The OwnerRez Story
We're really good software engineers, but we're also vacation rental homeowners and property managers. For more than a decade, we devoted ourselves to providing really good vacation rental experiences for guests. Now, we devote our time to providing really good software for vacation rental owners and PMs.
About those Chris & Paul guys...
For years, you've seen our names all over blog posts, forum topics and support tickets, but here's what we actually look like! That's Paul on the right and Chris on the left.
We've been building software together for two decades in one form or another. We've worked for tiny non-profits, massive media corporations, soulless government agencies and everything in between.
We've designed giant distributed web systems, built translation tools for Afghan recovery services, worked on desktop and mobile, and automated financial reports for election agencies.
We failed our way through countless startups and bounced around from Virginia and Florida to Texas, California and Arizona.
The OwnerRez Timeline
The Cabin on the River
Paul and his wife Katy buy a cabin on the river, spend too much renovating it, and catch the STR bug.
The Beginning
Paul creates a new product for homeowners to manage STR properties and calls it "Owner Reservations".
The Text Message
After years of struggle, Paul begins to close the business for good, but his wife Katy writes a text message that encourages him to continue pressing forward. That framed text message has been in Paul's office ever since.
The Partnership Begins
Paul invites Chris, a longtime work partner and friend from high school, to join him, and a new partnership was formed with a fresh name: OwnerRez.
First Hosted Website Created
The very first OwnerRez-hosted website was created on June 10, 2016. We originally built the Hosted Website functionality for one user, but quickly realized we could enhance it and have a full-blown hosted website engine.
The Pricing Update from Usage to Flat & Logo Change
After years of usage-based pricing, we decide to switch to a flat fee per property - a decision that would lead to years of solid growth. The change is largely well-received because users understand the funding needs behind it. During this time, we also change our logo from the Palm Tree to our current "logotype" OwnerRez logo. We still sneak the Palm Tree icon into projects occasionally for sentimental purposes.
Our First Channel Integration - Booking.com
On February 14, 2017, our first channel integration, Booking.com, went live! From then on, we've worked to build direct channel management with all major vacation rental channels, built entirely in-house.
TripAdvisor Integration
In late 2017, we released our integration with TripAdvisor as our second first-class channel, expanding users' ability to market their listings in more places.
HomeAway Lets Us Into The Integrated Partner Program
We had been banging on HomeAway's door for years, and in 2018, we finally got connected with someone on the HomeAway team who reviewed our proposal and gave us a chance. HomeAway then allowed OwnerRez into their integrated partner program and we built the API connection, which is now the Vrbo "Elite" partner connection.
We hired our first employee
For a decade, it was just Paul and Chris, but in November 2018, the first employee was brought on board.
Inaugural OwnerRez Happy Hour
We hosted our very first OwnerRez Happy Hour at a local brewhouse in Scottsdale, AZ. Meeting customers in person for the first time and hearing their stories was truly special, and since then, we have hosted more Happy Hour events throughout the years.
Less Than 5 Properties on HomeAway/Vrbo
In the summer of 2020, HomeAway/Vrbo launched a pilot program granting API access to property managers with fewer than five properties. OwnerRez users were among the first invited, the result of years of advocacy on our part. By late 2020, the program had moved out of beta, officially expanding API access to smaller managers and helping level the playing field across the industry.
OwnerRez Employee Profit Sharing program
In 2020, we created the OwnerRez Employee Profit Sharing program. This is something we are very proud of; it has never not been funded or paid out in a quarter.
We passed 1 million bookings across our user base
On April 24, 2021, we reached the 1,000,000th booking created using OwnerRez, marking a significant milestone for our users and us.
We hired our 10th employee
On April 19, 2021, we hired our 10th employee as we worked to improve our support and bring on new developers.
OwnerRez San Antonio Hangout
On October 4, 2021, we hosted our second Hangout event in San Antonio during the VRMA International Conference. We had a great turnout with free food and drinks, giving everyone a chance to mix and mingle outside of the conference sessions.
We passed $1 billion USD in booking revenue
On June 27, 2022, we reached $1 billion USD in booking revenue across our user base. A stat that took us a decade to get, and then only two years to reach $1 billion/year!
We hired our 20th employee
On April 19, 2022, we hired our 20th employee. As we grew, we needed to meet our users' needs, offering premium support options and adding more features.
We passed 50,000 listings using OwnerRez
On August 7, 2023, we reached a significant milestone of 50,000 active properties using OwnerRez, a major achievement for us, and we maintained the momentum.
We hired our 30th employee
On February 14th, 2023, we hired our 30th employee. We now had team leads needing more manpower to maintain the high-quality support, featureset, and more!
OwnerRez Disney FL Coronado Springs Hangout
On October 23, 2023, we hosted our third Hangout event in Orlando, FL, during the VRMA International Conference. We had a massive turnout with over 250 people joining us for free food and drinks!
Together At Last
After years of working remotely, we finally had our first whole-company retreat in Punta Cana. 40 team members laughed, hugged, cried, and talked for a week in the Carribean sun.
See what happened! 📷New app design
On April 24th, 2024, we implemented a sidebar main menu to enhance the user experience! This elevated the look and feel of OwnerRez and should feel familiar, as many other apps have a similar structure. This new look also provided a much better mobile experience without losing any functionality.
We hired our 40th employee
On May 10, 2024, we hired our 40th employee. Once we hit 40, it felt like we finally found a good sweet spot where the teams had the manpower to do what we needed, and it was less about building out teams, more about maintaining them and improving our internal processes.
Cancun Retreat
For the second year in a row, the entire OwnerRez team came together for a week of collaboration, connection, and forward-thinking discussions about the company’s future.
New Unified Inbox Released
On January 8, 2025, we released our new unified inbox. It centralized your communication across platforms, ensuring timely responses and improved organization. This update helped reduce missed messages and let you view everything in one place, making those who receive many messages per week across different channels very happy!
Introducing Rezzy
In mid-2025, we introduced our AI assistant Rezzy, a powerful assistant for guest messaging and task automation that helps you manage your workflow so you can focus on what matters most.
Tucson Retreat
For the third consecutive year, we brought our entire team together for a company retreat, this time in beautiful Tucson. Karaoke, Team Penning, Salsa/Margarita Challenge, Cowboy Cookout, Poker Night, and more!
PMv2 Released
PMv2 was built on a new statement and remittance foundation that fixes long-standing limitations of the old PM system and unlocks more powerful tools.
What our customers are saying
OwnerRez is the world's most powerful vacation rental management platform and
the foundation that homeowners and PMs rely on.
Capterra
Facebook
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Trustpilot
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