August was a seasonal high and September gave some of it back, as we expected it would. What matters is the floor. Recurring revenue settled well above where it was before summer, on a book that has grown 63% in units since January.
Recurring revenue fell 8.9% from August to September. Little of that is the season itself. Most of it is three specific events: franchise contracts changing shape, one departure, and one invoice held while we amend a contract. Strip those out and the rest of the book moved by less than one percent.
A 65-unit luxury operator in Atlanta signed as the month closed. The detail that matters is what they negotiated for. They asked for exclusivity across the Atlanta metro, meaning we will not run revenue for their direct competitors there. Operators do not ask for that from a software vendor. They ask for it from a team they think gives them an edge.
Two more franchise locations finished their transition out of the Vacasa arrangement in September, following the first in August. Each now contracts with us directly on a percent-of-revenue basis. That bills lower at first, because those contracts ramp, and it is the largest single piece of September's dip. It also means three relationships that used to run through a third party are now ours outright.
We reorganized the revenue team so one senior leader runs revenue management performance and another owns client success through onboarding and the first six months, plus our channel partnerships. Our churn concentrates in that early window, so it now has someone whose whole job is getting a new client through it.
Anyone can look good in August. September is where you find out whether summer revenue was a season or a business. Ours settled 7% above where it stood before summer, with a larger book of contracts that has not finished paying yet.
Each new account resets the off-season baseline higher. Seasonality moves revenue both ways within a year, but this fall's starting point sits above where summer began.
Percent-of-revenue contracts bill below their true value for months after signing. The franchises that converted in September start that climb now, and ramp does not reverse.
An operator asking for market exclusivity is buying a competitive advantage, not a tool. That is the position we want to own in every metro we enter.
The off-season is when receivables and payroll pull hardest against each other, and we still carry debt from earlier in the company's life. Demand is not the issue. Capital timing is, and it is why closing the round on a sensible timeline matters.
Three of the twenty accounts we signed in the last six months have left or given notice, all inside their first four months. That is a delivery problem in the onboarding window, not a demand problem, and it is exactly what the new client success role exists to fix.
One of our longest-standing clients is being acquired by a larger operator and will leave at the end of October. It is the right outcome for them. For us it is a door into the acquirer, and I am meeting their leadership this month.
Two things move the needle for us right now, and both travel through the people already closest to Pacer.
20 to 500 unit independent short-term rental portfolios remain our ICP, and ultra-luxury boutique books are squarely in scope.
Investors open to an allocation in the active round, ideally with a view into property technology or hospitality.