Vacation Listing Service, Inc., a San Francisco, CA-based startup that has just launched an online marketplace for shared vacation ownership, raised more than $5m in seed funding.
Backers included:
– Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow;
– Erik Blachford, former CEO of Expedia;
– Greg Waldorf, Trulia director and former CEO of eHarmony;
– Thomas Byrne, former President of LoopNet;
– Robert Spottswood, founding board member of Hyatt Vacation Ownership,
– Raymond L. “Rip” Gellein, Jr., founder of Vistana Resorts and CEO of Starwood Vacation Ownership and currently on the Board of Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation;
– Barry Sternlicht of Starwood Capital;
– Steve Hankin of Starwood Capital;
– Egon Durban of Silver Lake;
– Douglas Dillard, Jr. of Standard Pacific Capital;
– Gene Frantz of Google Capital;
– Maveron;
– Bee Partners;
– Peterson Ventures; and
– Meyer Ventures.
Led by Keith Cox, CEO and founder, who answered our questions in a related interview (read it here), VLS is the parent company of Vacatia.com, a marketplace for shared vacation ownership which provides consumers, brokers, agents, developers, homeowner associations and resort managers with tools to connect, negotiate and transact in the timeshare and fractional ownership resale market.
Vacatia charges no upfront fees and sellers are charged a platform fee solely upon the close of escrow for the sale of their shared ownership interest.
Vacatia allows potential buyers to browse through thousands of listings (including detailed descriptions and photos of destinations and resorts), comparison shop by price, location, time of year, usage plans and other factors, and then negotiate and transact through Vacatia and its partners.
The beta site is already operational with more than 10,000 worldwide listings located in destinations developed by hospitality brands and independent developers, such as Westin’s Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas, Marriott’s Grand Residences Lake Tahoe, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, Wyndham’s Cypress Palms, Hyatt’s Coconut Plantation Resort, Welk Resort’s Palm Springs and others.
FinSMEs
04/09/2013