Holidu and Toploc join forces to boost nature-based vacation rentals in France

Holidu (www.holidu.com), one of Europe’s leading vacation rental booking companies, announces the signature of a strategic partnership with Toploc (www.toploc.com), a platform for nature vacation rentals in France. This partnership aims to further support vacation rental owners with a platform that will enable them to increase their bookings and simplify renting out their vacation homes. At the same time, Toploc’s website will offer a more comprehensive range of products and services for people looking for alternatives for nature vacations.

Toploc will remain an independent company and will bring to Holidu its knowledge of the French market and its property base across France. On the other hand, Holidu will integrate its white-label booking solution on toploc.com, to bring improved booking conversion, a wider selection of properties, and a better overall booking experience.

This partnership will also enable hosts to benefit from greater online visibility for their properties, reaching a wider target audience and international customers. They will have access to many other benefits, including listing their property on multiple booking portals, synchronization of calendars between different platforms, and centralized management of payment transactions. Owners will also benefit from personalized local service and professional property descriptions and photos.

Johannes Siebers, CEO and co-founder of Holidu, is delighted with this new collaboration: “This partnership with Toploc will support further growth of both hosts and guests in France. Toploc’s knowledge of the nature-based rental market combined with our technological expertise forms a solid basis for a promising cooperation. Thanks to Toploc, we are now effectively positioned to strengthen and develop our nature-based vacation rental offering in France.”

Toploc was launched in January 2022 and from the outset experienced strong growth and rapid popularity among owners and travelers alike. “It was clear that French users were looking for an alternative nature vacation rental platform. Toploc quickly gained ground, and we succeeded in building a solid base of properties and attracting a wide audience interested in this type of rental,” explains Guillaume Mottier, founder of Toploc. 

Providing innovative technology for both the hosts who rent out their homes and the guests who book them quickly became a necessity. “From our very first discussions, we realized that Toploc and Holidu shared the same fundamental values, given our common vision of the nature vacation rental market in France. This strategic partnership was an obvious choice if we were to offer an exceptional long-term customer experience to our Toploc owners and travelers,” adds Guillaume Mottier. 

The company quickly positioned itself in a fast-growing market segment and succeeded in building up an impressive base of properties. Today, Toploc, in cooperation with Holidu, offers over 80,000 directly bookable vacation rentals in France, and over 150,000 directly bookable properties in Europe.

Holidu received over 100 million euros in a Series E financing round in 2022 to accelerate inorganic growth in existing markets. In September last year, Holidu announced a strategic partnership with the French company Sportihome, an accommodation company for sports vacation properties based in Montpellier. In 2024, Holidu announced the acquisition of two major local online travel agencies (OTA), Clubrural, a Spanish platform for rural vacation rentals, and Ferienwohnungen.de, a major German OTA, also featuring nature properties. Johannes Siebers, co-founder and CEO of Holidu: “The vacation rental market is very fragmented and for us, partnerships and acquisitions are a great way to boost growth. We have built up deals as a growth driver, in a way that they can now contribute ca. 20%-25% to our property growth in a repetitive and fairly predictable manner. Equally important, we are proud and happy to say that all the companies are very happy with the collaboration.” Holidu has rapidly grown in the ten years of its existence and is now regarded as a leading vacation rental company with over 500 employees and more than 25 offices in Europe. Holidu has grown rapidly in the ten years of its existence and is now regarded as a leading vacation rental company with over 500 employees and more than 25 offices in Europe. 

Munich, June 2024