Santa Fe company BabyQuip partners with vacation rental platform Vrbo

When Fran Maier began hosting for Vrbo and Airbnb in 2012, she quickly noticed there weren’t many options to help traveling families with young children.

“It immediately sparked that, ‘Yeah, this is good. This is a problem that needs to be solved,’” Maier said. “They’re traveling with babies. And my sons are grown men now, but I remember it’s just a hassle to carry all that bulky baby gear.”

The spark would lead to Maier founding and becoming CEO of BabyQuip, a rental service delivering family essentials and baby gear to travelers, in 2016. The Santa Fe-based company announced its official partnership with Vrbo, a vacation rental service, on Tuesday.

The collaboration makes BabyQuip services accessible in Vrbo’s app, allowing travelers to add baby, beach and pet gear to bookings. Maier said Vrbo was interested in expanding options, allowing her to integrate items like umbrellas, chairs, pet beds, crates and more.

“I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for BabyQuip because we’re going to not only get that extra traffic, but more people are going to become aware of BabyQuip overall,” Maier said.

With Vrbo’s help, Maier hopes to fine-tune the program and figure out ways to extend its reach beyond the U.S. She’s also optimistic about the partnership opening doors to new opportunities for BabyQuip.

“It takes a while to get to be big enough and trusted enough to get a partnership like that,” Maier said. “One reason why I think Vrbo was also comfortable partnering with us is that we take trust, safety, cleanliness, the whole bit, very seriously.”

In a statement, Larry Plawsky, general manager for Vrbo, said the partnership is “another way Vrbo is making family travel planning easier.”

“Our partnership with BabyQuip takes the guesswork out of planning and ensures families have what they need when they arrive,” Plawsky said.