Bachcare has taken a significant step in its continued growth as New Zealand’s leading short-term holiday home rental management company, securing investment from UK holiday rental firm Sykes Holiday Cottages.
The undisclosed sum will be used to continue expanding Bachcare’s presence in the New Zealand holiday home market and enhance its guest and owner experiences.
The move gives Bachcare, which manages over 2,000 properties across 150 locations throughout New Zealand, access to the technology, tools, people and insights of Sykes, one of the UK’s largest independent holiday rental agencies with almost 14,000 properties across the UK and Ireland.
It also supports Sykes’s ambitions to grow internationally, with this being their first investment outside of the UK and Ireland.
Bachcare will continue to target the domestic New Zealand market, operating under its existing brand which founder Leslie Preston, now CEO, established in 2003.
Leslie Preston, Chief Executive of Bachcare, said: “Competing with large multinational companies has helped make Bachcare what and who we are – an honest, independent business that is absolutely committed to giving our holiday home owners and guests the best, full-service experience possible.”“With the great synergies between us we’re confident that, together, we can retain all that makes us unique while also benefiting from the backing and scale of Sykes, enabling us to achieve our long-term ambitions. It will undoubtedly take our guest and holiday home owner experience to a level never seen before here in New Zealand.”
Graham Donoghue, chief executive of Sykes Holiday Cottages, said: “It has always been our ambition to scale into new markets and, working together with Bachcare will enable us to take our first step towards further international growth.”
“Staycations are a huge and growing part of the leisure sector in New Zealand. Bachcare has grown to lead that market through its laser-like focus on delivering an excellent experience for holidaymakers from the moment they land on the website to leaving the property at the end of their holiday.
“There is huge respect for the business Leslie has built over the past 15 years, and by learning from each other’s expertise, we are confident that Sykes Holiday Cottages can continue growing in the UK, that Bachcare will maintain its growth in New Zealand, and that together, we can enter other new markets around the world.”
Bachcare employs around 50 people at its Support Office near Auckland and works with around 100 contracted holiday managers across the North and South Island. They hosted their one millionth guest in 2018 and have seen holiday home owner enquiries about their full-service management grow by 25% in the last year.
Sykes Holiday Cottages employs more than 500 people and last year served more than 1.5 million holidaymakers from its head office in Chester. Sykes is the 6-time winner of the British Travel Awards best large Cottage Company (2013 through to 2018) and one of the The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For 2019.