Luxury Retreats takes $5 million in funding for expanding villa rentals

Montreal’s Luxury Retreats has picked up $5 million in funding, led by iNovia Capital, to further build out its private home rentals business. Although it has been around since 1999, this is the first round of VC money for the startup — which has up to now been self-funded, and profitable, as it has grown to take in $100 million in rental revenues annually.

The 2,000 villas in 50 destinations on its books have been vetted by Luxury Retreats’ staff...Average prices are around $2,000 a night net, with the commission taken on those prices in the range of 20%-30%.

While sites like Airbnb and even HomeAway are focused on offering users cheaper and more flexible alternatives to staying in hotels, Luxury Retreats takes a very different approach, catering to people who are not adverse to spending a bit of money.