VacationRenter, the fastest growing vacation rental search engine, taps Hammett to continue its global expansion, building upon over $1 billion in 2020 gross booking value achieved less than three years after launching.
SAN FRANCISCO, – VacationRenter announced that Heath Hammett will lead the company as its CEO. Under Hammett, an innovator in travel metasearch, VacationRenter will further expand its international footprint while continuing to provide travelers with a personalized search experience and the best rental options.
VacationRenter was built inside startup studio Wilbur Labs to simplify the complex and time-consuming process of finding the perfect vacation rental. The platform aggregates rentals from leading travel sites and personalizes recommendations for each user to eliminate hours of searching and scrolling. Less than three years after launching in 2018, VacationRenter drove over $1 billion in 2020 gross booking value.
Named to Similarweb's 100 fast-growing websites of 2020, VacationRenter built immense traction throughout the pandemic. The team introduced tools and features that prioritize traveler health and safety. VacationRenter also became the first vacation rental search engine to include RVs, bringing together the largest inventory of any platform globally with over 100,000 RVs. VacationRenter continues to grow rapidly in the US and even faster overseas as the team rolls out new languages and localized options for its loyal community of global travelers.
"VacationRenter adapted to pandemic travel and grew bookings to record levels despite all the obstacles," said David Kolodny, Co-Founder at Wilbur Labs. "This is just the beginning for VacationRenter. The company has an incredible team, tremendous traction, and a growing, multi-billion opportunity to be the category-defining vacation rental search engine. Heath is the perfect leader for this team and shares our long-term vision for solving problems in the space."
Hammett has served as a marketing, metasearch, analytics, and customer retention executive in the travel, automotive, and hospitality industries. He joins VacationRenter from Copart, a global leader in online auto auctions, where he was Vice President of Product. Prior, Hammett was VP of Customer Acquisition and Analytics for Pizza Hut U.S., a division of YUM! Hammett also spent eight years at Hotels.com, where he led a global team responsible for customer acquisition across paid and organic marketing.
"VacationRenter is becoming the ideal place to find a vacation rental, and our momentum continues to accelerate," said Hammett. "We have a talented, passionate team that is dedicated to helping travelers find the best rental for their needs. I am excited to join this team and take VacationRenter to new heights globally."
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
