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UK based Airbnb management firm Hostmaker tries long-term lettings as it seeks £25m funding

Four-year-old company that has so far specialised in short-term Airbnb booking and property management has been trialling long-term lettings at is Spanish operation.

Nigel Lewis

A London-based Airbnb management company backed by hotel giant Marriott has said it plans to go into the traditional lettings market as it prepares to set up in Edinburgh and Dublin.

Hostmaker.com was established four years ago and specialises in managing upmarket short-term rentals for landlords via Airbnb and other platforms. It has operations in London plus eight cities in five other countries including Paris, Cannes and Bangkok.

The comments by its CEO Nakul Sharman come as the company looks to raise a further £25 million from a third funding round. Hostmaker raised £15 million from its most recent round in November.

Sharma (left) told investors that it wants to spread into new markets including medium and long-term rentals and has already begun trialling a service in Spain via sales and lettings portals such as Idealista.com, suggesting its key markets – including London – could be next.

Hostmaker has some 200 staff around the world and recently signed a six-month deal with Marriott Hotels. Members of Marriott’s guest loyalty scheme who normally earn points staying at its hotels will be able to also gain rewards for staying in Airbnb properties managed by Hostmaker.

The company describes itself as a ‘home rental management company’ and many of its services will be familiar to traditional letting agents including writing listings, photography, property pricing, maintenance, key management and both check-in and check-out property cleaning.

In the UK the company operates in central London including Kensington & Chelsea, Victoria, Highbury & Islington, Shoreditch and Westminster and charges 20% of the booking fee for a full-service offering. Its most recent trading statement reveals it turned over £23 million last year.

Read more about Airbnb.

August 16, 2018

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