Who are you and what do you do?

I am Arnaud Bertrand and I am CEO of HouseTrip, one of the world’s largest holiday rental websites.

How did you come about your idea?

My wife, Junjun and I were students at L’Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne. We were doing internships in London and decided that we needed a holiday in Scotland at the end of our contracts. We didn’t want to stay in a hotel, so we looked for a holiday rental instead. Unfortunately, we found the process to book anything incredibly complex. Some hosts asked for faxed confirmations, others wanted full payment by wire transfer. We thought there had to be a better idea. So, we created HouseTrip. And we went live with the website in January 2010.

What is your USP and what do you make different from the others?

We focus on complete rentals and have a very strong focus on Europe. So we are very much an ideal website for families. We are also the only company founded by people with a background in hospitality rather than tech or online entrepreneurs. As such, we have unique hospitality-focused offerings such as our frequent booking programme, which gives a free night stay for every ten nights booked

What is your biggest challenge?

Staffing is our biggest challenge. To grow as a company, we need developer talent. But there is a massive shortfall in good developers in Europe. So it’s a real battle to find good people who are technically savvy, creative and passionate

The most important thing to know for start-up founders

It isn’t ever going to be a 9-5 job. To be successful, you will need to be ready to give your all and kiss any social life goodbye in order to build your company. I am lucky in that my wife works with me so we are side-by-side during working hours. So I have the benefit of having family around me.

To implement an idea costs money, how do you fund yourself?

We have secured funding in the amount of $60M from the three biggest VCs in Europe: Accel Partners, Balderton Capital and Index Ventures

Thank you for the interview. We wish Arnaud Bertrand all the best in his future endeavors.