Bachcare benefits from Airbnb effect
If you had to choose a business to go head to head with, Airbnb might not be it.
But Leslie Preston, who founded bach-booking platform Bachcare in 2003 in Hahei, is unfazed by the prospect of such high-profile competition. ‘‘It keeps us on our toes.’’
She said it was not just Airbnb she was engaged in a ‘‘David and Goliath’’ battle with – Bookabach partnered with HomeAway in 2013, later acquired by Expedia. Bookings.com is also making a play for the Kiwi market.
Bachcare is New Zealand’s only full-service holiday let provider, offering cleaning, bookings and dealing with guests. Preston said the competition raised consumer awareness of booking a house as holiday accommodation.
‘‘Airbnb made people more aware of the value of holiday homes but people are time-poor, so they want a full-service solution.’’
Bachcare now has nearly 2000 holiday homes and last year had 135,000 guests. It recently launched in Dunedin and has acquired a management business in Te Anau.
The business had 35 per cent revenue growth year-on-year in the past few years, she said.
Holiday houses were an essential part of the Kiwi psyche, she said, and a business such as Bachcare helped the average person get a taste of it.
The biggest challenge was finding people to take on the management of properties in each area. Growth had been a longer and harder process than Preston first expected. ‘‘It’s been a challenging road to get to the size and scale we have now – years and years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears.’’
It had also required major investment in technology, she said, which had meant loans and investing ‘‘ahead of the curve’’.
Preston said most people renting out holiday homes were simply trying to offset their ownership costs. ‘‘If you were on the fringe dabbling in it you might think it’s all a bit hard with rates and all the time it takes . . . But if you’re serious about it, it’s just part of the cost.’’
Stuff is the media partner for Small Business Month, supported by CAANZ.