In a bid to participate in the increasingly encompassing ‘sharing economy’, Europe’s biggest hotel group, AccorHotels, has acquired the high-end home rental site onefinestay for around $170m.
While AccorHotels will own onefinestay when the deal is complete, the latter will maintain its own branding and operate as an independent unit. It will also continue to be run by Co-Founder Greg Marsh and his team.
AccorHotels, whose subsidiaries include Mercure Hotels, Sofitel and Hotel Ibis, now plans to invest some $73m in order to assist in onefinestay’s upcoming global expansion. According to Reuters, onefinestay hopes to enter around 40 new cities over the next five years, a move that will see its revenue grow tenfold from the $21.4m it earned last year.
The acquisition marks one facet of the new strategy that is being led by AccorHotels’ Chief Executive Sebastien Bazin, which also involves a major reshuffle and the sale of 85 economy and midscale hotels in Europe for around €504m.
“This acquisition is very much strategic for AccorHotels and fits in perfectly with what we’ve been doing over the past three years”, Bazin told Business Destinations. “It strengthens our presence in the luxury market with a complementary offer and helps us capture the growing trend in private rentals.”
Similarly to Airbnb – onefinestay’s biggest rival – onefinestay provides a platform for short-term home rentals, thereby benefitting both the homeowner, by providing an extra income, and the traveller, by means of homely accommodation that is often far cheaper than a hotel.
At present, onefinestay manages around 2,600 luxury properties in London, Los Angeles, New York and Paris, with a Rome launch expected this summer. According to Bazin: “The global private home rental market is estimated to be [worth] about €80bn, and we estimate that there are potentially 100,000 homes suitable for onefinestay in the key gateways we identify. AccorHotels’ midterm target is to expand onefinestay’s network to 40 new cities around the world over the next five years.”
A major selling point for customers is that the company curates each property individually, so as to ensure an upscale and consistent experience every time. However, although onefinestay offers a more involved service and a higher standard of accommodation than Airbnb, its geographic coverage is quite limited in comparison.
For this reason, an allegiance with the likes of AccorHotels is a game changer for the London-based start-up: this injection of capital will enable onefinestay to expand its location offerings, while the added prestige of backing from such a renowned hotel group can only be beneficial in the long term.
