Puneet Varma (Editor)

Vacatia

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Area served
  
U.S.

Founded
  
2013

Vacatia httpsvacatiacombundlesvacatiacoreimgvacati

Industry
  
Internet, Resorts, Vacation Rentals

Products
  
Vacatia.com marketplace

Headquarters
  
San Francisco, California, United States

Interview of keith cox ceo of vacatia by dr javier gonz lez soria


Vacatia, founded in 2013 and based in San Francisco, California, spun out of Vacation Listing Service Inc., launching originally as "an online marketplace for buying and selling timeshare interests", with plans to "...introduce rentals to the marketplace in the future."

Contents

Investors in Vacatia's $5 million seed round in September 2013 included travel, hotel and vacation rental industry veterans, such as Spencer Rascoff (Zillow, Expedia, Hotwire), Erik Blachford (Expedia), Robert Spottswood (Hyatt Vacation Ownership), Raymond L. “Rip” Gallein Jr. (Starwood Vacation Ownership and Marriott Vacations Worldwide), and Barry Sternlicht and Steve Hankin (Starwood Capital Group)." Other investors included Bee Partners, Peterson Ventures and Meyer Ventures, as well as personal investments from Egon Durban of Silver Lake Partners and Gene Frantz of Google Capital.

Vacatia raised $8.8 million in a Series A round in April 2015, led by Javelin Venture Partners.

At the same time Vacatia announced its Series A funding, it announced substantial management team changes, the most prominent being the promotion of co-founder Caroline Shin from COO to CEO, with co-founder and former CEO Keith Cox being named Chairman. In addition, Mike Janes, formerly CMO at StubHub and GM of the online store at Apple Inc., joined as Chief Marketing Officer.

In November 2015, Vacatia publicly launched its vacation rental marketplace for resort residences with search results and instant booking... for "hospitality, timeshare and premier independent resorts...that until now, access to these resort-condominium complexes was available exclusively through purchase options such as whole, fractional, or timeshare ownership."

In May 2016, Vacatia expanded beyond the U.S. by adding 20 resorts in Cancun and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. These are Vacatia's 13th and 14th destinations, joining "...Maui, Kauai, Oahu, Big Island, Orlando, Pensacola, Panama City, Destin, Daytona Beach, Myrtle Beach, Branson, and Phoenix/Scottsdale."

DVC started referring its members who want to sell their memberships to Vacatia's sales marketplace in May, 2016, "...a stamp of approval from the Disney Vacation Club."

Talk business 360 interview with vacatia


References

Vacatia Wikipedia