A high-end online travel agency plans to add more than 1,200 properties to its portfolio as part of its ambitious growth plans.
Luxury Cottages specialises in hand-picked staycation rentals matching discerning guests with the highest quality luxury stays in the most sought-after locations across the UK. The company recently secured investment which will also allow it to create 25 new jobs.
Luxury Cottages was launched in 2020 after founders, Alistair Malins and Michelle Sephton, identified a gap in the market and created a one-stop resource where holidaymakers can easily find their ideal unique holiday homes. The investment follows the appointment earlier this year of Richard Carrick as chairman, whose experience includes roles as Hoseasons’ chief executive and non-executive director at Blue Chip Holidays.
Through curated properties which are personally inspected by the team at Luxury Cottages, the company is able to match requirements of both guests and hosts by consistently providing reliable, high-quality holiday rentals with an unmatched level of personalised service.
The company is making access to state-of-the-art holiday homes easy for everyone, catering for large groups, couples, and families. Each holiday home is personally picked by the team to provide an unrivalled offering.
The travel industry has seen a sharp decline due to the coronavirus pandemic, however 43% of the respondents in GlobalData’s survey said they would consider taking a domestic trip in the next 12 months. Travel insurance provider ABTA also showed that 33% of domestic travellers are planning a countryside trip, up 5% from 2019.
The investment comes from Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) managed by venture capital firm Midven, part of the Future Capital Group. Midven decided to invest in Luxury Cottages, who are based Staffordshire, because of the potential in this exclusive niche of the travel sector.
Giovanni Finocchio, investment director, said, “The pandemic has shown changes to the way people travel and staycation is now a word which is part of our everyday language. We’ve identified that this part of the economy will continue to expand, and we don’t see any decrease in this trend. We’re always looking out for opportunities like Luxury Cottages to help companies to realise their ambitions.
Alistair Malins, CEO and founder, said, “We’re an ambitious company keen on growth and this investment enables us to expand our operations into new areas including the Cotswolds, Yorkshire, Wales, Devon, and Cornwall. We’re all about providing holiday homes that create mouth-wide-open reactions when people open the door. The next step is to grow our team so we can continue our stellar records of personalised customer and owner service that we have built the company on.”