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Is Airbnb more of a threat than Purplebricks?

Many traditional high street worry about the threat from online and hybrid agencies, but a new digital competitor is fast establishing itself too – the Airbnb management company. The biggest in the UK is GuestReady, a proptech startup that offers a management service to owners of Airbnb properties. It has today announced that it has raised £2.3 million in seed funding to expand its business outside London. The company, which recently acquired London-based competitor Easy Rental Services, has told The Negotiator that it now has 300 properties under management in the capital. The new funding for GuestReady also includes some heavyweight backing from famous venture capitalists including Impulse VC, which is backed by Roman Abramovich and Xponova, backed by LastMinute.com CEO Fabio Cannavale (pictured, let). The rapid spread of Airbnb and management companies like GuestReady which manage properties on owners’ behalves, has begun to worry many agents as Airbnb begins to eat into the short-term rental market in many cities, once the preserve of traditional letting agents. Airbnb hosts are not supposed to rent their properties out for more than 90 days, a regulation the website announced in December last year, but a recent report by the Institute of PublicPolicy…

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