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
  1. "TripAdvisor Taking on Airbnb?". Travel Trends, 20 July, 2015 Martin Kelly
  2. "TripAdvisor inks lease in North Station". Boston Business Journal, Sep 18, 2013
  3. "Consumer Watch: How to protect yourself from building contractor scams". Times Free Press, August 9, 2015. by Ellen Phillips
  4. "Business buzz: Goodwill's Telly; Designers' outstanding event; Foodies' blog; Big Cat Habitat". Herald Tribune.
  5. "Fort Smith National Historic Site Named Top Place To Visit In Arkansas". 5 News, January 22, 2016, by Chandler Rogers
  6. Segal, David (3 December 2016). "FlipKey Fiasco: All the Comforts of Home, Minus the Comforts" – via NYTimes.com.
  7. "Giving Airbnb a Run for Its Money". New York Times, Feb 11, 2015. Stephanie Rosenbloom
  8. 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.
  9. Schonfeld, Erick. "TripAdvisor Invests In Vacation-Home Review Site FlipKey - TechCrunch".
  10. John R. Levine; Margaret Levine Young (30 January 2015). The Internet For Dummies. Wiley. pp. 287–. ISBN 978-1-118-96775-1.
  11. "T+L's Top Travel Websites of 2008".
  12. 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.
  13. "First look: TripAdvisor's new Boston office near North Station". Boston Globe: BetaBoston, by Scott Kirsner January 9, 2014
  14. "Apartment Rentals Are FlipKey’s Fastest Growing Category". Skift, Dennis Schaal, Jun 16, 2014
  15. "TripAdvisor’s Flipkey Raises the Fees It Charges Vacation Rental Property Managers". Skift, Dennis Schaal Nov 03, 2014
  16. "FlipKey creates awesome virtual tour of Boston as the first in a series of traveler guides". Beta Boston - The Boston Globe, 2014/05/06.
  17. "TripAdvisor In Tiff With Vacation Rental Managers Over FlipKey Changes". Dennis Schaal, Skift - Aug 28, 2015
  18. "Coral Gables sues FlipKey over illegal short-term rentals". The Real Deal, By Francisco Alvarado | May 17, 2017
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