Skift Take
VTrips all but outright says that it's more profitable than its larger rival Vacasa. But we'll only know for sure if they both file to go public.
Vacation rental companies are ramping up their merger activity in hopes that a scale game will help them make the most of a domestic boom in bookings.
VTrips, a vacation rental property management company based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, said it acquired Resort Collection and its 800 properties. The deal, announced June 1, boosted VTrips' inventory by roughly a third, to 3,000 properties under exclusive contracts. The company paid cash, but it didn't disclose the terms of the deal.
"We anticipate we will go public someday and file an S-1," said founder and CEO Steve Milo. "It will be a bad day for companies who do not have anywhere near the profitability despite a larger unit count."
Milo wholly owns VTrips. He argued that his company takes a smarter approach to consolidate the vacation rental industry than other better-known players thanks to a different strategy on branding, operations, and technology. His private company hasn't released financials, but Milo said the company is profitable.
"VTrips has four years of compounded EBIDTA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — a measure of profit] growth of 57 percent," Milo said. "VTrips EBIDTA as a percentage of revenue will be over 30 percent in 2021. We're on track for $50 million in EBIDTA in 2023."
In the past two months, VTrips has also acquired Distinctive Beach Rentals in Fort Myers Beach,Florida, and Resort Property Management in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
"Our profitability has allowed us to amass capital in a very efficient manner, both from commercial banking as well as from operating profit," Milo said. "That allows us to expand."
Milo didn't disc
