Mint House CEO on Engaging Early With Landlords

06.12.2023 - 04:34 / skift.com / Srividya Kalyanaraman

Christian Lee joined Mint House as CEO in March, and 100 days into the role and a year after the company’s $35 million fundraise, Lee has his work cut out for him. But the former WeWork CFO isn’t a stranger to a volatile industry. 

I caught up with Lee yesterday to learn more about the direction New York-based Mint House will take under his helm. Following are the highlights from the conversation.

Finnish short-term rental operator Bob W is opening its first properties in Greece. Last month, the company made a foray into the Netherlands, also with two properties. In May last year, the company bought Estonishing Stay, which was the largest short-stay apartment operator in Estonia at that time. Subsequently in October, Bob W acquired KOTI Hotel, a Finnish competitor, while also securing €21 million ($23 million) in series A funding, bringing the company’s total raised amount to €31 million ($34 million). In April this year, the operator expanded into the German market by acquiring Charly Hospitality.

Short-term rental data provider AirDNA has acquired New York-based firm Arrivalist, a location intelligence platform for the travel industry. The deal brings both companies under Predictis, an umbrella group software and data business overseen by Alpine Investors. The deal was funded by Alpine Investors, which recently raised $4.5 billion for its technology buyout fund. 

Starting this month, the Department of Licenses and Inspections in Philadelphia will begin telling short-term rental booking platforms, such as Airbnb and Vrbo, to remove unlicensed listings. This enforcement phase aligns with a City Council ordinance from 2021, and as a result, numerous unlicensed short-term rental listings will be taken down from booking websites in the upcoming weeks. The department has determined nearly 85% (about 1,500-1,700 properties) of short-term rental properties in Philadelphia are unlicensed.

The department began notifying booking agents of unlicensed short-term rental properties on July 12, 2023.  The booking agents are required to remove the listing within five business days of notice, as per the law. Notices will be sent to hosts letting them know that the City of Philadelphia identified an issue, and their short-term rental will be removed from the list of available properties. Hosts then will have an opportunity to update the registration or convert to long-term rental (more than 30 days) only. 

AllTheRooms, a short-term rental data provider, still hasn’t said anything publicly about its role in providing numbers behind a viral tweet that alleged that Airbnb revenue was collapsing because of huge drop-offs in revenue per available listing in metro areas around the U.S. The CEO of Reventure Consulting cited