Summary
There are other companies with potentially confusing sounding names we hadn’t considered when we first started Turnkeyed. One of them recently sent us a nastygram. Rather than argue and risk confusion, we’re changing our name to Ensourced.
TLDR;
Why Turnkeyed?
We started our company after recognizing the need for co-hosts who can help folks run various aspects of their Airbnb businesses. We originally chose the name “Turnkeyed” because it conveyed what we were trying to accomplish– and saw that the domain was available.
Why Change?
It recently came to our attention that the word “turnkey” for services related to vacation rentals was being shared by two other businesses in the US. In fact, those two are already in heated debate over who has first rights over “turnkey” and “turn-key” (… seriously…), and one of them sent us a threatening letter saying we were infringing on their rights.
Because we have a unique trademark and logo and have a laser focus on servicing Airbnb listings in our immediate metro area (while remaining engaged with the local Airbnb host community), confusion with other “turn-key” businesses has never been an issue. In fact, none of our hosts or guests were ever confused, and we had no idea this would ever come up.
Regardless, even though we believe we have the right to keep using the “Turnkeyed” name, we realized that fighting over a word you can find in a dictionary would be ludicrous and take too much of our attention away from our partners.
We decided that a name change is the best way forward, giving us the opportunity to use a truly unique word to identify ourselves.
Why Ensourced?
Ensourced is the name of the company Charity and I pitched in the Entrepreneurship course at the University of Washington at Bothell ten years ago. Although we never fully launched the human resources-focused business back then, we’d always held hoped to resurrect it someday.
We strongly feel Ensourced still represents what we’re doing– enabling hosts to outsource parts and key services of their Airbnb business to us as their trusted partners.
We see this as a great opportunity to make the “Ensourced” name synonymous with our company and our special brand of host and guest relations.
Plus, besides being uncommon, we won’t have any problems with businesses using the word “Ensource” since they’re in completely unrelated fields like energy, environmental sciences, and cable sleeving. Yay!
What Does This Change Means for You?
Not a whole lot other than the name on our website, and our invoices will have a different header and business name.
No matter what, we are committed to providing the same fantastic service to hosts, and we will continue to delight guests under the Ensourced name.
We sincerely thank you for your business and appreciate your patience with us through this transition.
Here’s to our ongoing shared success!