From chefs to nannies, Onefinestay private home rentals come with access to a team of hospitality professionals to highly personalise stays. Jenny Southan reports
Every traveller is familiar with Airbnb but Onefinestay, which is now part of Accor, flies under the radar. Listing only luxury homes, the brand goes above and beyond to provide a “truly curated hospitality experience,” says Onefinestay’s chief brand and marketing officer, Amanda Dyjecinski.
She tells Globetrender: “We invest time to personally connect with our guests and homeowners and then we anticipate their individual needs, and tailor stays with amenities, services and destination experiences.”
I have stayed in a few Onefinestay properties over the years but was interested to try booking one of their private chefs for an intimate dinner party with friends. I didn’t want to host at home because I didn’t want the hassle of cooking for a group and then having to clean up. Plus, I have a young child, so being able to put them to bed upstairs while we entertained downstairs seemed ideal.
We rented a stylish, four-storey house called Groom Place in a converted stable block on a cobbled mews in London’s Belgravia but were under strict instruction not to post details of the exact address on social media. Why? Onefinestay takes cares to protect the privacy of the homeowners it works with – who, in this case had an valuable collection of fine art that they wanted to protect. (There was a large-scale iPad drawing by David Hockney in the living room, and an original Banksy and Lichtenstein in the downstairs kitchen, among other works.)
Upon arrival in the afternoon, we were greeted by a Onefinestay concierge who showed us around the house, explained the rules and how things worked, where the keys to the communal garden on Belgrave Square were kept and what to do upon check-out.Guests also have 24/7 support from Onefinestay via phone call and WhatsApp – the company says they “always do…