Onefinestay heads to the Hamptons

London-based hospitality startup eyes 40 new markets in five years

Onefinestay and Bespoke's listings in the Hamptons
Onefinestay and Bespoke's listings in the Hamptons

Hospitality startup Onefinestay is going to the Hamptons this summer.

The company — a high-end rival to Airbnb that offers hotel services to hosts and travelers — is launching a portfolio of vacation homes in the East End, the first in a series of new leisure markets it plans to roll out this year, the company said.

Collections will be a hand-picked portfolio of vacation homes that Onefinestay is selecting in partnership with Bespoke Real Estate [TRDataCustom], a residential brokerage in the Hamptons that specializes in properties valued at $10 million and up. Among the listings is a six-bedroom unit on Ocean Road in Bridgehampton that’s asking $241,077 for a 30-day stay. Looking for something swankier? There’s also an 18,000-square-foot Southampton estate on eight acres that’s available for $1.9 million for the month.

In addition to the Hamptons, onefinestay will expand Collections to Southern California, the French Riviera and Edinburgh.

The expansion comes several months after onefinestay was acquired by France’s AccorHotels for $170 million. At the time, AccorHotels said it would pump another $73 million into the six-year-old startup to grow its footprint to 40 cities over the next five years.

“We’re accelerating our rate of expansion by quite a bit,” said CEO Evan Frank, who is based in New York. “We imagine that a lot of that expansion will happen in Europe and the U.S.”

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The new markets will be a “stone’s throw” from Onefinestay’s core cities, which include New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Miami and Rome. Onefinestay has 2,100 listings, including 400 in New York.

Frank said customers were increasingly asking to rent properties in both leisure destinations and cities. “So this is a way to offer more breadth of choice and locations,” he said.

In the Hamptons, Bespoke’s Michael Cantwell said the partnership would benefit his firm in several ways — by enabling it to offer clients Onefinestay’s “concierge level of service” and by expanding Bespoke’s network of potential renters.

Onefinestay, which raised $80 million from investors, including Hyatt Hotels, before being bought by AccorHotels, entered the New York market in 2012. Since 2015, it’s been partnering with local agents to tap into their client base.

Despite New York City housing laws that prohibit sublets of less than 30 days, short-term rentals are a big part of the city’s residential market.

Nationally, Airbnb has gone head-to-head with lawmakers and interest groups around the country who oppose its business. In December, the home-sharing company, which is valued at $30 billion, withdrew a lawsuit against New York City for passing a law that could hurt its chances of expanding.