Google Ventures has entered the holiday home rentals market by investing in HomeAway, parent company of HomeAway Holiday-Rentals and Owners Direct in the UK.
Google purchased shares from existing shareholders to invest in the company.
HomeAway operates sites in 11 European countries plus sites in the US and Brazil. The HomeAway sites provide a network for holiday home owners, property managers and travellers.
Currently representing over 540,000 paid holiday rental listings in more than 120 countries worldwide, HomeAway’s turnover grew by 45 per cent to USD120m in 2009.
With the help of Google, the company will focus its attention on further technological development to optimise its websites and simplify the booking process.
“HomeAway is now at a stage where we want to concentrate our resources on optimising the usability of our websites and setting new standards in the holiday rentals industry, says Brian Sharples, chief executive and founder of HomeAway. “We feel very positive that the new partnership with Google will help us achieve this goal.”
