Airbnb booking service Hostmaker ceases trading

The London start-up has gone through £30m of investor’s cash raised during two rounds of funding.

Airbnb booking service Hostmaker ceases trading

Airbnb booking service, Hostmaker, has ceased trading after failing to find new investors.

The London start-up has gone through £30m of investor’s cash raised during two rounds of funding.

Accounts show that in 2018, the company spent £12m and generated £9.9m in revenue.

The company offered landlords a short-stay service and charged to list their properties on Airbnb.

It also provided the availability to collected payments, confirm check-ins and clean the properties.

Hedi Zidan, founder and chief execuitve at Nestify, said: "The demise of Hostmaker demonstrates the challenges the short-term letting industry, and wider property market is facing.

“Although the property market has rebounded in recent months, unprecedented long-term uncertainty has not come without impact.

“Ultimately short term lets are vital to landlords, particularly those who need greater flexibility for their circumstances, and those who will be affected by the restriction of mortgage interest relief to the basic rate of income tax coming in from April, which could put a significant dent in their profits.

“Landlords need options tailored to them, and offering a mix of short, mid and long term lets provides exactly this.

“We have a number of property specialists at Nestify to guide landlords through their options, depending on their circumstances and the market situation."

James Jenkins-Yates, founder and chief executive,added: As reported, Hostmaker’s UK business has been placed into administration and has subsequently ceased trading.

"On Friday, our offer to acquire Hostmaker’s non-UK subsidiaries was accepted by its administrators. As part of this, we have also stepped in to ensure all of Hostmaker’s UK hosts can continue offering the same great service to guests we know they strive for. Our focus on the immediate future is to seamlessly transfer all of Hostmaker’s hosts to our platform so that they can continue business as usual.