Short-term rentals firm Hostmaker heads for administration
Hostmaker, a London-based lettings company, has entered administration.
The company’s staff are now facing potential redundancy, while Houst — formerly known as Airsorted — is believed to have bought Hostmaker’s client base, according to industry website Shorttermrentalz.
The news followed a week after the Sunday Times reported Hostmaker was facing a potential insolvency battle.
Sign up to Morning Wire’s Midday Update newsletter, delivered to your inbox every lunchtime
Founded in 2014 by husband and wife pair Nakul and Deepti Sharma, Hostmaker had raised £23m to date in two separate funding rounds.
It used the investment to expand into European markets, but losses rose in excess of £20m over three years.
Much of this expenditure was spent on advertising on London’s transport networks in order to drum up new customers.
This is said to have encouraged buy-to-let landlords to convert their properties into more lucrative short-term lets, rather than long-term rentals.
RSM UK has been appointed as administrators for Hostmaker, Shorttermrentalz reported. RSM could not be reached for comment.
The news comes on the same day that it was reported Airbnb is set to delay its upcoming initial public offering, after profits turned into losses and the spread of coronavirus took a swing at Airbnb’s revenue.