HomeAway Paid Nearly $16.8 Million for Acquisition of Property Management App

HomeAway disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it paid nearly $16.8 million to acquire a vacation rental property management app, Glad to Have You, in March.

HomeAway hadn’t revealed the purchase price until the financial filing last week.

The app, which was already available to property managers, was introduced to individual owners starting in August. The Glad app, as HomeAway calls it, enables property managers and owners to communicate information, such as Wi-Fi codes and tips about the property and its environs, to guests so they can better enjoy their stay.

Likewise, HomeAway announced this week that it was integrating Gogobot’s reviews and recommendations on things to do, Uber’s ride-sharing services and Instacart’s food-delivery service into HomeAway’s apps to improve the guest experience.

With valuations of potential acquisitions trending toward the pricey side in 2014, the acquisition of Glad is believed to be HomeAway’s sole acquisition to date this year, and that’s a significant departure from past practice.

The Glad acquisition can be seen in the context of HomeAway trying to round out its offerings to owners, property managers and guests beyond facilitating the mere rental of properties.

In other merger and acquisition news, Expedia Inc. revealed it paid $66 million in cash in July to acquire Europe’s Auto Escape Group, which was folded into Expedia’s CarRentals.com brand.

Expedia stated that the Auto Escape Group acquisition enables CarRentals.com to “expand internationally to provide our customers more choices across the globe and help our supply partners expand their marketing reach.”

Expedia hadn’t revealed the price of the July acquisition until a financial filing October 31.