Company background

Solving the lodging technology problem

Direct empowers professional short-term rental operators to consolidate a variety of different unit types on one sleek software platform built for coordinating operations, distribution, guest engagement, accounting, and third-party integrations.

2018

Direct launches as an end-to-end Property Management System (PMS) designed specifically for the short-term rental industry.

2

founders with two winding paths that converged before a huge problem was unearthed.

2

businesses created within the short-term rental space led to the launch of Direct.

15+

years of using technology in the rental management space and running businesses with SaaS technology.

Our co-founder story

Multiple short-term rental businesses, over a decade of experience

Co-founders Wes Smithe (CEO) and Chad O’Farrell (President) serendipitously met in Chicago through a mutual friend in early 2015. Prior to meeting, Wes co-founded a global marketplace for professional vacation rentals called Vaystays, a spinoff of a niche marketplace for college football weekend home rentals he helped launch with his previous partners in the late 2000’s called GamedayHousing.com.

While successfully leading hotel & resort business development efforts at Groupon Getaways, Chad witnessed first-hand the impact alternative lodging was making in the travel space, and he quickly decided to make the leap into the startup world joining Wes at Vaystays. 

A few years later, convinced by the recent advances in web technology, and the severe level of dissatisfaction among the professional operators supplying Vaystays, Wes and Chad decided to pivot to building a modern, enterprise-grade PMS with native channel connectivity, and Direct was born.

Football weekends got the team into the STR space, but exposure to professional suppliers unearthed the big realization: the industry needed a software update!

Ready to take part in the lodging technology revolution?

Create your account in minutes as the first step in taking your business to the next level. You'll get a risk-free, 15-day trial. Get in touch with our sales team to request a demo.

Straightforward pricing

We don't hide our pricing. Enter your unit count & monthly booking volume to see what you'll pay us.

Looking for enterprise

If you manage 201+ units, transact high booking volume, or have a unique business model, let's chat.