FlipKey
FlipKey is an online vacation rental marketplace. It is a subsidiary of TripAdvisor.[1] In 2016 the company listed more than 300,000 properties in 179 countries. Its headquarters is in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.[2]
Although rental owners are verified by the company's staff before being added to the FlipKey website,[3] the site relies heavily on traveler reviews of rental properties. FlipKey also publishes ratings for travel-related items such as food blogs[4] and in the United States it provides ratings of national historic sites.[5]
Citing complaints that FlipKey would not guarantee functional amenities in its rental sites, in 2016 Better Business Bureau gave the company an F rating.[6]
History
FlipKey was founded in 2007 as a house-swapping and vacation rental listing website.[7][8] The company was acquired by travel website, TripAdvisor, in 2008.[9][10] That year FlipKey was included in Travel and Leisure's list of top travel websites.[11]
At first Flipkey sold subscriptions to homeowners,[12] operating from offices on Lincoln Street in Boston.[13] After 2013, FlipKey changed its sales model, giving property owners the option of paying a percentage commission for each property rented.[14][15]
In 2014, FlipKey moved its offices to Causeway Street in Boston, which was also expected to house another Tripadvisor subsidiary, Smarter Travel.[13] That year Flipkey created a virtual tour of Boston for its website, to promote its property listings there.[16]
In 2015, FlipKey updated its technology platform, resulting in complaints from some large property managers that they were being overcharged.[17] In 2017, the city of Coral Gables, Florida, sued FlipKey, claiming that the company had ignored city statutes prohibiting commercial activity in residential areas.[18]
References
- ^ "TripAdvisor Taking on Airbnb?". Travel Trends, 20 July, 2015 Martin Kelly
- ^ "TripAdvisor inks lease in North Station". Boston Business Journal, Sep 18, 2013
- ^ "Consumer Watch: How to protect yourself from building contractor scams". Times Free Press, August 9, 2015. by Ellen Phillips
- ^ "Business buzz: Goodwill's Telly; Designers' outstanding event; Foodies' blog; Big Cat Habitat". Herald Tribune.
- ^ "Fort Smith National Historic Site Named Top Place To Visit In Arkansas". 5 News, January 22, 2016, by Chandler Rogers
- ^ Segal, David (3 December 2016). "FlipKey Fiasco: All the Comforts of Home, Minus the Comforts" – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ "Giving Airbnb a Run for Its Money". New York Times, Feb 11, 2015. Stephanie Rosenbloom
- ^ Duncan McLaren; Julian Agyeman (20 November 2015). Sharing Cities: A Case for Truly Smart and Sustainable Cities. MIT Press. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-0-262-02972-8.
- ^ Schonfeld, Erick. "TripAdvisor Invests In Vacation-Home Review Site FlipKey - TechCrunch".
- ^ John R. Levine; Margaret Levine Young (30 January 2015). The Internet For Dummies. Wiley. pp. 287–. ISBN 978-1-118-96775-1.
- ^ "T+L's Top Travel Websites of 2008".
- ^ Janet Portman; Marcia Stewart; Ilona Bray (30 September 2014). First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting Out a Single-Family Home. Nolo. pp. 140–. ISBN 978-1-4133-2065-7.
- ^ a b "First look: TripAdvisor's new Boston office near North Station". Boston Globe: BetaBoston, by Scott Kirsner January 9, 2014
- ^ "Apartment Rentals Are FlipKey’s Fastest Growing Category". Skift, Dennis Schaal, Jun 16, 2014
- ^ "TripAdvisor’s Flipkey Raises the Fees It Charges Vacation Rental Property Managers". Skift, Dennis Schaal Nov 03, 2014
- ^ "FlipKey creates awesome virtual tour of Boston as the first in a series of traveler guides". Beta Boston - The Boston Globe, 2014/05/06.
- ^ "TripAdvisor In Tiff With Vacation Rental Managers Over FlipKey Changes". Dennis Schaal, Skift - Aug 28, 2015
- ^ "Coral Gables sues FlipKey over illegal short-term rentals". The Real Deal, By Francisco Alvarado | May 17, 2017