A 2-year-old, U.K.-based company that specializes in renting private homes to London visitors launched operations in New York last month and is looking to expand to San Francisco, Boston and Miami among other cities, as soon as next year.
Onefinestay, which calls itself “the world’s first unhotel,” has added more than 30 New York listings to its inventory of 500-plus London listings.
The company has about 120 employees and is targeting travelers who would otherwise stay in upscale and luxury hotels. Its New York lodging options include a historical SoHo loft and an old sugar warehouse with views of the Hudson River.
Onefinestay pays agents commissions ranging from 8% for one- to three-night stays to 12% for stays of at least a week.
Onefine-stay’s 33 New York listings as of last week ranged in nightly rates from about $190 for studios in Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoLita to $1,026 each for a four-bedroom SoHo townhouse and the aforementioned two-bedroom converted sugar warehouse in TriBeCa.
The New York listings averaged about $440 a night, or about double the average New York hotel room rate.
Amid this travel industry niche, Onefinestay co-founder Evan Frank said the company differentiates itself by providing a “turnkey” experience for the homeowners; the company handles reservations, payments and on-site guest requests as well as providing things like high-end linens, towels and toiletries for guests.
“We’re replicating the important parts of a hotel, but within a distinctive home setting,” Frank said.
He added that the mark-up Onefinestay takes from the reservation ranges “dramatically,” based on length of stay and other factors, but declined to be more specific.
“We’re not a listing service,” he said.
By expanding, it is looking to grab market share within a lodging market that has expanded in recent years with the growth of companies such as HomeAway and the launch of services such as Airbnb.com.
HomeAway, whose divisions include VRBO and BedAndBreakfast.com, went public last year and boosted its 2011 revenue by 37%, to $230.2 million. J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth, in a June 6 note to investors, forecasted that HomeAway’s annual sales would rise 22% a year through 2014.
Meanwhile, Airbnb.com, which has an inventory that ranges from houses to apartments to individual rooms, earlier this month said it had rented out 10 million room nights, up from about 2 million a year ago.