Winners announced at inaugural Shortyz Awards ceremony in London
UK: The 13 winners at the inaugural Shortyz Awards have been announced at a glittering ceremony aboard Bateaux London on the River Thames, after much anticipation from the global short-term rental community.
More than 150 attendees filled the boat for an initial drinks reception complete with canapés with a tangible sense of excitement for the night ahead. Following that, everyone settled down to enjoy the first-ever awards ceremony to take place in the short-term rental space, as well as the entertainment on offer from Music Concierge.
The event proved to be a big hit with those in attendance, which included an eclectic mix of rentalpreneurs, vacation rental operators, technology providers, channel managers, PMS and RMS providers, property professionals, interior designers, payment system providers, insurance companies, media, investors and podcasters.
HomeAway was headline sponsor, while the event was also supported by noteworthy sponsors in the shape of Pikl, NoiseAware, GUARDHOG and AirDNA, as well as supporting partners and industry heavyweights, Phocuswright, Short Stay Show, Skift, the UK Short-Term Accommodation [STAA] and HOST.
The awards were first conceived in 2019, less than a year after ShortTermRentalz’ successful launch in September 2018. With the global short-term rental market reaching a value of US$170 billion this year and set to grow at a CAGR of 6.89 per cent up to 2022, it was the opportune moment to launch an awards in a burgeoning industry that is becoming increasingly innovative and is rapidly expanding alongside the convergence with the hotel and serviced apartment segments.
The purpose of the Shortyz was to:
- Recognise excellence amongst industry peers
- Highlight innovation and industry best practice
- Reward achievement
- Celebrate start-up technology
Work began on Shortyz preparations back in September 2019 when we launched the awards, before more than 250 companies and individuals submitted nominations for any of the 13 shortlists that they believed applied to them. When the nominations deadline passed at midnight on 31 January 2020, our expert panel of judges came together over one week to compile 13 shortlists, taking into account all of the submissions and their suitability in line with the proposed criteria for each respective category.
The shortlists were then revealed one-by-one across ShortTermRentalz and our social channels on an exciting day of announcements and the industry was asked to vote for its favourites in each shortlist over a two-week period in February.
Our judging panel was: Paul Stevens, Shortyz head judge and news editor of ShortTermRentalz; Jessica Gillingham, director of Abode PR; Simon Lehmann, co-founder of AJL Consulting; Louise Birritteri, founder and CEO of Pikl; Shomik Panda, founder and managing director at Inline Policy, and director general of the UK STAA; Damian Sheridan, director of the More Bookings Direct conference, London; Michael Goldin, director of business development at NoiseAware; Karen Mullins, regional director for the UK and Ireland, HomeAway; Matt Landau, founder of VRMB.com and vacation rental advocate; and Deborah Heather, director of Quality in Tourism.
The confirmed winners of the 13 shortlists at the inaugural Shortyz are:
- Beach Retreats
- Dormoa
- Furnished Quarters
- Mark Simpson – Boostly [winner]
- Stasher
- Wil Slickers
- Check-in-Scan [winner]
- KeyNest
- Sykes Holiday Cottages
- Touch Stay
- TravelNest
- Wishbox
- Klevio
- Minut [winner]
- NoiseAware
- Operto Guest Technologies
- Virtual Concierge Service
- YourWelcome
- AirDNA
- GUARDHOG
- I-PRAC
- NoiseAware
- PriceLabs [winner]
- Wishbox
- Beach Retreats
- Cuckooz
- HomeAway
- MadeComfy
- Travlet + Nestor Stay [winner]
- YAYS
- AltoVita
- Check-in London [winner]
- Furnished Quarters
- Homelike
- ReloQuest
- Urban Rest Apartments
- AltoVita
- DirectBooker [winner]
- FabStayz
- Holidu
- HomeAway
- TheatreDigsBooker
- BookingSync & Smily
- Casal dei Fichi [winner]
- City Relay
- Luxury Frontiers
- Nestor Stay
- Quality Unearthed
- Breezeway
- Guesty
- Hostfully
- KeyNest
- Lavanda [winner]
- Wishbox
- Avantio
- BookingPal
- BookingSync & Smily
- MyVR
- Rentals United
- Zeevou [winner]
- ALTIDO
- AvantStay
- Casago
- easyBNB
- MadeComfy [winner]
- UnderTheDoormat
- Andria Santos [Fulhaus]
- Vivi Cahyadi [AltoVita]
- Victoria O’Connell [Golightly]
- Deborah Labi [Have You Got]
- Andrew Schulz [NoiseAware]
- Jacob Wedderburn-Day and Anthony Collias [Stasher]
- Alex Limpert [GuestReady] [winner]
- Merilee Karr [UnderTheDoormat]
- Sebastien Grosjean [BookingSync & Smily]
- Steve Schwab [Casago]
- Vanessa de Souza Lage [Rentals United]
- Guy Westlake [Lavanda]
- Moriya Rockman [Smiling House Luxury] [winner]
- Chris Maughan [I-PRAC]
Congratulations to our first-ever Shortyz Awards winners!
Keep up-to-date with all of the latest short-term rental industry news on ShortTermRentalz in the meantime. Details about the Shortyz in 2021 will be revealed in due course later in the year on this website and our social channels, including LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
ShortTermRentalz.com is the go-to website for news and informed comment. The Shortyz brings leaders together to recognise individual and company best practice and achievement to help drive
the sector forward.
