Online Travel

HomeToGo Buys a Near-Death Tripping in Vacation Rental Rollup

Sean O'Neill photo
Sean O'Neill and Dennis Schaal
hometogo founders vacation rental metasearch startup

Photo Credit: HomeToGo, a vacation rental metasearch company, has acquired some of the assets of Tripping.com, a forme leader in the space. It also raised $150 million. Shown in the photo are, left, Dr. Patrick Andrae, HomeToGo CEO and co-founder, and, right, Wolfgang Heigl, co-founder. This photo was taken at the company's former office building in Berlin - which used to be a power plant and still had the control room, which is where they are standing in this photo.  HomeToGo

Skift Take

The acquisition of once-high-flying Tripping.com as a distressed asset was a losing deal for investors. It's not clear what the payoff will be for HomeToGo acquiring a Silicon Valley rival at vacation rental price-comparison. HomeToGo faces daunting expectations now, having raised $150 million.

HomeToGo, a vacation rental price-comparison startup, has acquired the assets of Tripping.com three years after entering the U.S. market. It has also raised an undisclosed, multi-million dollar venture capital investment. Tripping had once been the largest player in vacation rental metasearch, but has become a shell of a company after it burned through millions of dollars in cash on TV advertising, which led to spectacular in-fighting between its founders and its board. The companies didn't disclose the terms of the transaction. However, one person close to Tripping and familiar with the deal said, "It wasn't a good outcome for anyone on the Tripping side." Tripping had raised about $52 million to date. Its sale as a distressed asset is a sharp comedown from December 2016, when it announced a $35 million series C funding round. Two sources close to Tripping told Skift that some Tripping investors participated in HomeToGo's latest round, and the sale of Tripping to HomeToGo