The Peakos Team
The sharing economy is revolutionizing businesses that were typically run by large corporations – anything from renting a room in someone’s apartment instead of a hotel to taking a ride in a private car instead of a taxi. But too often transactions from the sharing economy lack some of the professionalism people have come to expect. Denver based Peakos decided to make renting rooms and vacation homes from individuals as easy as from a global hotel chain. It means renting a house off Airbnb or VRBO shouldn’t end up in a horror story (like this), but rather a great vacation experience.
Improving the Vacation
With a young family in tow, founder and COO of Peakos Hart Williams (pictured left) loves using VRBO when he travels. “I rent these VRBO places frequently. I think it’s a great alternative,” said Williams.
Some of his trips turned out great, with owners really putting a personal touch on things. Others left lots to be desired (like one rental place advertising with 15 year old pictures of the property). “I’ve been surprised over the years at two things; one how big of a range there are in experiences,” he said. “I’ve always been a little shocked at what the traditional property managers charge – between 40 and 60%.” From there, Williams saw a market opportunity.
The idea for Peakos – a company that helps manage bookings for vacation properties, deals with the travelers and is on-call 24/7 for any problems – started back in 2012. “I found this gap in inquiry management…We just took what I knew in the sales arena and applied it to reservations,” said Williams. With almost 1.2 million vacation rental condos in the US, there’s lots of room for growth. But it wasn’t until Williams was in class at the University of Denver’s executive MBA program that he felt ready to make the jump to the life of an entrepreneur.
Building on Others
The Peakos model builds off other services already out there, but adds a level of professionalism and management not often associated with the sharing economy. “The average homeowner in this industry makes a really poor hotelier. The average homeowner in the process is also working a day job and has an emotional attachment [to their property]. We remove that emotional attachment and look at the black and white numbers,” said Williams.
Peakos effectively manages vacation properties for the homeowners and serves as the contact point for any inquiries. Homeowners don’t need to sign up for yet another platform; instead, they continue advertising their house on whatever sharing website they had previously. When an inquiry for a rental comes in, Peakos deals directly with the customer.
For the homeowner, it means they can rent out their place with minimal effort and at a much lower rate than traditional property managers. Peakos manages the contracts, damage waivers and handles all the payments. The company also screens potential renters (though can’t guarantee that nothing will go wrong). Having talked to thousands of potential renters and homeowners, Peakos says they can easily spot a scam.
For renters, it means having a professional service if something goes awry, or if they need extra help. “So the renters feel its much more like looking at a hotel room,” said Williams.
Peakos responds to inquires 24/7, instead of leaving them hanging for days (which is a typical complaint in the sharing economy). In other words, for both parties, “We remove the headache,” said Williams.
Growing Like a Weed
For a company with a fast growth record, Williams is pretty happy they aren’t a household name. “We are growing like a weed,” Williams said, but the company doesn’t face some of the PR and regulatory pressures from earlier companies in the space. “The reason why this business is awesome is because nobody knows who we are. We are an awesome service for owners and renters but we kind of sit behind the scenes,” Williams added.
While the company’s focus is on growing their customer base, they are also looking at adding additional services. “We’ve been getting a lot of requests to do more for homeowners,” said Williams, clearly a sign that the business model is working.
Peakos has over 5,000 properties but actively manages around 2,000. The company manages anything from Miami to ski country, Costa Rica to Jim Morrison’s house in Malibu, studios to 11,000 square foot masterpieces.
The company is actively hiring for reservation specialists positions.
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