“Live as a local”
The secret of the dazzling growth of a local start-up
Table of contents :
1. Introduction
2. Brief history
3. Current situation
4. Industrial context
5. House Trip Business model
6. House Trip innovation and its competitive advantage
7. Business strategy
8. Conclusion
9. References
1. Introduction
House Trip offers a rental apartment platform to put guests in contact with hosts and allows them to organize short stays in an easy and efficient way. The concept was created in 2010 by two graduate students from HEL (École Hotelière de Lausanne) and has been very well-received by tourists as well as hosts. The company already has 150 000 listed properties in the world, of which 25 000 are located in France, its largest market. Their platform registers millions of visitors each year. House Trip currently employs 150 people divided in three offices in Europe. In three years, the start-up has grown quickly and has become one of the largest holiday rental websites in the world, even though this market is highly competitive and includes rivals like Windu, OneFineStay or AirBnB.
The objective is to examine the case of House Trip from the perspectives of innovation and cooperation in tourism with a emphasis on this particular hybrid accommodation model of rented service apartment. It will analyse how this innovative business model has become so successful in this very short period of time and how House Trip has succeeded to differentiate itself from its competitors.
2. Brief history
In 2009, a few months after their graduation from the renowned École Hotelière de Lausanne, husband and wife Arnaud Bertrand and Junjun Chen founded House Trip. The idea of this online platform was already on their minds since their trip to Edinburgh in 2007. The concept came from their own experience when they realized they had needed 3
References: Websites : HouseTrip website : www.housetrip.com , (15.05.2012) Airbnb website : www.airbnb.com (15.05.2012) Windu website : www.wimdu.fr/ (17.05.2012)