(Photo Courtesy of Vacasa)
Coming up on their ten year anniversary, Portland-based Vacasa, the largest U.S. vacation rental management company, currently manages a growing portfolio of over 8,000 vacation homes around the world. Starting out by managing a small, family cottage in Long Beach, Washington, owners of Vacasa, Eric and Alia Breon had tried using the help of local property managers yet quickly realized that the companies lacked the marketing technology needed to make rental properties a financial success. The Breons managed the rental property on their own and were successful beyond anyone’s expectations. Entering the market place in 2009 with an easily navigable website, each location has local management in place to accommodate and support their clientele. As online vacation rental sites becomes more widely used — Vacasa strives to the be the most trusted experience for both homeowners and property guests.
When Vacasa first entered the market, it introduced a groundbreaking technology to the vacation rental management industry, its rental rate optimization algorithm that was created in-house. “Today, this type of technology has been adopted by other vacation rental businesses. In April, 2017 [Vacasa] launched Yield Management 2.0 which is a machine learning-driven algorithm, that optimizes rental rates throughout the day by automatically adapting to a variety of factors,” says, Alex Plew, public relations manager at Vacasa.
In 2016, Vacasa received a first round of series A funding. This was a turning point for the company and enabled them to expand into new national and international markets. The following year, Vacasa secured a series B funding marking one of the largest funding rounds for an Oregon company in the last decade, and the largest round ever raised for a vacation rental management company.
Homegrown
While Vacasa manages properties all over the world, Oregon will always be home base. “I [Carlos Smith, general manager of Vacasa in Bend] am a tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of Oregon and we have been here for thousands of years. Oregon is our home land. I love living here because all within a short drive you have the Oregon coast, downtown Portland, Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson for skiing, hiking and camping, and the high desert of Central Oregon. If you love outdoor activities Oregon is the place to live and work,” says Smith. Vacasa has been operating in Central Oregon since 2010 and is committed to continued growth in the area. There are currently over 270 employees in the area alone. This year, a rental management agreement has been met between Vacasa and Lucky Vacation Rental. Vacasa will now manage Lucky Vacation Rental’s short-term portfolio and will add more than 30 short-term rentals in Central Oregon. Over the next several months, Vacasa plans to increase the local team in Central Oregon to support this growth. A new operations manager and 15 housekeepers were recently brought in to oversee the properties.
“The agreement with Vacasa [and Lucky]will provide our vacation rental owners with the modern and professional resources needed to market and manage their vacation rentals. We are excited to work with Vacasa to offer a solution that will help our vacation rental owners be successful; while freeing up our team to focus on our portfolio of extended stay furnished units, property management services and real estate business,” says Andy Stearns, previous owner of Lucky Vacation Rental, who plans to continue to own and operate My Lucky House with renewed energy and emphasis on the community.
Giving Back
Community involvement in each Vacasa markets is a top priority. Here in Bend, they were one of the first sponsors for the Bend Marathon and have continued to sponsor the event ever since. Vacasa wants to be able to give back and investing where the employees and local events are a big part of that. Vacasa is also dedicated to investing in the communities in where they manage vacation properties by continuing to employ local management and engage in yearly events.
