Q+A: Jetstream Hospitality Solutions CEO Mike Liverton

ShortTermRentalz speaks to Mike Liverton, founder and CEO of Jetstream Hospitality Solutions, to discuss the company’s progress since its launch, convergence between multi-unit properties and flexible accommodation, and its plans to expand in North America and Europe.

• Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background.

“Born and raised in England, I’m a serial entrepreneur with a passion for delivering the very best customer experience using technology and e-commerce for sales and distribution. Back in 1999, I co-founded e2save.com, one of the UK’s first e-commerce retailers of mobile phones. We grew the company to over $110 million in annual turnover in five years and were acquired in 2004 by The Carphone Warehouse.

“After that I moved to Canada and became involved in the short-term rental property market. I quickly realised that the fragmented nature of the market and legacy software platforms provided a significant opportunity to revolutionise technology and services in the property management and distribution vertical.”

• You’ve been in the short-term rental industry for quite a number of years operating under the Leavetown brand — can you please give us an overview of how Jetstream was founded and why?

“In 2008, we launched our proprietary booking platform for multi-unit, resort and apartment properties under the Leavetown brand, and shortly after, we started to develop our B2B proprietary technology which has evolved into Jetstream Hospitality Solutions.

“In 2017, we became the first “multi-unit” distribution solution for apartments, condos and resorts for Airbnb / VRBO / HomeAway / TripAdvisor. Today, Jetstream partners with 200+ large professional property owners / resort operators and distributes over 50,000 properties globally onto the largest short-term rental marketplaces, including our proprietary site Leavetown.com.”

• Jetstream offers a solution to help new entrants enter the short-term rental market. Can you tell us a little more about the types of customers you work with and why this is a new opportunity for them?

“Essentially, Jetstream offers owners, managers and aggregators of large multi-unit properties the means and expertise to enter the lucrative short-term market.

​”We empower our customers to enter the short-term hospitality space by providing a fully outsourced solution including channel marketing, distribution and guest communications on a shared success model. We handle all components of acquiring bookings, including guest screening, communicating with guests through all aspects of their journey, and ensuring the content and pricing is optimised for conversion across all the largest global short-term rental marketplaces.

“In addition, we work with trusted third party suppliers, the best in their class, to offer property operational technology, keyless entry and guest screening for a full ‘turn-key’ solution.”

• Jetstream offers a low-risk, variable cost model to its customers. How does this work in reality and what are the benefits to this model?

“Entering the short-term rental market can require a considerable investment in experienced short-let rental hospitality team members, which obviously incurs significant fixed costs. Jetstream enables a seamless and proven entry into the short-term rental marketplace for large asset owners and managers new to the sector. With our solution, there is no need for new large fixed costs as we work with the property owner on a shared success model where we retain just a percentage of the revenue generated. Therefore, it’s a true win-win partnership.”

• Multi-unit properties that can be turned into flexible living accommodation between short- term and long-term renters is something that is predicted to grow into 2021 and beyond. Where do you see the future convergence between these asset types?

“Like many in the industry, we’re seeing an increasing demand for longer stays, typically between two weeks to three months. This is coming from the significant growth in remote working, which is empowering a new wave of hybrid remote workers/ nomadic travellers. We see this new genre of traveller becoming an increasing component of the short-term rental revenue available to property owners where Jetstream can power both short- and longer-term rentals that flex and blend within the same building.”

• Finally — what’s next for Jetstream?

“We’ve enjoyed significant growth over the last few years in both North America and Europe. We continue to be focused, excited and committed to our partners and guests to ensure we remain the leader in supplying a fully outsourced solution for property asset owners and managers who wish to optimise their revenues in the short-term rental market by partnering with us.”

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