Airbnb management firm to list homes on long-term rental website

A holiday lettings company and a longer term private rental listings services have come together to try to optimise income for tourist and Airbnb-style landlords whose properties might otherwise be empty in the ‘low season’.

Hostmaker is now going to list its inventory across the Spotahome site.

While Hostmaker deals mainly in short-lets and holiday bookings across sites including Airbnb, HomeAway, Onefinestay and Booking, it is now going to list on Spotahome which specialises in listing longer-term lets in major European cities such as London, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, and Lisbon.

For Hostmaker, Spotahome provides exposure to longer-term bookings beyond the 30-day maximum stay of some vacation booking sites, allowing the property management company to meet rental regulation requirements in a number of cities where there are restrictions in minimum lengths of stay.

The companies say the mid-term residential rental option is proving advantageous to those tenants who cannot commit to or be locked in to a full 12-month term which include students, visiting professors, business executives relocating, or temporary contractors. 

“Spotahome provides access to a market that can cater for the low season, that guarantees income for the property owner so they can stabilise income over the year and utilise short lets for peak seasons,” says David Grey, head of yield management at Hostmaker. 

“Regulation in London provides an opportunity that most other cities do not have; the flexibility of very short stays and those that do not neatly fit into six-month plus.” 

Across Europe local rental regulation needs to be adhered to, therefore to remain compliant Hostmaker requires access to channels that will attract longer booking terms, especially relevant in Barcelona where minimum stays are 32 days and Berlin where they are two months.

“Where landlords want longer term tenancy agreements, they feel more comfortable with a more flexible approach to ensure they are meetings the standards of regulation” adds Grey. 

“But also we are finding external stakeholders can influence the type of rental lengths, especially where the property owner must meet building management demands or wants to maintain good relationships with neighbours - notably where they are more accepting if renters are staying a while.” 

James Heffer, London manager for Spotahome, says the company is developing its platform to be fully integrated with big suppliers that offer entire properties and which usually work with vacation rental platforms. 

“Currently a majority of our listings come from HMOs, ASTs and Licence Agreements managed by property managers and lettings agents who normally advertise on property classifieds and these suppliers work differently from how property management companies like Hostmaker work.” 

“Spotahome moves the residential rentals viewings process online for lettings agents and property managers, thereby fully digitising the marketing process. This allows them to focus on their core activities, including property management and acquisition - avoiding the time-intensive scheduling and management of live viewings - bringing the rental industry online and inline with consumer expectations.”