The Quiet Dealmakers of Short-Term Rentals

23.01.2024 - 16:11 / skift.com / Srividya Kalyanaraman / Dustin Abney

There is a league of short-term rental operators quietly reducing competition through consolidation. 

There are deals that make a splash: Airbnb buying HotelTonight or Vacasa Buying Turnkey, and then there are deals that are made behind the scenes, with no fanfare. 

AvantStay, the California-based hospitality and real estate company, is one active acquirer. 

“We can confirm that we are actively acquiring select managers across the country and integrating into the AvantStay brand. Our ability to leverage our platform to elevate the short-term rental experience in new markets has proven to be a big success,” Reuben Doetsch, co-founder of AvantStay, told Skift. 

Doetsch confirmed that AvantStay acquired Lakecations last June to launch rentals around Lake Norman in North Carolina. It also expanded its geographic footprint: It launched in the Poconos in Pennsylvania, Port Aransas in Texas and Whidbey Island in Washington state, with the acquisition of Poconos Rentals, Sway Vacation Rentals and Tara Vacation Rentals. That same month, AvantStay also laid off 10% of its staff in a third round of job cuts.

Charleston, South Carolina-based property management company Portoro, which snapped up StayLocal Austin in January 2023, is slated to have a portfolio of 200-plus homes with an acquisition this month, and six others in 2024. 

Oregon-based full-service management company Meredith Lodging does a couple of small deals every year and plans to accelerate the pace in 2024. 

The increased M&A activity can be attributed to many factors, but chief among them is the industry reverting to pre-Covid norms. 

“We’ve sort of settled down from the heights and peaks, so we can look back at the past three or four years and know the true financial metrics of businesses,” said Dustin Abney, CEO of Portoro. “Right now, we are not in a crazy up, or crazy down scenario, so I can look back at 2018, 2019 and take out the Covid years and then look at 2022, 2023 and put it all together and say these are the long-term metrics.”

The pandemic prompted many to quit their traditional jobs and become full-time Airbnb hosts due to the surge in vacation rental demand, creating more supply and lower revenue per host. 

In 2024, the market is expected to normalize.

Short-Term Rental Investability From 2018-2023

The U.S. Outlook for Short-Term Rentals

A normalizing industry will bring to fore the good businesses with legs — a bedrock of which in the short-term rental industry is good local relationships, strong regional demand, and positive cashflow.

“If you’re a property manager, and you want to expand outside of your core market, there’s already installed local management companies that have local relationships, reputation and brand. It is