What’s your background?
“I received a bachelor’s degree in Law and Economics from San Pablo CEU University. After finishing my studies, I took my backpack and travelled the world for a year before beginning my professional career as a banker and entrepreneur. Following a gap year, I began working in London for Santander UK in 2010 as a strategic consultant and soon transitioned into the M&A department at The Royal Bank of Scotland in 2012 I was the youngest employee in the M&A department at RBS. While working at RBS, I co-founded Alterkeys.com, one of the largest vacation rental platforms with more than 100,000 properties operating in 42 countries. I sold Alterkeys.com in 2015 to Be Mate, and joined Be Mate as an executive of the company.”
What were the main advantages behind BeMate’s acquisition of Alterkeys early in 2015, and what has happen to the team since?
“Alterkeys was a key part of the Be Mate expansion strategy as per the amount of properties Alterkeys would bring, over 100,000 in the main cities in Europe; a well known brand with operations in several countries and sharp technology to be embedded onto Be Mate’s. Most important of all, a young but bright founding team who joined this new adventure to share their knowledge of the industry and their vision on how to plan the future steps of the company. Nowadays Alterkeys is independently operating but we are working on combining the best of the two companies.”
What are the differences between Be Mate and Airbnb?
“Both companies are great and innovated in a significant way. Airbnb is more focused on offering any type of accommodation, anywhere, so one can rent a couch in the city centre, or a castle in the country, as well. Whereas Be Mate only focuses on excellent, unique apartments in the best locations of the best cities in the world. On top of that, Be Mate wants to offer a hotel experience for travellers who wish to rest peacefully when travelling and don’t wish to take care of some tasks on their own (cleaning, booking transfers, food shopping, ticketing, etc) hence it provides hotel services to each of its properties. Be Mate focuses on a higher end type of customer who is a bit less worried about spending money but very sensitive on the experience they receive, hence Be Mate steps in to ensure a consistent experience everywhere it is.”
Do you think the growth of the short term vacation rental sector has been beneficial to the serviced apartment sector, and if so how?
“I am positive about it. Companies like ours have made people aware of the fact that there is more than just hotels or hostels to stay when travelling. Also we have contributed to raise the bar on quality of this service. Today more and more people choose to stay in an apartment rather than a hotel and that’s because we (the new companies on this market) have changed and shaped this business model, by orientating it to our customers’ needs. Of course the serviced apartment sector has contributed a lot, too.”
How do you think the short term rental sector will mature over the next few years?
“I think it is going to be a great movement to watch, and luckily I will be able to watch it very closely. I believe the short term rental market is going to take a larger share on the accommodation industry, with a few big players leading this industry. I myself have invested in a short term rental company which buys/rent properties to be rented out for short periods, as I reckon there is so much to do on this activity yet. We need to improve our offering to our customers. There is a lot of insecurity and risk yet on this industry as per lack of regulation in some cases, and per lack of professionalism in others, so it is our duty to help owners, authorities and other companies to bring quality on the table.”
You are a panellist at the forthcoming Serviced Apartment Summit conference in July – what are you particularly looking forward to?
“I am always up for meeting new colleagues and disruptive companies within my sector. I think this will be a great experience personally, and professionally to be surrounded by like-minded people. We have some common thoughts and worries, hence this Summit will be a great opportunity to solve some of them, and generate others.”
www.bemate.com</p
