US Portal Zumper secured $30m to launch a short-term rentals product yesterday, making it the first real estate marketplace to offer annual, monthly and nightly rental options.
Zumper pushed hard for the new offering after discovering that a third of their 70M users were seeking flexible rentals in 2021 among which 84% will end up in a long-term rental.
It becomes the first real estate marketplace to bring together short-term, vacation and annual into one platform. Short-term listings can be booked at no additional fee to the guest, which Zumper says it undercuts other short-term rental platforms like Airbnb by up to 15%.
The product includes a dedicated experience that lets owners and rental managers advertise their properties, 3D tour integrations and a mobile-first approach
Zumper co-founder and CEO Anthemos Georgiades said:
"With the traditional short-term rental industry, fees are too high and consumers need to look at a multitude of different websites to find the right listing.
"We want to build the most comprehensive rental platform that enables our renters to easily find the best short-term, monthly or long-term rentals with a product designed for today’s far more flexible world."
Shalin Amin, Chief Experience Officer of Zumper, said:
"We're not just for trendsetters and digital nomads but for those in-between leases or those trying to build a rental history. We're a solution for many people looking for temporary housing in a growing workforce of migratory workers, like traveling nurses, construction crews, and disaster response teams. Our users play a critical role in making the communities and cities they relocate to thrive."
Zumper is the largest privately owned rental platform in North America with more than 178 million site visits a year.
We recently spoke to Zumper COO Vishal Makhijani about the company's mission to create an end-to-end renting platform. You can watch it below: