onefinestay, a pioneering hospitality business that offers guests the opportunity to experience handmade hospitality in the finest homes, today celebrates the fifth anniversary of welcoming its first guest by announcing growth financing and key hires to its leadership team. These developments will fuel onefinestay in its mission to create the ultimate experience of boutique hospitality with its new category of upscale accommodation.
From opening with six homes, onefinestay’s portfolio across London, New York, Paris and Los Angeles is now six times bigger than the combined inventory of The Ritz, The Plaza, Hotel George V and Hotel Bel-Air, and the company employs more than 700 people today.
onefinestay gives guests access to beautiful private homes, with the assurance of a boutique hospitality service ─ there’s a reservations team available 24/7, the homes are prepared with pristine sheets, towels and toiletries, and guests enjoy a personal welcome as well as an iPhone for local calls, data and round-the-clock guest services. This innovative experience has proven popular among guests from more than 130 countries, generating satisfaction scores of NPS +70, more than double the average for the hotel sector.
onefinestay announced the completion of a $40 million Series D growth financing round, bringing the company’s capital raised to more than $80 million to date. The round included participation from investors including Intel Capital, Quadrant Capital Advisors*, and leading global hospitality brand Hyatt Hotels*, as well as a number of angel investors including Joss Kent, CEO of &Beyond and former global CEO of Abercrombie & Kent; Richard Chen, Venture Partner of Ceyuan Venture and CEO of Yifei Investment Holdings; and Mark Dempster, former Marketing Partner at Sequoia Capital. Existing investors Index Ventures and Canaan Partners also participated in the round.
This financing will support onefinestay in its ambition to create the ultimate experience of boutique hospitality through a series of service delivery, e-commerce and technology developments to enhance the company’s offering for guests and homeowners; initiatives to grow the company’s global presence; and investments in training and recruitment capabilities that are central to onefinestay as a people-led business. It will also fuel the continued scaling up of operations in onefinestay’s existing markets as well as plans for international growth.
As the company sets out on this next phase of its vision to transform the $50bn upscale accommodation sector, onefinestay has also announced several key appointments to its senior management team.
of onefinestay, said, “Over the past five years we’ve transformed the experience of upscale hospitality, creating a compelling new way to make yourself at home in the world’s greatest cities. I’m delighted to welcome Tom, Nick, Petros, Dan and Scott, whose leadership will be crucial to the next phase of our growth.”
onefinestay announces the appointment of:
- Tom Singer as Chief Financial Officer. Tom joins from his previous role as Group CFO at InterContinental Hotels, where he held global responsibility for finance and strategy. Prior to that, Tom was Group Finance Director at BUPA, and also held roles as COO and Group Finance Director at William Hill and Moss Bros.
- Nick Ruotolo as Chief Commercial Officer. Nick was previously President of Vistaprint Europe, where revenues grew from $150m to over $1bn during his seven-year tenure, propelling it to become one of the top 25 e-commerce companies in North America. Nick joins onefinestay from his most recent role as CMO at Cleverbug.
- Petros Demetriades as Chief Technology Officer. Petros is an IT entrepreneur and executive with 32 years’ engineering and 15 years’ senior IT leadership experience. He has co-founded two businesses (GF-X and Incentr) and most recently was a founding team member and CTO of Hellas Direct.
- Dan Atkinson as Group Vice President, People. Dan brings more than 20 years of international HR and general management experience to onefinestay, joining from eBay where he was HR Director EMEA. Prior to that, Dan held a variety of executive-level HR and commercial leadership roles at companies including LEGO Company and AstraZeneca.
- Scott Verney as General Manager of London. Scott has previously held a number of senior leadership roles at Waitrose, most recently developing their e-commerce offering. Prior to that, Scott served all over the world during his 21-year career in the Royal Navy, a highlight being his command of HMS Edinburgh.
The success of onefinestay’s unique model has also attracted partnerships with a number of leading hospitality brands, and the company has achieved coveted preferred supplier status with Virtuoso, the leading global network of luxury travel advisors.
*Investment made through an affiliate of the group.
