Hometime, Australia’s largest short-term rental property management company, has appointed Alison Walsh as chief marketing officer.
Walsh joins from Chatime Australia, where she was CMO, and previously spent 17 years at Guzman y Gomez (GYG), helping scale the brand from a three-store start-up into a multi-billion dollar global business across the APAC region.
Hometime looks after close to 3,000 properties around Australia on behalf of everyday property owners, leveraging local teams and technology to handle everything from guest bookings to dynamic pricing, cleaning and maintenance.
Investment property owners list their rental properties across major platforms including Airbnb, Stayz and Booking.com, and on average earn up to 25 per cent more than they would managing the property themselves.
Walsh, who reports to Hometime co-founder and CEO Billy Crock, will focus on growing the existing property portfolio via organic growth and by making it easier for property owners to unlock the most from their investment property with Hometime, and on the experience of the guests who choose to stay with them.
“We wanted someone who understands what it takes to build a brand while maintaining what is most important to us, looking after the owners who trust us with their property and the guests who stay in them,” Crock said.
“Hometime hosts almost half a million guests each year in our properties, and we have the highest guest satisfaction in the industry. Alison will help us build on those positive experiences to create the next Australian travel brand.”
Walsh said joining Hometime felt like the early days at GYG again.
She added: “What makes it even better is the product underneath it. Hometime is a tech-enabled service business that consistently delivers. But better than that it’s a brand with real heart that has homeowners and guest experience at its core, and that’s the part I love most, and it’s exactly why I’m here.”
