• News
    • VRM Intel News
    • Latest News
    • Sponsor News
  • COVID-19
  • Marketing
  • Tech
  • OTAs
  • Customer Service
  • Regs
  • Housekeeping
  • More
    • Education
      • Calendar of Events
      • Videos & Whitepapers
    • VRM Intel Live!
    • Reports Login
    • VRM Intel Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Authors
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
VRM Intel
  • News
    • Vrbo Is Performing Better Than Airbnb for Vacation Rental Managers, But Direct Booking Still Number One Revenue Source . . . By A Lot
    • 4th Annual #BookDirect Guest Education Day Is February 3, 2021
    • Timing is Everything: The Impact of Seasonality on COVID Recovery for Southeast Destinations
    • Meredith Oskenholt-Meredith Lodging-Bend Oregon
      The Principles That Have Guided Meredith Lodging through the Global Pandemic, Raging Forest Fires and Personal Family Challenges
    • VRM Intel_Christmas-in-New-Orleans
      That’s the Ticket! Register Now to Enjoy Big Savings and Convenient Payment Plans for the 2021 Vacation Rental Women’s Summit in New Orleans
    • VRM Intel News
    • Latest News
    • Sponsor News
  • COVID-19
    • Paycheck-Protection-Program-for-VR-industry
      Latest Round of Paycheck Protection Program Includes Up to $2 Million Loans for Some Vacation Rental Business Owners
    • Timing is Everything: The Impact of Seasonality on COVID Recovery for Southeast Destinations
    • Meredith Oskenholt-Meredith Lodging-Bend Oregon
      The Principles That Have Guided Meredith Lodging through the Global Pandemic, Raging Forest Fires and Personal Family Challenges
    • Airbnb Goes Public. CEO Brian Chesky: “Travel is never going to look like it did in January”
    • Short-Term Rental Industry Giants Grapple with Building Brand Loyalty, Democratization, Regulations, and More at Skift’s 2020 STR Summit
  • Marketing
    • Vrbo Is Performing Better Than Airbnb for Vacation Rental Managers, But Direct Booking Still Number One Revenue Source . . . By A Lot
    • 4th Annual #BookDirect Guest Education Day Is February 3, 2021
    • Timing is Everything: The Impact of Seasonality on COVID Recovery for Southeast Destinations
    • Learn How You Can Unleash Your ‘Limitless Female Energy’ During VRM’s Thought Leadership Series Featuring Author/Speaker Amber Hurdle
    • How to Use Website Traffic to Gauge Demand for Your Market
  • Tech
    • Inhabit IQ Gets “Significant Investment” from Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division
    • 2021 Social Media Game Changer
      Are You Ready to Ride the Wave to Becoming a 2021 Social Media Game Changer?
    • NDAs & Confidentiality Agreements: What to Include and When to Enforce
    • Selling Your Business? Know Your Tech Stuff!
    • Dynamic Pricing: To Adjust Rates or Not to Adjust Rates
  • OTAs
    • Vrbo Is Performing Better Than Airbnb for Vacation Rental Managers, But Direct Booking Still Number One Revenue Source . . . By A Lot
    • Airbnb Goes Public. CEO Brian Chesky: “Travel is never going to look like it did in January”
    • 6 Takeaways from Vrbo’s 2021 Consumer Travel Trend Report
    • Barron’s: Airbnb Set to Price December 9 and Trade December 10
    • Booking.com Affirms Commitment to Quality with Minimum Cleanliness Score Requirement
  • Customer Service
    • Meredith Oskenholt-Meredith Lodging-Bend Oregon
      The Principles That Have Guided Meredith Lodging through the Global Pandemic, Raging Forest Fires and Personal Family Challenges
    • Dynamic Pricing: To Adjust Rates or Not to Adjust Rates
    • Repurposing Space: Broadening Your Vacation Rental’s Appeal
    • Booking.com Affirms Commitment to Quality with Minimum Cleanliness Score Requirement
    • New Customers Bring New Demands: Evolving to Meet the Needs of New Customer Avatars
  • Regs
    • Barron’s: Airbnb Set to Price December 9 and Trade December 10
    • Strategic Forecasting Beyond 2021: Are Vacation Rental Managers Changing Fast Enough?
    • Alabama’s tourism economy benefits from Florida Governor DeSantis’ shutdown of vacation rentals
    • Airbnb reaches out to city officials to influence “transitional travel reopening plans”
    • Jeff Paglialonga on FL Vacation Rental COVID-related ban: “We need your support to rectify what I believe is to be the illegal taking of property from Florida vacation rental owners.”
  • Housekeeping
    • Booking.com Affirms Commitment to Quality with Minimum Cleanliness Score Requirement
    • Q&A with Breezeway founder Jeremy Gall about company’s $8 million funding round and more
    • Gatlinburg-based Cabins For YOU acquires Chalet Village and is looking for more. Q&A with owner and founder Greg Plimpton
    • What is the cost of Airbnb’s recommended 24- to 72-hour “buffer” time between stays?
    • The Professional Vacation Rental Manager’s Crisis Playbook
  • More
    • Education
      • Calendar of Events
      • Videos & Whitepapers
    • VRM Intel Live!
    • Reports Login
    • VRM Intel Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Authors
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • RSS

Latest News

VaycayHero Suspends Operations

VaycayHero Suspends Operations
mm
Amy Hinote
January 11, 2017

VaycayHero, previously known as Zaranga, is suspending operations as of February 28, 2017, and has notified its vacation rental suppliers that it will not take any bookings past January 31.

To date, VaycayHero has raised approximately $4.8 million from angel investors and VCs, including a $836k investment from FundersClub just seven months ago.

In 2011, Zaranga was founded by Amitav Chakravartty and Anirban Bardalaye with the goal of providing a B2C marketplace that would connect guests with professionally managed, verified vacation rentals.

In 2012,  Zaranga joined the Y-combinator class and began to develop the concept of dynamic pricing for professionally managed short term rentals. On Zaranga, like Priceline, guests could enter the price they were willing to pay for a vacation rental by clicking on the “Make an Offer” option. At the time, Bardlaye said, “There is no dynamic pricing in the vacation rental market, even though it is extremely common in the rest of the travel industry.”

However, the vacation rental marketplace was not yet ready for this type of functionality as the overall connectivity and communication between the listing sites and property managers was slow to develop and competition among listing sites was fierce. In addition, travelers were just beginning to discover vacation rentals for the first time, and marketplace usability was not yet normalized or trusted enough to introduce a “Make an Offer” process to consumers.

In 2013, Zaranga rebranded to VaycayHero as a more pure form of an OTA focused on online booking for professionally managed vacation rentals. They raised a $2.8 million seed round from Alexis Ohanian, Garry Tan, Scott Banister, Microventures, Tamarisc, Stucture Capital, and others. VaycayHero said it planned to use the capital to bring on more workers, expand into more markets, and continue growing the overall business.

In 2015, VacayHero raised an additional $550k and operated under a closed business model in which all listings were instantly online bookable only, and fees were collected from the traveler instead of the supplier.

VacayHero follows LeisureLink in shutting its doors, with a half dozen venture funded companies in the vacation rental industry expected to also suspend operations by the end of the year.

In the comments on Tnooz’s article about LeisureLink ceasing operations, VaycayHero says it is helping customers. A few months later, VaycayHero also suspends operations.

Related ItemsbookingsFeaturedFundersClubotaout of businessproperty managersVacation rentalsvacayheroY-combinatorzaranga
View Comments (3)

3 Comments

  1. Pingback: How to Make a Marketing Plan that Dominates the Niche Travel Space

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest News
January 11, 2017
mm
Amy Hinote @vrmintel

Amy Hinote is the founder and editor-in-chief of VRM Intel Magazine, which provides news, information and resources for the professionally managed vacation rental industry. With a background in finance and over 15 years in the vacation rental industry, Hinote has worked with property management companies, technology companies, intermediaries and investors, and provides insider information about the growing vacation rental industry. She also founded the data company, now known as Key Data Dashboard, which provides aggregated market intelligence and reporting for vacation rental managers. Hinote resides between Alabama's Gulf Coast and Evanston, Illinois.

Related ItemsbookingsFeaturedFundersClubotaout of businessproperty managersVacation rentalsvacayheroY-combinatorzaranga

More in Latest News

Vrbo Is Performing Better Than Airbnb for Vacation Rental Managers, But Direct Booking Still Number One Revenue Source . . . By A Lot

Amy HinoteJanuary 24, 2021
Read More

4th Annual #BookDirect Guest Education Day Is February 3, 2021

Amy HinoteJanuary 24, 2021
Read More

Inhabit IQ Gets “Significant Investment” from Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division

Amy HinoteDecember 18, 2020
Read More

Airbnb Goes Public. CEO Brian Chesky: “Travel is never going to look like it did in January”

Amy HinoteDecember 10, 2020
Read More

Short-Term Rental Industry Giants Grapple with Building Brand Loyalty, Democratization, Regulations, and More at Skift’s 2020 STR Summit

Zandra WolfgramDecember 9, 2020
Read More
All Star and SoCal Vacation Homes

The Bright Spot in 2020 Travel: U.S. Vacation Rentals See Higher ADRs, Revenue, and Adj. Pd. Occupancy

Amy HinoteDecember 8, 2020
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Sponsor News

  • Inhabit IQ Gets “Significant Investment” from Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division
    Latest NewsDecember 18, 2020
  • You Are Your Best Revenue Manager
    Revenue ManagementNovember 30, 2020
  • How Email Helped Save Vacation Rental Companies During the COVID-19 Pandemic
    AdvertisementNovember 21, 2020
  • Booking.com Affirms Commitment to Quality with Minimum Cleanliness Score Requirement
    Customer Service for Vacation Rental ProfessionalsNovember 18, 2020
VRM Intel
Calendar of Events
Videos & Whitepapers
VRMintel Magazine
Subscribe
Advertise
About Us
Authors
Contact Us

Recent News

  • Vrbo Is Performing Better Than Airbnb for Vacation Rental Managers, But Direct Booking Still Number One Revenue Source . . . By A Lot
    BusinessJanuary 24, 2021
  • 4th Annual #BookDirect Guest Education Day Is February 3, 2021
    EducationJanuary 24, 2021
  • Paycheck-Protection-Program-for-VR-industry
    Latest Round of Paycheck Protection Program Includes Up to $2 Million Loans for Some Vacation Rental Business Owners
    BlogJanuary 20, 2021
  • Timing is Everything: The Impact of Seasonality on COVID Recovery for Southeast Destinations
    BlogJanuary 18, 2021

View Current Issue

VRMintel Copyright © 2016-17 | Click HERE to Subscribe | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Copyright | Jobs | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Smart Home Technology Proven Invaluable for Vantage Resort Realty Growth Strategy
Communicating Success to Owners Using Revenue Per Available Night: The Most Important Metric
We use cookies and similar technologies to recognize repeat visits, as well as to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and analyze traffic. By clicking "I Accept" you consent to the use of cookies unless you have disabled them.Accept