The Guild

The Guild was a venture-backed hospitality company that operated apartment hotels in urban neighborhoods in the United States between 2016 and 2023. Rather than developing or acquiring hotel real estate, the company partnered with apartment building owners to convert designated floors of residential buildings into nightly accommodation, adding hotel-style amenities and services to apartment-style units.

At its peak, The Guild ran 16 apartment hotels across 7 US markets, encompassing about 800 units, and reached approximately $25 million in annual sales. The company positioned its product around larger, design-led spaces in walkable urban neighborhoods, and in some locations worked with local artisans and merchants to connect guests to the surrounding area. Technology was used to reduce friction in the guest experience and support direct booking.

The Guild wound down in 2023. In a retrospective published on its website, the company said weaknesses in its business model were visible as early as 2019, and cited risky lease commitments, a team stretched across too many locations, and large furniture outlays among the contributing factors. It described itself as one of several startups founded between 2013 and 2018 attempting to blend hotel and short-term rental models, none of which, in its assessment, had solved the combination of scale and profitability.

Founding story

The Guild was founded in 2016 by Brian Carrico and Chris Herndon.

Business model

The Guild leased designated floors within existing apartment buildings and operated them as nightly-stay apartment hotels, layering hotel-like amenities, services and guest-facing technology onto residential inventory. Growth depended on signing leases with apartment building partners and furnishing and staffing each location.

Revenue came from nightly room rates for apartment-style accommodation, with an emphasis on direct booking driven by guest loyalty rather than reliance on third-party channels.

Traction

Peak metrics reported by the company include 16 locations, 7 markets, roughly 800 units, about $25 million in annual sales and a $125 million peak valuation, with $50 million raised from around 250 investors and roughly 250 people employed over the company's lifetime.

Latest developments

The Guild closed in 2023 and its website now hosts a retrospective of the company's operating history, peak metrics and lessons learned.