Portland, Oregon - September 21, 2009 - By harnessing the power of social networks, a new online travel portal is helping second homeowners overcome the biggest barriers to marketing their properties — trust and the fear of renting to strangers.
Portland-based Second Porch today released into public beta its Facebook application titled "Rent & Trade Vacation Homes," which is the first socially enabled vacation home site where travelers and vacation home owners can connect to recommend, rent, or trade vacation homes. The site sits squarely in the intersection of two strong consumer trends: the mainstreaming of social networking, engaging hundreds of millions of users per day and vacation home rentals as the fastest growing segment of the lodging industry.
Second Porch fills a critical gap in this $50 billion industry, by allowing vacation home owners to market their properties in a tasteful way to friends, friends of friends, and, if desired, all 300 million of the social network's members.
Second Porch launches at an ideal time for the second home market. Due to the recession, many of the 7.5 million second home owners in the U.S. who previously avoided renting or trading are now being forced into the market in order to pay their mortgages. Second Porch provides a perfect entry point for travelers and owners who have hesitated to rent vacation homes due to trust concerns. Second Porch users can search for homes based on location, budget, recommendations, amenities, and—most importantly—relationship to the owner.
"According to a study released earlier this year by travel research firm PhoCusWright, trust has been identified as a significant industry barrier," Brent Hieggelke, Co-Founder and President, Second Porch said. "Second Porch allows people to easily and tastefully promote their second homes to a trusted network of friends, and if desired, to other members of Facebook who like being able to see that there is a real person connected to the home."
Proving its appeal, Second Porch has already attracted hundreds of home listings during its private beta period, and garnered multiple 5-star reviews. Led by seasoned professionals and advised by a board including executives with experience in companies such as Yahoo! and Intel, Second Porch appeals to several segments of homeowners, including those who are looking to maximize rental revenue, as well as those who only rent to people they know and trust. Second Porch also has major appeal to those looking to trade their second home. 45% of all the homes already listed in Second Porch have opted in for trading their homes with other homeowners, as well as renting.
Second Porch's attractive, easy-to-use design allows users to display property photos, information, and updates on their profile pages. Travelers can also post queries for specific trips and homes sought through a feature called "friendsource."
User can choose to "follow" a property, which allows them to bookmark the home listing and receive updates. They can view or discuss homes their friends are following or have recommended and decide if they want to follow those homes as well.
Second Porch integrates with Facebook's wall stream messaging, which allows friends to discover their friends' vacation rental homes (and the application) through tasteful updates, photos, and teasers. Simple to use filters help users to find homes using standard features, including rate, number of bedrooms, and location; along with unique filters for relationship and whether available for rent or trade.
Media Contacts
Melanie Weitzner / Matt Levison
Nancy J. Friedman Public Relations
Tel: 212-228-1500
Melanie@njfpr.com /
Matthew@njfpr.com