Hostfully - Property Management Software For 5 Star Stays

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Company & Team Introduction

Hostfully is a leading property management software solution that helps property management companies streamline their operations so they can spend more time caring for their guests. The company was founded in 2015 by David Jacoby, Stephan Osmont, and Margot Schmorak. Jacoby and Osmont were both independently running their own short-term rental business and working at a startup for their 9-5. They quickly realized just how much time and work running a short-term rental business was, so they each started building their own solution. At the same time, Margot Schmorak was looking for her next big project after a decade-long career in tech; she teamed up with Jacoby after meeting at a daycare in SF to build Hostfully Guidebooks, which allowed property managers a mini website for clients to give essential information like; directions, Wifi passwords, recommendations, and how to guides, while Osmont started building out a property management solution called Orbirental. In 2018, Osmont met with Jacoby and Schmorak at a coffee shop in San Francisco and realized the strong synergies between products. Osmont’s product improved the experience for hosts, while the guidebooks improved the client experience. To capitalize, the two companies forged a partnership together; fast forward a year later, and the companies decided to merge, creating a complete property management solution from backend booking management to creating a wonderful experience for guests. Hostfully is headquartered in San Francisco, California and has grown its team to ~90 employees.

Product Overview

Hostfully offers a comprehensive end-to-end property management solution designed to make STR businesses as efficient as possible while maximizing revenue and delivering extraordinary guest experiences. Hostfully’s platform provides powerful features such as automations like booking reminders, directions, payment requests, etc., the ability to sync property listings across Airbnb, VRBO, Google Vacation Rentals, Booking.com, and 13 other platforms, a unified inbox to keep all communications in one place, booking pipeline management to accept, reject or modify bookings with ease, and Hostfully’s guidebook feature allows hosts to provide an incredible experience giving them critical information about their stay such as directions to the property, how to check in, any instructions guests may need, recommendations for activities, restaurants, etc. while also creating a new revenue stream through upsells and referrals.

Total Addressable Market

Hostfully is tackling a massive problem for the property management industry. In 2022, there were an estimated 2M professionally managed short-term rental properties in the US alone. In 2022, the short-term rental was estimated to be as large as 4.5B, with industry experts forecasting growth to be explosive over the coming decade, growing at a 19.1% CAGR through 2032, creating a 25.8B market opportunity for Hostfully.

Business Model & The Numbers

Hostfully utilizes a simple 4-tier subscription-based model with pricing based on features and the number of properties under management. The company’s “Starter” tier starts at $119/month and offers their property management solution, access to the Hostfully mobile app, and 2 one-on-one onboarding calls to ensure successful account setup. For more advanced features, Hostfully offers a “Pro” and “Pro Plus” plan, which gives access to additional features such as a dedicated customer success manager, private labelling, SMS/WhatsApp messages, team roles, and digital signatures. For managers with 11 properties or less, the “Pro” plan starts at $215/month; more extensive operations of 12-19 properties under management must use the “Pro Plus” plan. Scaled managers of 20+ properties are best fit for their “Premium” plan, which includes custom pricing, API access, custom engineering, and unlimited in-app calls. According to Nathan Latka’s SaaS database, Hostfully hit 5.5M in revenue in 2023, growing 68% YoY.

Traction

Hostfully has seen strong traction over the years. The company now helps over 3700 Hostfully clients manage over 38k properties. Hostfully’s success has come from all around the world as well, now operating in over 82 countries with 46k guides created to elevate guest experiences. Hostfully is 1 of only 15 companies to partner with Airbnb and receive their coveted preferred partner+ honours in consecutive years.

Competitors

With opportunity comes competition, and the competitive landscape for property management software is no different. Here are some of the main competitors to Hostfully:

Guesty - Founded in 2013 by brothers Amiad and Koby Soto. The company has strong backers, including being part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2014 batch. The company most recently raised a massive 170M funding round in 2023, having raised over 280M in total funding. According to GetLatka’s SaaS database, Guesty hit over 100M, growing 61% in revenue and serving over 1000 customers in 2023. Guesty’s starting tier is $39 per month for up to 4 properties; a quote is needed for managers of 5+ properties.

Hostaway - Founded in 2015 by Marcus Rader, Saber Kordestanchi, and Mikko Nurminen, Hostaway is another Hostfully competitor with solid backing. The company’s most recent raise was a massive 175M round led by private equity giant PSG. Pricing is only available by quote, as the company believes that each property manager is unique. Hostaway is based in Helsinki, Finland and has grown its team size to over 160 employees.

Funding

Founded in 2015, Hostfully has raised a total of 7M from various funding rounds throughout the years. Since the merger of Hostfully and Orbirental in 2018, the company has raised 2 rounds. The combined entity raised 1M in 2019, led by Precursor Ventures with participation from firms such as Wharton Alumni Angels, MergeLane, Disruption Ventures, and Blue Startups which gave the new Hostfully some runway before tapping the capital markets again in 2022, where they raised an additional 4M seed round led by Disruption Ventures, with firms such as Trend Forward Capital, Precursor Ventures, Groundbreak Ventures, Celtic House Asia Partners, and various angel investors also participating in the raise.