Skift Take
OneFineStay has dug into a lucrative segment of the alternative accommodations market, although its approach is somewhat labor-intensive and doesn't scale like an Airbnb. For investors and like-minded companies, though, there are lots of dollars and euros at the end of the rainbow.
Editor’s Note: Skift is publishing a series of interviews with online travel CEOs talking about the Future of Travel Booking, and the evolving habits and device preferences of travel consumers. Check out all the interviews as they come out here.
Greg Marsh, co-founder and CEO of UK-based OneFineStay, says all of its upscale vacation homes are bookable online, and a majority provide instant confirmations, although plenty of guests take advantage of call center support both during the booking process and their stays.
OneFineStay loans out iPhones, with its app preloaded, to all guests, and the company's service teams use the app, as well, to manage the guests' stays, Marsh says.
Marsh has lots to say about the value propositions of "the scale guys" such as Airbnb, and the "differentiated guys" such as OneFineStay, which offers a relatively hands-on upscale experience, and what that means for the emerging megatrend in alternative accommodations.
On the regulatory front, Marsh believes that the laws governing peer-to-peer rentals are getting liberalized in many jurisdictions, although OneFineStay supports laws that limit accommodations being transformed into de facto hotels, which has the detrimental effect of taking housing off the market. Over the latter issue, "street skirmishes" will continue for an extended period, he believes.
Skift discussed the future of travel booking as it relates to the peer-to-peer market and vacation homes, as well as other issues, with Marsh. An edited version of the interview follows:
Skift: I thought some of the trends we might be able to discuss regarding accommodations might include curation, personalization and mobile. I realize that is a mouthful but what trends are you seeing in these areas or others and how will they affect the booking of vacation home rentals?
Greg Marsh: I think curation is certainly a huge component, not only of our proposition, but of what we see as being one of the next phases of the market, which is the emergence of differentiated vendors. In the first instance, whenever a category or new market emerges you have the scale guys, the guys who consolidate, who aggregate demand and aggregate supply and provide a solution for everybody -- even if it is not a perfect solution for everybody.
As markets evolve and mature, you see the emergence of more specialized vendors who have a more particular segment's needs in mind. In a case like OneFineStay, very much our bread and but
