Skift Travel News Blog

Short stories and posts about the daily news happenings around the travel industry.

Short-Term Rentals

Zumper Enters the Vacation Rental Market

1 year ago

Rental platform Zumper is entering the vacation rental market. 

The San Francisco-based company has launched Vacations by Zumper, which includes listings Bookings.com, Vrbo, as well as hotels. It has partnered with Evolve and Rentals United — Evolve is providing 27,000 home listings to Zumper, and the site has launched with 50,000 new hotel listings. 

The company also said that it has expanded its short-term rental inventory to over 1 million listings, a 50 percent increase from its initial launch in August 2022. Earlier this month, it launched Flexpass, its subscription service targeting remote workers and digital nomads for an annual fee of $300. 

Vacation rental listed in Flagstaff. Source: Zumper

Zumper caters to mobile renters, targeting remote workers and digital nomads. Apartments listed on the site come fully furnished and equipped and can be rented for a minimum of 30 nights without leases, security deposits, application or cleaning fees. 

Founded in 2012, the company claims it wants to make renting a home as easy as booking a hotel. The company has raised a total of $180 million in funding with the latest Series D round of $30 million led by Kleiner Perkins. Blackstone Group, Greylock,Greycroft, Axel Springer, Breyer Capital and Andreessen Horowitz have also invested in Zumper. The company acquired Padmapper and NowRenting in 2016 and 2019 respectively. 

Short-Term Rentals

Zumper Launches Short-Term Rental Subscription Service

1 year ago

There is now another subscription service for short-term rentals.

San Francisco-based privately-owned rental platform Zumper has launched Flexpass — its subscription service targeting remote workers and digital nomads. Priced at $300 per year, the service will allow access to Zumper’s listings of fully furnished short-term rentals. 

Sample of an apartment listing in Boston. Source: Zumper

Zumper’s value proposition to mobile renters is convenience. The service reportedly has over half a million listings in over 100 cities and metropolises, mostly in North America, Europe and Asia. The service apartments come fully furnished and equipped and can be rented for a minimum of 30 nights without leases, security deposits, application or cleaning fees. It’s unclear what exclusive benefits subscribers of Flexpass can avail of that’s not already offered on Zumper. 

But all these conveniences call for caution: Zumper has gotten considerable flak for not vetting properties and guarding users against scams. Just this week, a homeowner in Jacksonville, Florida was shocked to find her home listed on sites including Zumper. For its part the company warns users of potential scammers — nevetherless, The service seems to have unhappy customers flagging the need for stringent vetting processes

Founded in 2012, Zumper claims it wants to make renting a home as easy as booking a hotel. The company has raised a total of $180 million in funding with the latest Series D round of $30 million led by Kleiner Perkins. Blackstone Group, Greylock,Greycroft, Axel Springer, Breyer Capital and Andreessen Horowitz have also invested in Zumper. The company acquired Padmapper and NowRenting in 2016 and 2019 respectively.