● GuestReady CEO and Co-Founder, Alexander Limpert (33), went from cleaning and managing Airbnb listings to managing an AED 3.6 billion real estate portfolio in just three years.
● The news comes just one year after GuestReady launched its holiday home management services in Dubai, its fastest-growing market, that today has AED 237 million assets under management (AUM).
● The company experienced a rapid period of growth due to a surge in demand from property developers as the company expanded its services to mid-term rentals.
● Last June, the company closed its Series A funding round with AED 22 million. The investment was co-led by GCC based fund, VentureSouq, and Impulse VC, the Russian fund backed by Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich.
Dubai, 13 November 2019 – GuestReady Group announced today that it has passed AED 3.6 Billion assets under management. The news comes just one year after the company launched its services in Dubai, its fastest-growing market, that today manages an AED 237 million real estate portfolio.
The PropTech startup uses its in-house developed software to enable homeowners and property investors to tap into the Airbnb trend by providing end-to-end holiday home management services.
“It was my first-hand experience of being an Airbnb host that inspired me to set-up a service that would simplify hosting to time stretched hosts. I started to look at how software can reduce spending time listing a property on multiple booking sites, managing check-ins and check-outs of guests, cleaning and maintaining a property while upholding a 5-star quality service for our hosts and guests”, CEO and Co-Founder, Alexander Limpert (33) remarks.
The company’s holiday home management system helps centralize and automate processes, such as the dispatching of service providers, payment schedules and guest communications.
GuestReady’s ambitious launch in 2016 set its growth trajectory, as it opened in six cities at the same time.
“I must admit, it was an ambitious plan and would not have been possible without a great team of experienced entrepreneurs behind me. We knew that if we wanted to make GuestReady a success, we needed to think big”, Limpert explains.
“In the beginning, it was just me running and setting-up operations for GuestReady London. I put up all the listings, cleaned apartments, prepared the beds for guests, dealt with property maintenance, responded to guests’ queries and welcomed them at the property as they arrived”.
“In 2016, after living and working one year in Asia, I moved back to London to set-up GuestReady and we appointed country managers in Paris, Amsterdam, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong. By deliberately opening operations in a couple of cities, we were able to quickly test, learn, adapt, and scale our market strategy”.
“Not all our markets got traction though, within a few months after our launch, we decided to exit Amsterdam and Singapore. We saw that the demand for our services in these cities was limited, so we decided to focus our resources elsewhere”, Limpert continues.
In the last year, the PropTech startup enjoyed a rapid period of growth with an increase of demand from senior hosts, multifamily homeowners, and property investors.
Reem Al Khatib, GuestReady Dubai Managing Director, says that “Dubai property investors are increasingly choosing to rent out their properties on the short and medium-term rental market to benefit from up to 20%- 40% higher returns as compared to long-term rentals”.“It’s essential for landlords to maximize the income from their properties to keep yields healthy. We have recently launched our mid-term rental management services to help landlords maintain a steady income throughout the year and benefit from the flexibility offered by short and medium-term rental contracts. With Dubai hosting the Expo 2020 from October 2020 to April 2021, it will be an excellent opportunity for property investors to increase their rental returns with 20-25 million visitors expected to attend the event next year”, Al Khatib continues.
About GuestReady
GuestReady is a globally leading short-term rental management company, which provides professional services to property investors, homeowners and Airbnb hosts in the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Services include everything from listing creation to guest communications, housekeeping, key management, and price optimisation.
GuestReady acquired three companies in the last year to boost its presence in France and Portugal. In December 2018, GuestReady employed 70 full-time employees (FTE), today it employs 150 FTE worldwide and is actively hiring in the UK, France and Lisbon. The company closed their Series A funding round in June this year, bringing the total funds raised to USD 10 Million.
For data insights into the short-term rental real estate market in the UAE or globally, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
UAE PR CONTACT
Walid El Majzoub
TRACCS Regional Media Relations Manager for GuestReady
walid.majzoub@traccs.net
GLOBAL/ UK PR CONTACT
Wiets Helwig
GuestReady Global PR Manager
+ 44 203 868 3401 | M +44 (0)7 742 450 926 press@guestready.com
For more information or to arrange an interview with Alexander Limpert (CEO and co-founder) or Reem Al Khatib (Dubai Managing Director), please do not hesitate to contact press@guestready.com or call us at +44 7742450926.