Like David fighting Goliath, but now we're bringing it back
A name that once mapped the quiet countryside of Europe — farmhouses in Tuscany, estates in Mallorca, stone villages in Portugal — fell silent when the machinery of global consolidation swallowed it whole. Now, more than a decade later, Top Rural returns not as a marketplace echo of its former self, but under the stewardship of a small Valencian cooperative that built its identity on orange groves and bicycle paths. The Green Experience has reclaimed the brand from dormancy, betting that the appetite for meaningful, rooted travel is stronger than ever — and that a quality seal, not a booking algorithm, is what rural tourism needs most.
- A brand that vanished into Vrbo's corporate architecture in 2020 is being pulled back from a six-year silence by a founder who describes the fight as David versus Goliath.
- The tension is not just commercial — it is philosophical: a small sustainable cooperative is attempting to redefine what a once-mainstream rural tourism platform should stand for.
- With over 1,000 accommodations already lined up, the relaunch is not speculative; the infrastructure exists, and the clock is running on a rollout expected within months.
- The Green Experience is repositioning Top Rural as a certification of quality and environmental conscience, not merely a listing directory — a distinction that could reshape how rural hosts and travelers relate to the brand.
- The strategy leans on a web of cooperatives, local businesses, and active tourism operators across multiple European territories, signaling that scale here means depth of partnership, not volume of transactions.
Top Rural, the rural tourism platform founded in 2000 by François Derbaix and Marta Esteve, once stood as one of Europe's most significant portals for countryside accommodation — spanning Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal, operating in eight languages, and listing tens of thousands of properties from Tuscan farmhouses to Mallorcan estates. In 2012, the American company HomeAway acquired it for 14 million euros. When Expedia rebranded HomeAway as Vrbo around 2020, Top Rural was absorbed into the larger platform and ceased to exist as an independent name. For six years, it was simply gone.
The company bringing it back is an unlikely protagonist. The Green Experience grew out of a cooperative in the Camp de Morvedre region of Valencia, beginning in 2003 with just two rural properties in small municipalities like Algímia d'Alfara and Torres Torres. Over time it built a model around three interlocking pillars: rural lodging under the El Rincón de Pau brand, cycling tourism through Mediterranean Bike Tours, and agritourism rooted in traditional orange and olive cultivation. Today it manages ten properties directly and coordinates a network of more than 80 partner businesses across multiple territories.
Santiago Alandí, the company's founder and CEO, spent years pursuing the Top Rural acquisition, describing the effort as fighting Goliath. The terms of the deal remain undisclosed, but the relaunch is imminent — more than 1,000 accommodations are already in place. Crucially, Alandí does not intend to simply resurrect a dormant brand. Top Rural will function as a quality seal for rural tourism, one explicitly aligned with principles of sustainability and environmental respect. The vision is a platform where a stay means something more than a transaction — where cooperatives, local producers, and tourism operators are woven into the experience itself. Funded largely through its own capital and some European Leader funds, The Green Experience is wagering that conscious rural travel is not a niche, but the future.
Top Rural, the Spanish rural tourism brand that vanished from the market more than a decade ago, is making a comeback. The Green Experience, a Valencia-based sustainable tourism company, has acquired the storied brand and plans to relaunch it in the coming months as what it calls a "seal of rural tourism quality." The move marks the end of a long campaign by Santiago Alandí, the company's founder and CEO, who spent years working to bring the brand back to life.
Top Rural's original story is one of acquisition and absorption. Founded in 2000 by François Derbaix and Marta Esteve, the platform grew into a substantial player in European rural accommodation. By the time HomeAway, an American vacation rental company, purchased it for 14 million euros in 2012, Top Rural had assembled an impressive portfolio: more than 11,600 paid listings and nearly 30,000 free ones spread across rural zones in Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal. The platform operated in eight languages and offered everything from Tuscan farmhouses to Mallorcan estates. The founding team retained 60 percent of the company at sale, while investors including Jesús Encinar (founder of the property portal Idealista) and the Bonsai Venture Capital fund held stakes.
But success did not insulate Top Rural from the consolidation pressures reshaping the travel industry. In 2019, Expedia, HomeAway's parent company, announced a global rebranding effort. By 2020, HomeAway itself became Vrbo in Spain and elsewhere. Top Rural, along with other regional brands, was folded into the Vrbo platform and effectively ceased to exist as an independent entity. For six years, the name disappeared from the market entirely.
The Green Experience itself emerged from different roots. It began as a sustainable tourism initiative launched by the Ruralgimia Coop V cooperative in the Camp de Morvedre region of Valencia, specifically in municipalities like Algímia d'Alfara and Torres Torres. Starting in 2003 with just two rural accommodations, the company built a model around three pillars: rural lodging under the brand El Rincón de Pau, cycling tourism through Mediterranean Bike Tours, and agritourism centered on traditional orange and olive cultivation. Today it manages ten properties and has developed a network of more than 80 partner accommodations, cooperatives, active tourism companies, restaurants, and shops across multiple territories.
Alandí describes the effort to recover Top Rural as "like David fighting Goliath." The acquisition cost and timeline remain undisclosed, but he emphasizes that the struggle has been worth it. The relaunch will begin with more than 1,000 accommodations already in the system, ready to operate under the revived brand. The strategy is deliberate: Top Rural will serve as a quality marker for rural tourism, but one aligned with The Green Experience's philosophy of environmental respect and sustainability. Rather than simply resurrecting a dormant brand, the company intends to reshape it around principles of conscious, sustainable travel experiences that go beyond a simple overnight stay.
The Green Experience itself has grown largely through its own capital, with some support from European Leader funds managed by the GAL Túria Calderona. The acquisition of Top Rural represents a significant expansion of that model. Alandí stresses that collaboration and synergy across multiple stakeholder groups—accommodations, cooperatives, tourism operators, local businesses—will be central to how the brand functions. The relaunch is set to unfold over the next several months, positioning Top Rural not as a relic of its former self but as a contemporary platform for sustainable rural tourism across Europe.
Notable Quotes
It has been like the struggle of David against Goliath. It cost us a lot, but now we are happy to return to the Spanish market a brand with great recognition that we are sure will soon operate at full capacity.— Santiago Alandí, founder and CEO of The Green Experience
We want Top Rural to offer experiences aligned with The Green Experience's work philosophy—respectful of the environment, conscious and sustainable.— Santiago Alandí
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did it take so long to bring Top Rural back? It's been six years since it disappeared into Vrbo.
The brand was legally and operationally embedded in Expedia's global system. Extracting it, securing the rights, and building the infrastructure to operate it independently again—that's not a quick process. Santiago Alandí spent years on it.
But The Green Experience is much smaller than HomeAway was. How do they compete?
They're not competing on scale. They're competing on philosophy. HomeAway wanted volume and global reach. The Green Experience wants to build Top Rural as a quality signal—a promise that these aren't just any rural rentals, but ones run by people who care about sustainability and real experience.
So the 1,000 accommodations they're starting with—are those new properties, or existing ones they're rebranding?
Mostly existing. Many are already in their network or partner networks. The work now is integrating them under the Top Rural name and making sure they meet the standards the brand is supposed to represent.
What happens if they can't scale it? If the market doesn't care about the sustainability angle?
Then they've spent years and significant capital on a gamble. But Alandí seems convinced the market has changed since 2012. People want more than just a bed in the countryside now. They want meaning, connection, environmental responsibility.
And the original founders—Derbaix and Esteve—are they involved in this revival?
The source doesn't say. They sold their stake to HomeAway fourteen years ago. This is a new chapter, with new stewards.