April 2021
April 2021 was a month of deals in the short-term rental trade. Sonder said on 30 April that it had agreed to go public by merging with Gores Metropoulos II, at an expected pro forma enterprise value of $2.2 billion. Guesty raised $50 million and announced its second software acquisition of the month. Vacasa said it had closed its purchase of TurnKey. The UK government confirmed that self-contained accommodation in England could reopen from 12 April, and Airbnb set out registration-number rules for hosts in Amsterdam and Greece.
A look back, written in October 2026 from sources published in April 2021. Stay Gazette opened in July 2026.
Platforms · 27 April 2021Guesty Raises $50 Million and Buys Your Porter Weeks After Buying MyVRGuesty raised $50 million in a round led by a fund advised by Apax Partners and announced its second purchase of a property management software company in a month. A principal at the lead investor called it the platform to consolidate the market.By Jesse Kohl · Filed 11 October 2026 · 6 min read
The Money · 30 April 2021Sonder Agrees to Go Public Through a Merger With Gores Metropoulos IISonder signed a merger agreement with a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company and put its unaudited numbers on the public record. The companies expected the deal to close in the second half of 2021.By Dana Whitfield · Filed 11 October 2026 · 7 min read
Pictures on this page. 1. Photo: Skylines of Tel Aviv-Yafo 20180707-1 by Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized). 2. Photo: Aerial view of downtown San Francisco from the north dllu by Daniel L. Lu (user:dllu), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
What else was reported in April 2021
- 1 April 2021Vacasa announced that it had closed its acquisition of TurnKey Vacation Rentals, a manager of homes in more than 80 destinations across the United States, Short Term Rentalz reported on 1 April 2021. The deal added TurnKey's 6,000 vacation rentals, and Vacasa was to manage 30,000 homes once the two were fully integrated. Short Term Rentalz
- 1 April 2021Hosts in Amsterdam had to register their listings with the city from 1 April 2021, Airbnb said that day. It said listings that were required to show a registration number and did not would be deactivated on 1 October 2021, after a six-month information period required by law. Airbnb Newsroom (in Dutch)
- 5 April 2021The UK government confirmed on 5 April 2021 that England would move to Step 2 of its roadmap on 12 April. From that day, it said, overnight stays away from home would be permitted and self-contained accommodation could reopen, for use only by members of the same household or support bubble. GOV.UK (Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street)
- 6 April 2021NoiseAware, a noise monitoring company with its foundation in the short-term rental industry, announced that it had raised $8 million in Series A funding in a round led by S3 Ventures and Thayer Ventures, Short Term Rentalz reported on 6 April 2021. Short Term Rentalz
- 12 April 2021Airbnb launched an 8-point plan it called the Summer of Responsible Travel on 12 April 2021. From that day, it said, guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb would be prohibited from making one-night reservations in entire home listings in the United States during the 4 July weekend. Airbnb Newsroom
- 27 April 2021Airbnb and the IAPR, which Airbnb described as the Greek authority responsible for such regulations, signed a collaboration agreement on 27 April 2021. Under it, hosts in Greece would be required from 1 June 2021 to include a registration number before publishing a listing. Airbnb Newsroom