Five minutes with: Dale Smith, founder of Host & Stay

Congratulations on the £10.5 million Growth Partner investment. How will the backing be harnessed to drive further growth across Host & Stay?

The investment is a pivotal milestone. We plan to use this backing to accelerate our growth strategy, which includes enhancing our technology, expanding our portfolio of managed properties and continuing to acquire property management businesses nationwide through our buy-and-build strategy.

The investment will also help us scale our operational infrastructure, which is crucial to supporting our long-term vision of becoming one of the leading short-term rental operators in the UK and, within time, overseas.

We have an outstanding team and, with the new support and investment from Growth Partner, we’re one step closer to achieving our mission of redefining industry standards, enhancing guest experiences and providing ease of management with unmatched services and yields to property owners.

Upon announcing the support, you said it would help Host & Stay become “one of the world’s best short-term rental operators”. With that in mind, should we expect to see recent domestic acquisitions matched by international expansion in the near future?

While domestic acquisitions are a key part of our growth strategy, international expansion is certainly something we’re considering as part of our long-term plan.

Right now, we’re focused on strengthening our position in the UK market, but the ultimate goal is to take the Host & Stay brand beyond the UK.

The recent investment gives us the resources and confidence to explore opportunities abroad when the time is right.

The investment represents a significant step forward for Host & Stay, which celebrates its sixth anniversary in December. Has the business exceeded growth targets or is it tracking the course set out in your initial blueprint?

Host & Stay has consistently outperformed our expectations in terms of growth.

Since launching in 2018, we’ve grown from a local family business, with a handful of properties, to managing more than 1500 holiday lets across the UK.

While we had ambitious targets from the start, the demand for high-quality, professionally managed short-term rentals has exceeded even our optimistic forecasts.

Our trajectory is certainly in line with, if not ahead of, the original blueprint.

Growth Partner is the brainchild of ex- Newcastle Royal Grammar School pupil and HomeServe co-founder Richard Harpin. Having such a renowned entrepreneur validate your business model must fill you with great confidence?

Absolutely! Richard’s backing through Growth Partner is a huge validation of our business model.

His success in building HomeServe into a FTSE 250 company demonstrates his deep understanding of what it takes to grow a business sustainably.

Having Richard and the team at Growth Partner believe in our vision gives us incredible confidence as we continue to scale Host & Stay.

The UK holiday market has boomed in recent years, with the impact of events such as COVID-19 and financial constraints caused by higher living costs encouraging more people to explore Britain. How do you see that momentum continuing as we head into 2025 and beyond?

The COVID-19 pandemic and other economic factors have made staycations more appealing. We expect this momentum to continue into

2025 and beyond, as more people appreciate the value, convenience and flexibility of domestic travel. Additionally, with growing trends toward sustainable tourism and the rise of digital nomads, we believe there will be sustained demand for short-term rentals across the UK.

Prior to launching Host & Stay, your career included time with car sales firm Peter Vardy Limited, in Scotland, where you became a board director at just 25. You’ve spoken previously about the impact of that role, not least the nurturing you received from the company’s eponymous founder. Just how influential was that time, and how has it helped shape your oversight of Host & Stay?

My time at Peter Vardy was incredibly formative for my career.

Peter was a mentor, and the values he instilled in me – customer centricity, attention to detail and the importance of building a strong team – have been integral to how I run Host & Stay.

Becoming a board director at a young age gave me the confidence and leadership skills to take calculated risks and scale a business, which has been instrumental to Host & Stay’s success.