SafelyStay wins PhoCusWright’ General Catalyst Travel Innovation Summit Top Award Showcasing Tight Integrations with Partners Tripping, ZenRentals, and Travelport
Atlanta, GA, December 03, 2013 --(PR.com)-- SafelyStay made waves at the 2013 PhoCusWright Conference by winning the General Catalyst Award for Travel Innovation as the most innovative startup in travel. The award recognizes the most cutting edge startup in the travel industry and comes with a $250,000 grand prize given by venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners.
SafelyStay’s CEO Andrew Bate provided a preview into the future of consumer vacation rental bookings, emphasizing the importance of providing convenience, security, and trust to consumers looking to book rentals. During his Innovation Summit presentation, Mr. Bate showcased the Atlanta-based startup’s novel two-way damage waiver protection, insurance, background check and identity verification process for both hosts and consumers who want to book vacation rentals instantly. “SafelyStay bridges the gap between hosts and consumers by acting as an intermediary,” said Mr. Bate. “We protect both parties while developing the trust needed to facilitate an instant booking online. Consumers can now book a vacation home the same way they would a hotel room.”
Arguably even more impressive than the award is the simplicity, speed and ease of the booking process that SafelyStay enables. From start to finish, the process takes less than two minutes to complete. SafelyStay’s technology is currently integrated with ZenRentals, a vacation rental listing service by Frontesk Anywhere that distributes its listings on Tripping, the largest metasearch site for vacation and short-term home rentals.
“We’re thrilled for our friends at SafelyStay,” said Tripping CEO Jen O’Neal. “They’re paving the way for rental bookings to happen instantly by providing peace of mind for ZenRentals’ hosts and guests alike. The value of their technology will become increasingly apparent as the industry moves away from offline bookings.”
Competition for the award was heated. Out of a group that included more than 100 applicants, 30 travel startups competed in front of a panel of three of the travel industry’s top experts. After the 8 minute presentation, applicants then heard 3 minutes of commentary from the judges, after which they had an opportunity for a 1 minute rebuttal. A day later, the 5 qualifying finalists answered an additional round of questions centered around their business models.
Despite the fierce competition, the two year old startup came out on top. This is a huge victory for SafelyStay, the hosts they support, and for travelers who want to book vacation rentals in minutes instead of days.
About SafelyStay:
SafelyStay created the first dedicated clearinghouse for peer-to-peer vacation rentals and power instant reservations. Through a system of safeguards including identity verification, criminal checks, insurance and secure payments, SafelyStay provides trust and security to guests and homeowners. Learn more at www.safelystay.com.
About Tripping:
Tripping is the leading metasearch site for vacation homes and short-term rentals offering over 1 million rentals across 36,000 cities worldwide. Travelers can use Tripping to easily compare the world's best home rentals by price, reviews, ratings and location. Based in San Francisco, the company was founded by tech industry veterans from Expedia, Travelzoo and StubHub. You can search, compare and save on your ideal home rental at www.tripping.com.
About Frontdesk Anywhere:
Frontdesk Anywhere is a leading provider of cloud based property management and distribution software for independent hotels and property management groups. The company is focused on converging processes traditionally performed by separate systems into a single all-in-one productivity application accessible from any computer or mobile device.
Learn more about Frontdesk Anywhere at www.FrontdeskAnywhere.com
Press Contact:
Pranav Patel, Co-Founder
SafelyStay
pranav@safelystay.com
212-705-8770 x102
Lenny Eskin, Director of Marketing
Tripping
leskin@tripping.com
781-454-7843
SafelyStay’s CEO Andrew Bate provided a preview into the future of consumer vacation rental bookings, emphasizing the importance of providing convenience, security, and trust to consumers looking to book rentals. During his Innovation Summit presentation, Mr. Bate showcased the Atlanta-based startup’s novel two-way damage waiver protection, insurance, background check and identity verification process for both hosts and consumers who want to book vacation rentals instantly. “SafelyStay bridges the gap between hosts and consumers by acting as an intermediary,” said Mr. Bate. “We protect both parties while developing the trust needed to facilitate an instant booking online. Consumers can now book a vacation home the same way they would a hotel room.”
Arguably even more impressive than the award is the simplicity, speed and ease of the booking process that SafelyStay enables. From start to finish, the process takes less than two minutes to complete. SafelyStay’s technology is currently integrated with ZenRentals, a vacation rental listing service by Frontesk Anywhere that distributes its listings on Tripping, the largest metasearch site for vacation and short-term home rentals.
“We’re thrilled for our friends at SafelyStay,” said Tripping CEO Jen O’Neal. “They’re paving the way for rental bookings to happen instantly by providing peace of mind for ZenRentals’ hosts and guests alike. The value of their technology will become increasingly apparent as the industry moves away from offline bookings.”
Competition for the award was heated. Out of a group that included more than 100 applicants, 30 travel startups competed in front of a panel of three of the travel industry’s top experts. After the 8 minute presentation, applicants then heard 3 minutes of commentary from the judges, after which they had an opportunity for a 1 minute rebuttal. A day later, the 5 qualifying finalists answered an additional round of questions centered around their business models.
Despite the fierce competition, the two year old startup came out on top. This is a huge victory for SafelyStay, the hosts they support, and for travelers who want to book vacation rentals in minutes instead of days.
About SafelyStay:
SafelyStay created the first dedicated clearinghouse for peer-to-peer vacation rentals and power instant reservations. Through a system of safeguards including identity verification, criminal checks, insurance and secure payments, SafelyStay provides trust and security to guests and homeowners. Learn more at www.safelystay.com.
About Tripping:
Tripping is the leading metasearch site for vacation homes and short-term rentals offering over 1 million rentals across 36,000 cities worldwide. Travelers can use Tripping to easily compare the world's best home rentals by price, reviews, ratings and location. Based in San Francisco, the company was founded by tech industry veterans from Expedia, Travelzoo and StubHub. You can search, compare and save on your ideal home rental at www.tripping.com.
About Frontdesk Anywhere:
Frontdesk Anywhere is a leading provider of cloud based property management and distribution software for independent hotels and property management groups. The company is focused on converging processes traditionally performed by separate systems into a single all-in-one productivity application accessible from any computer or mobile device.
Learn more about Frontdesk Anywhere at www.FrontdeskAnywhere.com
Press Contact:
Pranav Patel, Co-Founder
SafelyStay
pranav@safelystay.com
212-705-8770 x102
Lenny Eskin, Director of Marketing
Tripping
leskin@tripping.com
781-454-7843
Contact
Tripping.com
Lenny Eskin
78-454-7843
www.tripping.com
Lenny Eskin
78-454-7843
www.tripping.com
Contact
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