A word from the captain of the ship, Gregory
First and foremost, welcome to AirDXB. I am sure by this time you have read the various services we offer to take all the stress out of hosting your home. I do not wish to repeat what you have already read, I would rather tell you who I am and why I decided to launch this modern and forward-thinking business. Firstly me, hi, I am Greg, the captain of this ship. I started in real estate many years ago, 2001 to be specific. Fresh faced and eager to learn, I started with one of the largest independently owned real estate agencies in the UK, this gave me a good spring board into the world of buying and selling homes to the masses.
My career then took me into privately owned, smaller firms where I was able to spread my wings and was introduced to selling large country manor houses. One word, WOW. I dealt with some of show business’s elite while selling some of England’s finest estates on the South coast. From here I ran and grew the business to incorporate a holiday home department for over 7 years where I learned the true importance of someones’ holiday. Enjoyment and no stress seemed to be key. Coupled with this, I property managed a portfolio of over a 100 properties for an individual. Between the two I learnt the true meaning of customer service and the true meaning of managing peoples’ expectations and their main financial assets.
Not shy of an adventure, Dubai caught my eye for its dynamic and growing real estate sector, not to mention the sun, heat and well, general lack of rain. Having spent many years watching a new building appear monthly, I finally ended up in one of the finest firms on the planet setting new records in real estate transactions. Fun at the time but I was always keen to be part of something new, revolutionary if you will. Now I am not an inventor nor consider myself as the next Bill Gates, but I was definitely not going to be another number in a large corporate firm, queue AirDXB.
How and why did it happen then? Well it is a good story, one of those ‘light bulb’ moments. Having heard and seen the financial potential of renting out my apartment through Airbnb while traveling abroad, I accumulated several guests over a short period of time and earned my 5* rating with personal touches and friendly communication to the numerous nationalities happy to stay in a place I call home. Now, the moment that moved my life in another direction. A cleaner was due to clean and tidy my apartment after a guest left, (a polite young lady I recall who left her slippers behind – I have still got them if you ever want to collect them) in time for the next guest, arriving at 3.30am from Paris. At the time I was in America and trusted my cleaner to do her job. Silly mistake, she did not turn up, my next guest arrived, and the apartment was not clean nor presented in the 5* manner it always has been. The guest, quite rightly, was not happy. The issue was dealt with quickly and effectively and he was actually quite thankful, understanding I had been let down. Driving in the open countryside somewhere in the middle of Texas, I was racking my brains which friend would check on the apartment going forward. At the next Wi-Fi friendly restaurant, I checked online for companies that could offer a host friendly service to either fully manage my home or do the odd request, and I found nothing.
That was it, that was my light bulb moment and I decided to progress the idea in Dubai. This world is moving at such a fast pace and becoming so tech based. Most phones have Instagram, Facebook and Twitter apps and in no time at all Airbnb will take its rightful place beside these tech giants as a must have app given the phenomenal places you can now stay around the world. Airbnb has opened a world of strangers, to become a world of friends. And with this, why not give those hosts that can not manage their homes nor their guests a stress-free option. Or why not allow those investors that do not want to sign a 12-month long term tenancy contract an alternative with better yields – hello AirDXB. We can do that all for you, from the start to explain how Airbnb works and why it will work for you, to how AirDXB makes you the most money in the most effective way, with no stress.
Gregory Lewis