TravelRent.com, the first social online service for booking of private accommodation in the Russian market, has been launched
October 20, 2011 Today social online service TravelRent.com is announcing its launch. It is the first social online booking service in the Russian market for short-term private accommodation. The main feature of TravelRent.com in comparison with other services is that it allows users to find, book and pay for their vacation or business trip accommodation on a single website.
Fast Lane Ventures, the leading developer of Russian internet companies, is acting as an investment and operational partner of TravelRent.com.
The aim of the new service is to create the largest Russian speaking online community of property owners leasing for short-term. TravelRent.com connects owners of private properties and lessees, providing both parties with an opportunity for mutually beneficial cooperation. TravelRent.com provides property owners with a user friendly platform for placing their objects, interacting with lessees, managing fees, reviews, and booking calendar. The website is also convenient for managing financial agreements and includes a guarantee of payment function. Placement of objects is free for property owners this is particularly attractive as the internet may be the only platform available to owners to advertise upon.
“While creating TravelRent we did our best to simplify the process of booking short-time rental accommodation and to provide guarantees to those making use of this process,” said Mr Stanislav Frolov, CEO of TravelRent.com.
“Our task is to bring together the segmented market of short-term property lease in Russia and introduce a user-friendly and functional service to the internet audience. TravelRent.com is a universal assistant for those who intend to lease their property, but do not know how to find lessees. The service also benefits travellers who are seeking information, convenience and safety when organising their trips. With the help of our service people get to know each other, reach agreements and travel with ease!”
While booking accommodation online, the lessees pay the booking cost and 10% commission in any preferable currency choosing from 9 available on the web site, in return for a high quality service and a guarantee of payment in cases specified in TravelRent’s terms.
The tourism market is one of the fastest growing industries in Russia and is estimated to be worth approximately $17.6 billion by the end of 2011 . In the first half of 2011 Russians made around 20 million international trips .Furthermore according to a recent Rambler’s pole, 57% respondents prefer organizing their trips independently rather than via travel agents. Furthermore the individual tourism continues to increase in volume suggesting demand for short-term bookings will continue to grow.
Marina Treshchova, CEO of Fast Lane Ventures the investment and operational partner of TravelRent.com, commented on the launch:
“We are very pleased to work in such a prospective segment of the Russian market as short-term lease of private accommodation. The perceptiveness of the business model adapted by TravelRent.com has already been proven abroad. The leader of the segment – American Airbnb – has already risen more than $110 mln of external investments.
The idea proposed by founders of TravelRen.com complements the strategy of Fast Lane Ventures perfectly, which is why we sought to find a mutually beneficial solution and include this company in our business portfolio.”
TravelRent.com is actively using white-label partner model of promotion and dozens of Internet services are currently linked to it including: Marshruty.ru, 100dorog.ru, Svali.ru, Apelsin and more. There are around 3000 unique rentals located in 38 different countries including Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Bulgaria, Israel, Greece, Indonesia, Turkey and other popular travel destinations.
In the future, Travelrent.com aims to become the leading online booking service in this segment by expanding the number of properties to around 20 thousand across Russia, the CIS and other countries around world. TravelRent.com will be available in several languages and compatible with more currencies. By the end of 2012 the company aims to expand the active database of offers to 45,000 objects in Russia, CIS and around the world as well as increase the number of partner websites to 500. The company estimates that TravelRent.com will have at least 5 million registered users by 2015.