Can someone help explain exactly what “Stay Alfred” is

[Javan Ross]

Can someone help explain exactly what “Stay Alfred” is?

[Benjamin Vail]

I think you mean "does anyone know what Stay Alfred "WAS"? 

I read an article yesterday that Stay Alfred filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy yesterday! I don't want to see anyone suffer, but I can't hide my excitement for this news... Let me start from the beginning. 

Stay Alfred is a short term rental company, (Like Sonder, Vacasa, Domio, Lyric, ect..). Their main business model was renting several apartments from new built apartment buildings, and filling them with furniture, and re-renting them back out on Airbnb and short term platforms like Vrbo. Stay Alfed is one of the companies that got VC backed funding. They raised $60 million, and were off to the races. In my hometown of Columbus Ohio, they came in and opened 60 units in a matter of a month. They signed 60 leases, and opened units in many of the new built buildings. 

I like business competition just as much as the next red-blooded American, but for me running a start-up STR management company that I started in my garage, and funded myself, I can not compete with a $60 million backed VC company. I just can't. They operated at a loss, in order to soak up market share.

I made it to the VRMA international conference this year in New Orleans, and I met some of the people who worked at Stay Alfred, they are nice people. I sat in a session on revenue managment, and It was really cool to sit in a room with the leaders of the biggest STR companies in the world, and what I learned was that they really don't know that much more about revenue management (dynamic pricing) than I do!

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago,... Stay Alfred announced that they were going to "put a hold on all rentals for 8 weeks, to pass the virus and open back up". I thought that was strange, because how much that would actually cost them to shut down with $0 revenue for 8 weeks and how would they pay rent on the thousands of leases they just singed nationwide? 

Then yesterday I could not help but be excited to learn that they are closing for good. I am already making a plan for how I will approach those landlords about taking over some of the Stay Alfred dumped units. 

I am so glad you asked.... Can someone explain what "Stay Alfred" is?... And like I said, you should change it to "What Stay Alfred Was?" ... :)