blueground is a hospitality start-up aspiring to become one of the global leaders in the dynamic Vacation and Corporate Rental (VCR) market. blueground is creating a technology enabled chain of serviced apartments, houses and villas created by transforming existing residential properties. The company functions similar to a hotel, but instead of having all rooms under a single roof, it operates individual properties spread across each city.

Over the last 5 years, the rise of the VCR e-marketplaces (Airbnb, homeaway etc.) is disrupting the hospitality industry. The VCR market in US/EU is €136B with a 3x potential over the next 10 years. Regulation and commercial developments have enabled travellers to easily book an apartment or house online instead of a hotel room. 

However, despite strong growth, two pain points have surfaced: 

• Individual owners lack knowhow and time to offer quality services 
• Residential properties with right specs (quality, availability, furnished) are in short supply limiting market size

Several start-ups have risen to address the first pain point by offering promotion and management services to owners. However, no start-up is addressing the second pain point. – “Our biggest growth hurdle is limited supply”– Head of Europe Airbnb. 

blueground is the first start-up addressing the second paint point, that of limited supply in a systematic, scalable way. blueground leases or fully manages properties and subsequently renovates, furnishes and equips, effectively converting properties to quality, best practice rentals. blueground is creating supply of VCR properties as it grows. In addition to creating supply, blueground is also focusing on the underserved corporate segment that no other start-up in the space is addressing. As blueground relies on existing residential building stock to expand, and with Venture Capital backing, it will continue to grow very fast, grew 4x in 2015. 

blueground is already active in Greece, Turkey and it will soon launch Dubai. The company will further expand in Europe, Middle East and Asia with the aspiration to reach €1B in revenue and 100,000 properties by the end of 2021, making blueground the 12th biggest “hotel” after Hyatt with today’s figures.