management companies, TurnKey has an organic growth model instead of an acquisition model in adding inventory to its supply.
“With organic growth, we are able to add owners to our program who want to be with us,” Clark said. “Starting the relationship with a homeowner on the right foot leads to a successful multi-year relationship. Some of the real selling and solidifying of the relationship with the owner happens during the onboarding stage, and we believe Michael and Tom can help us communicate more personally with owners to walk them through every step of the rental program.”
InvitedHome started strong when it launched in 2010, a year after Vacasa and two years before TurnKey began their businesses. In 2014, after raising $5.2 million for growth, InvitedHome was considered to be a premier short-term rental provider and was predicted to be major player among the new multi-destination vacation rental management companies, especially with its focus on luxury homes. In May 2017, Michael Joseph, then CEO at Invited Home, said, “We are aiming this year to just about double our inventory and launch several new destinations over the next 12 months. We’ve had significant growth and we’re continuing that pace.” However, the company was not able to grow inventory as quickly as its counterparts, and when Joseph and Feldhusen left the company last month, InvitedHome had approximately 300 homes in 12 markets under management.
TurnKey is actively pursuing the luxury vacation home rental market, and the addition of Joseph and Feldhusen to its team shows a commitment to the high end of the short-term rental market. “We like to to go for the higher end of the market,” Clark said. “If we could take this even further toward the top 20 to 30 percent—and up—of the market, and do an even better job of taking care of owners, that is exciting for us.”
Joseph and Feldhusen will relocate to Austin to work out of the TurnKey headquarters.
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