If you’ve ever hunched over a small, dimly lit hotel desk, or apologized for the background noise during a Zoom call, then you understand the struggles of traveling as a modern remote worker.
While this frustrating experience is common, it’s also fairly new—largely a response to a workforce that has grown to be around 30% remote since the lockdowns of 2020. While more workers are working remotely and traveling than ever before, the modern hotel experience has not yet adapted to the demand—with congested wifi networks and a lack of dedicated workspaces.
One company looking to fill this void is Rove, a marketplace and network connecting property owners with individuals looking for short-term furnished rentals. By managing their collective properties under the Rove brand standard of excellence, Rove CEO, Jonah Hanig is hoping to reshape the experience of short-term rentals for both customers and property owners.
“Vacation rentals are a $100B+ market, but many properties are inconsistently managed and poorly equipped for the experience modern travelers want,” says Hanig. “At the same time, the experience of buying short-term rental investment properties is extremely challenging and opaque. We built Rove to be the central place for short-term rentals for consumers and property owners alike.”
Rove’s offering of short-term luxury rentals looks to differentiate itself from the marketplace through professionally designed spaces, including everything from fully equipped kitchens to dedicated work desks and high-end amenities like pools, enclosed patios, spas and private garages. By raising the standard of short-term luxury rentals, Rove seeks to appeal to a new generation of remote workers, traveling families with working parents, and companies looking to host corporate travelers during extended work stays.
A sample of the luxury properties Rove has listed in New York CIty
“Years of data shows that modern travelers are increasingly looking for an ‘at home’ rental experience while also wanting the amenities of a boutique hotel,” says Hanig. “By offering the best of both worlds, we offer a unique product that we think can compete with both traditional hotels and peer-to-peer rentals like Airbnb.”
Rove’s promise of short-term luxury rentals has attracted $4 million in seed funding from a group of founders and executives from Silicon Valley companies, including Applovin, Zocdoc, Indiegogo, Mercury, Lattice, BloomTech, Lev, and many more. In just their first 12 months, the company scaled to over $5 million in run-rate booking revenue and recently signed their 50th property under management.
Rove’s founding team includes Kyle Siegel (CTO) and Sebastian Oppenheim (Head of Real Estate), whose cumulative experience in the tech and real estate industries includes Snap, SpaceX, June Homes, and CORE. Jonah previously co-founded Explo, a Y Combinator and venture-backed software business. Rove currently operates in destination markets, including New York City, The Hamptons, Miami, West Palm Beach, Scottsdale, and Park City.
