STARTUP STAGE: Hostshare lets short-term rental hosts trade unbooked nights

Hostshare

Founded in 2021, Hostshare is a platform to facilitate swaps of unbooked nights between short-term rental hosts. Membership is $395 per year and gives hosts up to 21 nights of stays at other properties just for paying the cleaning fee. 

The system uses a property's average nightly rate to calculate a maximum number of nights that the property can be shared with other hosts.

What is your 30-second pitch to investors?

We've created a travel platform that transforms last-minute vacant nights in short-term rentals (STRs) into vacation stays for hosts. Upon sign-up, hosts receive 21 nights of free stays across our platform, covering only cleaning fees. Our algorithm allocates varying nights based on the property's nightly rate, ensuring fairness. It's a win-win, tackling wasted inventory in the industry while granting hosts unparalleled value.

Describe both the business and technology aspects of your startup.

Our startup addresses the staggering 50% vacancy rate in short-term rentals, reclaiming the $1.5 billion daily loss due to empty nights. Our platform seamlessly integrates technology, boasting an automatic listing creator and calendar synchronization with various online travel agencies. The user signup process takes a mere three to five minutes, securing 21 free travel nights during our beta phase.

Give us your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the company.

• Strengths
  • Fast and driven: Established in under a year, driven by a dedicated team focused on solving industry issues.
  • User-centric design: Our app's ease of use stems from meticulous attention to user experience.
  • Strong relationships: Our strength is bolstered by the support of hosts, property management firms and other stakeholders who advocate for us.
  • Self-funded initiative: Bootstrapped by founders with prior successful ventures, demonstrating financial independence.
• Weaknesses
  • Revenue model: Operating on a subscription basis at $395/year, emphasizing value over profitability might pose challenges.
  • Limited bandwidth: While prioritizing free travel, resource constraints delay additional service offerings.
• Opportunities
  • Focus on hosts: Distinguishing ourselves by solely advocating for hosts' interests against online travel agency favoritism.
  • Building a host community: Encouraging responsible travel among hosts, fostering a like-minded community.
• Threats
  • Potential competition: The uniqueness and intricacies of our model might deter established competitors, but there is always the potential risk of a competitor taking some market share.

What are the travel pain points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and the industry perspective?

We aim to convert vacant nights into opportunities for hosts, eliminating wasted inventory and the pain of that vacancy being wasted. For the host that is traveling, we make it much more affordable.

So you've got the product, now how will you get lots of customers?

• Word of mouth: Counting on the resonance of our concept within the hosting community.
• Affiliate partnerships: Offering attractive commissions to scale rapidly.
• Property management collaboration: Empowering property owners through Hostshare, creating a competitive edge for management companies.

Tell us what process you've gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the addressable market.

With over $500 billion lost annually due to vacancy in the STR space, we estimate 10%-30% of hosts (1-3 million) would eagerly embrace Hostshare.

How and when will you make money?

We generate revenue solely through an annual subscription fee of $395 per user.

What are the backgrounds and previous achievements of the founding team?

Our four founders bring expertise from commercial real estate and successful web development backgrounds. All founders also own short-term rentals, aligning our vision and experiences.

How have you addressed diversity and inclusion within your business?

As a small, dedicated team, we're working collectively to build a platform for people from all walks of life.

What's been the most difficult part of founding the business so far?

Striking a balance between feature expansion and achieving a minimum viable product during development has been our most significant challenge.

Generally, travel startups face a fairly tough time making an impact - so why are you going to be one of lucky ones?

Our platform enriches hosts' lives, fostering memorable experiences while optimizing property utilization, thereby contributing to local economies.

A year from now, what state do you think your startup will be in?

We anticipate reaching between 2,500 to 7,000 users, leveraging our current momentum to achieve the higher end of this estimate.

What is your end-game (going public, acquisition, growing and staying private, etc.)?

Long-term, we aspire to grow while remaining a private entity. Our focus is on continually providing value and support as more hosts - potentially 10-30% - join and benefit from our platform.