UK: European short-term rental property management company ALTIDO has announced the acquisition of property service platform Sherpa, expanding its footprint in Scotland.
As a result, the company is currently on track to exceed the 2022 budget of £13.2 million revenue.
Sherpa, whose platform includes maintenance, cleaning and operations for property owners, and sister company Festival Flats, 15 hand-picked festival rooms and apartments in Edinburgh and Glasgow, has now become part of ALTIDO’s inventory. Sherpa’s cleaning services will form part of ALTIDO’s ever-growing Scottish portfolio.
Rachel Davis, operations manager at Sherpa, said: “ALTIDO has a similar ethos of achieving excellent service for their owners so is perfect to take on Sherpa. I’m also delighted to be joining the new team as client and lettings manager, Scotland.”
With the addition of Sherpa, ALTIDO will now offer a highly diversified portfolio in Scotland, which already included townhouses and country estates such as the historic Georgian mansion Gilmerton House.
In July, the brand opened its first coliving space for students, launching into long-term lets. The 11-bedroom apartment on York Place in Edinburgh includes multifamily communal spaces with shared kitchens and lounges.
In the same month, ALTIDO launched a new portfolio of five rent-to-rent buildings in St Giles, Edinburgh, within easy walking distance to the Royal Mile. Earlier this year, the company also started working closely with a property developer in Edinburgh to refurbish two hotels and a former brewery into aparthotels, which feature kitchenettes, smart locks and are completely staff-less.
The company’s pop-up hotel model had a second successful summer in Edinburgh, where existing student accommodation, that would otherwise remain empty, were transformed into rooms to accommodate visitors to the city and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The initiative brought in £1 million gross booking value to ALTIDO in August alone.
ALTIDO CEO Will Parry said: “We are delighted to be growing our portfolio of over 2,000 properties across Europe with more than 350 properties in Scotland. In this country, 2022 has been all about diversifying ALTIDO’s portfolio with a focus on popular tourist destinations like Edinburgh and Glasgow.
“We have enjoyed finding creative ways of flexing the use of existing buildings in Scottish cities to meet the demand for short-term rentals this year, for instance with our pop-up hotels during Edinburgh Fringe festival. We have also used existing housing stock to refurbish old buildings, repurpose existing buildings and meet demand for coliving spaces.
“We are mindful to respect the recent short-term rental residential regulations coming into force in Edinburgh in April 2023, and continue to build a thriving business around them,” he added.
Following a “transformative” year, the short-term rental brand has been on a rapid growth trajectory that has been facilitated by a significant capital injection made by residential management platform DoveVivo during its acquisition of ALTIDO in February.
In addition to Sherpa, ALTIDO completed the acquisitions of property management companies Flatty and A&A Apartments & Boats in June to bolster its portfolio in Italy.
ALTIDO was originally launched through a merger of four European property managers in 2019, and now manages over 2,000 properties and rooms, including apartments, townhouses, hotels and serviced apartments, across the continent.
