In recent news, the company has secured $56 million in funding led by Investcorp. This brings the current amount that the company has raised to date to $90 million.

Nikhil Sikri, Co-Founder and CEO of ZoloStays, said:

“We are creating a personalized living experience keeping the customer at the core. It allows them to personalize the way they live and work, all on their terms. We partner with them as they rewrite their own story and re-imagine life.”

Zolo will use the capital to support technology development and strengthen its AI-backed platforms, along with a number of other projects in the works for the near future. 

To cope with the societal changes due to the global pandemic, ZoloStays is offering exclusive coliving campuses to people wanting to live closer to their workplace to cut down on commute times. The company is currently discussing plans for a ‘built-to-suit’ project, as well.

As the curated living trend continues to increase in popularity, Zolo says it will soon be launching Zolo Red Carpet, a luxury offering that will include wellness studios, all-day in-house cafes, workspaces, modern decor, and concierge services. 

First stop is Tangier. Located outside of the Kasbah is this private villa that combines modern architecture with traditional interior design. The villa has a number of amenities including 8 suites and an infinity pool overlooking the sea and with more than 250 sq.m of terraces.

https://www.luxuryestate.com/p75200985-villa-for-sale-tangier

Morocco has, like many Middle Eastern and Middle Easter-adjacent countries, unique cityscapes. Here is an urban apartment, which continues the trend of mixing modern luxury with traditional Moroccan decor and style. The apartment offers three bedrooms and four bathrooms, a private garden, an outdoor pool, and a carport.

https://www.luxuryestate.com/p52154105-apartment-for-rent-per-month-marrakech

Located in Bab Atlas about 15 minutes from downtown Marrakech, this modern wonder offers 11 bedrooms, two living rooms, a pool with changing rooms, two kitchens, and a fire pit. There are servant quarters, a pool house, Jacuzzi, and underfloor heating.

https://www.luxuryestate.com/p78748625-villa-for-sale-marrakech

This country house offers more than just a large villa in the rural Moroccan countryside. Sitting on the same land is 5 hectares of olive trees. Nestled on one side of the Atlas mountains, this home has picturesque views and just far enough away from Marrakech to continue enjoying the luxuries of a city without the hustle and bustle of a more highly populated neighborhood.

https://www.luxuryestate.com/p85020343-country-house-for-sale-marrakech

Last, but certainly not least is our personal favorite. This is a little more special than a villa- it’s a palace located in Medina, Marrakech. This historic structure has over 30 rooms, 25 of which are bedrooms. For entertaining, there is a bar, a restaurant-sized kitchen, private spa, pool, and a number of terraces. The decor is that of traditional Moroccan royalty, making it the jaw-dropping beauty it is, today.

https://www.luxuryestate.com/p80116943-palace-for-sale-marrakech

There you have it, the five most beautiful houses and apartments on the Moroccan market. Drop us a comment with the next country you'd like us to write on and we'll oblige!

The real estate agency is now doubling back and telling its agents that saying the campaign isn’t back-dated. 

In fact, what agents are saying and what Zoopla is confirming aren’t matching up. Zoopla says it won’t extend its offer to agents, even though agents who have come forward claiming the company contacted them personally with the offer. 

Zoopla told sources that there is no change to the fee reduction offers as of this time. 

The real estate agency saw high spikes in sales this month and has reported that the ‘leave Rightmove’ campaign has been an outstanding success. However, whether or not the misunderstandings between agency and agent continues will yet to be seen.

The decision a user makes around whether or not to pay for extras when uploading a classified listing is a split second one. If they’re faced with a lot of forms to fill in about their credit card or financial information they may well choose not to purchase. Clearly, reducing the friction around the payment process will be key for many classifieds companies looking to take advantage of the coming uptick in listings.

In the latest episode of our vodcast series, Simon Baker interviews Andrea Boetti, VP of Business Development at Fortumo about how his company uses telco payments to make the payment process simpler for people posting listings on classifieds websites as well as how the landscape is changing around payments.

Although nobody knows when the lockdowns and restrictions will end, we know they will end - there will be a life after this. The question is what kind of a market will we be in.

Right now, marketplaces are looking at products to support a world of social distancing, from video tours and VR to supporting remote working. Discussions are now being had about what’s next. Interestingly, this evolution intersects with many marketplaces desire to get closer to the transaction.

The 2017 HSBC Beyond the Bricks report shows that the research phase of homebuying is already digitised. 89% recent home owners looked for available properties online, 86% searched online for house prices and 70% went online to help research where they would like to live. This is where portals currently sit. They are facilitators of research and points of first contact. It’s at this point however that the “digital split” occurs. 

Beagel white label technology connects the next link in the chain by embedding bidding in the portal. Even in normal circumstances, your business is highly competitive; we’re deep in the bidding vertical so you can concentrate on the core business. Plus as a Microsoft partner company, you and your clients benefit from the increased stability, reliability, security and supportability you demand.

 According to Charlie Nunn, then HSBC’s Head of Group Retail Banking and Wealth Management: 

“The process of buying a home will change beyond recognition in the coming years. It will be a more streamlined transaction, with buyers and sellers having greater control and relying much more on technology.” 

The market openness to the technology is exemplified by the Beagel SaaS platform beagelbid.ie, launched in the Irish market in 2019. Over €1bn of offers have been powered by the platform in the period. Prices achieved are 4.5% over asking price and completion rates are over 99%. These figures speak for themselves.

Why is this? The IPSOS/MRBI Trust: the Truth studies consistently show that 70% of people don’t trust estate agents; they’re ranked alongside journalists & politicians.

Online bidding gives buyers and sellers a window into the workings of the bidding process. It shows that agents have a sound business practice that’s being adhered to. 

Rather than sending a blind enquiry on a property, someone can now register their interest, see exactly what the current offer situation is and be kept up to date on the sale - live In essence, the marketplace becomes the facilitator of transparency and trust; the independent third party.

By putting buyers in control of the process, portals now become gatekeepers of trustability. This is a critical position previously lacking in the industry. As Robert J. Shiller wrote in Finance and the Good Society:

“As standards for trustability continue to rise, the companies, brands, and organizations shown to lack trustability will be punished more and more severely.”

Marketplaces now evolve from 'top of funnel' lead generation providers to trust facilitators. By working with Beagel, there’s now no need for the old 'leap of faith' as transparency and trust are readily available at the click of a button.

As Mike Del Prete wrote in Millions More Buyers (2020):

“To grow, portals still need to provide new, value added services to customers, and not simply raise prices.”

In a Covid-19 world of social distancing, remote working and ever-growing expectations, trust becomes the competitive advantage.

Healy Hynes: CEO Beagel.io

UrbanDigs reported that listings dropped 85% compared to the previous year and that there was a 279% increase in the number of listings taken off the market in Manhattan. 

Professionals are staying hopeful in the shadow of these numbers, banking on the idea that these transactions are just on hold and that those looking to move will continue with their searches once the economy rights itself again. 

This is partly why a number of agents are calling to refrain from removing listings. Though transactions and new listings have decreased, portals are reporting large waves of traffic on their sites, showing that people are still looking, though they may not be able to go through with a purchase right now. 

Portals like Zillow, and its NYC channel, StreetEasy, along with Compass and others outside of the US market have turned to virtual tours, doubling the number of digital walkthroughs since mid-March. Zillow reported that its 3D home tours were saved almost 50% more frequently since the beginning of March and have since increased to 80%. 

Real estate professionals are seemingly confident in the market bouncing back from the financial impact of the coronavirus. Though it’s not the hardest-hit industry, it certainly is feeling the pressure while transactions plummet and portals and agents see revenue decline. The US housing market has survived a number of struggles- professionals are sure this too, will pass.

Now former employees of Matterport have gone to LinkedIn to announce that the company has been quietly laying off its workforce. Some 90 employees have been let go even though the company seems to be benefiting from the pandemic. 

One post said:

“I had the privilege to work at Matterport for 4 years and unfortunately my time has come to an end due to Covid-19 circumstances.”

Another announced:

“I had the amazing opportunity to work at Matterport for the last 3+ years and unfortunately, had to say goodbye to the colleagues and team that grew to love each other and work towards a common goal.  As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, I am now searching for new opportunities and looking forward to starting the next chapter in my career."

It seems that even with the success of its camera sales as property portals turn to virtual tours to answer the issues that arise from quarantine orders, Matterport isn’t completely immune to the struggles of COVID-19.

We know that companies all over the world are re-evaluating expenditure on work spaces and employees all over the world are getting used to working from home. Is the customer profile for flexible office space changing?

A great number of tenants that initially approached us to seek advice in their search for a conventional office space are currently shifting their requirements towards flexible office space due to the economic uncertainty. This demand is seen mostly from tenants that never considered flexible solutions before and now they are seriously exploring this opportunity for their non core departments, BCP (business continuity planning) and/or for working from home (WFH) solutions. 

So, do you think the trend will continue?

The crisis will generate a new number of tenants that will experience flexible office space and its benefits for the first time, and increase the likelihood that those tenants will use it for their permanent office in the future and/or include it in their permanent BCP solutions. Similar to first time online shoppers via e-commerce platform as there are no other options available.

A much greater number of existing tenants in flexible solutions are extending their rentals as well. Clients with a 3 to 6 month contracts are extending for the whole year but asking for rent reductions. 

What do you think the big questions in the office space industry will be when we come out the other side?

A great question for the future is how flexible operators will be willing / allowed to fill up their spaces in terms of density, until the health crisis is completely gone and how tenants / employees will be comfortable with density of spaces (both conventional and flexible). This is a real topic moving forward as we all know that proximity between the workstations is not the only concern. Common facilities such as pantries, meeting rooms and everything else are also important. 

Flexible office space has been a bit of a niche up to now. Do you see the competition hotting up?

While a number of developers like Philippines’ Ayala (with their own Clock In brand), Singapore’s CapitaLand Ascendas (with Bridge+) and Keppel (with Kloud brand) are already operating their own flexible solution, even boutique or smaller developers will be accelerating to enter this space, if they have not done so already.

The trend of developers across Asia also opening their own flexible solution brand will accelerate quickly. Developers now understand that flexible solutions are here to stay, and with the current economic uncertainty lots of tenants will prefer to have a flexible only or mixed use solution (conventional / flexible) ideally in the same building - and these developers are uniquely positioned to offer this solution. 

So as companies increasingly look for flexible solutions and more big players enter the market to provide it, what do you think the likely upshot will be?

It will bring additional capacity to the market but at a much more competitive price, as developers do not have the underlying cost of rent in their financial model. Their objective is to mitigate conventional office space exposure and - where possible - get a higher yield on their flexible solution, which is totally possible. 

Some notable examples: 

Singapore

1) BRIDGE+ 3 floors of private offices and events, 56,000sqf managed by Capitaland same as CoSpace and workstations located in other Ascendas-Capitaland buildings), with customer profile of 20 PAX 2) C-SUITE (owned Lendlease): Customer profile 30 to 200 PAX 3) Kloud (Keppel Land): Customer profile 20 PAX 

Hong Kong

1) Blue-Print (Swire Property). Mostly for servicing existing tenants in the build and between 4 to 20 PAX people. 2) Eaton Club (Great Eagle Holding), customer profile from 2 PAX to 40 PAX 

Philippines

1) Ayala’s Clock-in, with 7 locations across the city targeting tenants of 5 PAX and above (mostly local markets of SMEs) 2) Robinsons’ Workable with 2 locations with more in the pipeline, targeting PAX of 5 and above 

Some developers are getting ready to potentially acquire (and consequently run) the operations of defaulting operators in their buildings, as they will end up owing the fit-out investment of the operators, they will have no CAPEX cost. 

What is FlySpaces doing for developers in this new office space landscape?

At FlySpaces we are already assisting various developers in the studying phase of adding flexible office space in their buildings, our data is being used to help better assess the financial feasibility of each location.

So with big-players coming into the market, will this have a knock-on effect?

A number of small flexible office space operators that do not have enough cash reserve to go through this storm will potentially close, unless they manage to renegotiate rentals with their landlord and leverage the surge in demand.

Does that affect FlySpaces’ business as a marketplace?

This has a marginal impact on our business as 80% of our leads are generally closed with the top 10 operators in each country where we operate and they are not facing major cash flow issues (I.e. Spaces, Regus, KMC, Common Ground, Co-Hive), and more and more directly with landlords.

We have covered the travails of WeWork on OnlineMarketplaces. Is their situation any different? 

Among the top operators, WeWork may receive additional pressure on their already unstable economic situation, but so far the locations across our markets have been filled up with no problems. 

With so much change in the sector, do you think the financial stability of the co-working operator will become an important thing for incoming tenants to research? 

Each country in the region has what we call a ‘Local Champion’: a homegrown player which competes with the international incumbents (i.e Regus) in each country. They are in a better financial position to handle the local enquiries as tenants will look at the financial stability of the operator before signing a lease.

We made our data publicly available and you can find information about operators in our resource centre: https://explore.flyspaces.com/reports-and-guides 

Residential People outlined that the Coronavirus is set to cause the most significant global financial disaster since 2008.

The firm added that the property market is also on the brink of a crisis, unless it embraces change.

Due to the government’s guidelines on self-isolation, the property portal believes that many bricks and mortar high street agents could suffer significant losses.

In order to avoid increased losses, Residential People believes that agents should embrace technology.

It outlines video conferencing and virtual tours in order to give interested parties a more detailed look at a home as opposed to static imagery, as an alternative approach.

Lucy Pendleton, Co-Founder and Director of James Pendleton said that the impact of the virus has already begun to have very real implications for the property market.

She added:

“Coronavirus impacted our business for the first time a few days ago, stealing away a sale that was just days from exchanging.”

Read more here

Tripadvisor hired bankers, was circulating a prospectus, and conducting calls with potential buyers as of a month or so ago, according to multiple sources.

If Tripadvisor can find a buyer then the deal might include Tripadvisor’s U.S. brands FlipKey and VacationHomeRentals, Holiday Lettings, and Housetrip in the UK, as well as Spain’s Niumba.

Potential buyers could include Expedia, Booking, Airbnb, Oyo, and Vacasa, as well as local players perhaps in the UK and Spain, for example. Perhaps, too, a private equity buyer might be able to come in and try to sell pieces, or right the course.

The Tripadvisor brand itself in vacation rentals would not be sold outright, but the demand could be licensed, according to one source. For example, Tripadvisor Rentals could generate the demand, but the vacation rental could be booked on FlipKey under new ownership.

A Tripadvisor spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

It make sense that Tripadvisor would want to retain a vacation rental product in some form while foregoing the operational costs. Tripadvisor still needs to offer users rental options if it is to remain true to its vision of providing end-to-end solutions to facilitate the so-called “perfect trip.”

Tripadvisor’s rental offerings are primarily obtained from individual owners — not property managers —who list their properties for free, and pay a commission. That could be attractive to some buyers because those type of rentals are laborious to sign up.

Read more here