How Albany Global Property Grew From 32 to 250+ Luxury Listings Across 10 Countries With Hostaway

At a glance:

• Company: Albany Global Property

• Founded: 2017

• Team: 5 full-time team members, plus up to 20 seasonal staff

• Portfolio: 250+ listings across 10 countries in 18 destinations

• Key destinations: Saint-Tropez, Comporta, Marbella, Ibiza, Cape Town, Sicily, Barbados, Courchevel, Costa Navarino

• Started with Hostaway: Nearly 4 years ago

• Key result: ~150% increase in annual rentals, from ~200 to nearly 500 per year

It Started With One Villa and a Family Favour

Not every great business begins with a master plan. Albany Global Property started in 2017 when a family member asked George Gray to help rent out a villa in Portugal. It was supposed to be a small, low-key side project. But one property became three. Three became seven. Seven became twelve. And just like that, a business was born.

Today, Albany Global Property is anything but small. With 250+ luxury listings spanning 10 countries and 18 destinations, from the glamour of Saint-Tropez, Marbella, and Ibiza to the beaches of Barbados and Cape Town, and the ski slopes of Courchevel, it has grown into one of the most exciting operators in the luxury short-term rental space. Behind it all is a lean but mighty team of five full-timers, backed by up to 20 seasonal staff when summer hits its peak.

What makes Albany Global stand out isn't just the calibre of the properties. The company also runs a concierge service that lets guests shape their stay exactly as they want it with restaurant reservations, local experiences, and insider access, all powered by genuine on-the-ground relationships in every destination. George calls it the "rental cycle," and it's what ties the whole operation together.

Before Hostaway: A Business Running on Spreadsheets and Hope

For all its ambition, Albany Global Property's early operations were held together with spreadsheets and sheer determination. Every booking was logged by hand. Every guest message was typed out individually. Cleaners and property managers received no automatic alerts, someone had to personally make sure everyone knew where they needed to be and when.

In fact, the company had entire staff roles built around keeping this fragile system from breaking down. The priority was simple but stressful: make sure every pre-arrival email went out, every property was spotless before the next guest walked through the door, and nothing slipped through the cracks.

"We never had a critical failure, but the challenge was ensuring every pre-arrival email was sent, property managers knew when houses had to be cleaned on time before the next arrival. We never wanted a situation where a guest arrived at a property that wasn't cleaned and prepared. That was a huge concern and daily worry, which has now been alleviated." — George Gray, Founder, Albany Global Property

At that point, the team was juggling 32 listings and over 250 rentals a year. All of it, manually.

It was clear something had to change. As the business expanded beyond Portugal into a multi-country operation, they knew they needed a proper property management system. Their first attempt was a British-based platform recommended by others in the industry which looked promising. But after three months of onboarding, it simply wasn't delivering.

George recalls the frustration: "It felt very much like an analogue digital system! It was slow, illogical and had various glitches that you had to almost hack to fix. Eventually our patience ran out, and we went looking for a better solution."

Why Hostaway? It Came Down to People as Much as Product

Starting over wasn't easy, but this time the team was more methodical. They came across Hostaway on a comparison site that ranked platinum-tier PMS platforms head-to-head. From that point on, it was always in the conversation.

They put several platforms through their paces through live demos, hands-on testing, the works. Hostaway kept rising to the top, winning on usability, functionality, and pricing. But what ultimately made the decision easy wasn't a feature or a price point. It was the people on the other end of the phone.

As George puts it, "The people we spoke with at Hostaway through the onboarding phase made it seem like the right choice for us, which was important, having just had a bad experience with another PMS."

The transition itself went better than anyone expected. Migrating all their listings, something the team had quietly been dreading, turned out to be far smoother than anticipated. Their dedicated onboarding manager, Margarita, guided them through every step, making what felt like a daunting process feel entirely manageable.

The Results: From 200 Rentals a Year to Nearly 500

Almost four years on, the numbers tell the story. Albany Global Property has grown from around 200 rentals per year to nearly 500, a 150% increase that would have been impossible to manage without the right infrastructure behind it.

The Hostaway features that have made the biggest difference day to day:

• Calendar management: keeping 250+ listings across 18 destinations organised and conflict-free

• Automated guest messaging: replacing the manual, one-by-one communication that once took up entire job roles

• Guest and owner portals: keeping all parties informed without the constant back-and-forth

• Multi-channel listing management: all OTA listings handled from a single, centralised dashboard

• Selling extra services through the guest portal: a natural fit for Albany Global's concierge offering

The ripple effect on the team has been just as significant. Staff who once spent the bulk of their day chasing emails and coordinating cleaning schedules are now channelling their energy into growing the business and delivering better guest experiences.

George adds, "We certainly could not have sustained or facilitated our growth without Hostaway. There are a lot of factors involved in growth, but ultimately your organisation and internal structure has to be in shape, and Hostaway is the solution that keeps the back-of-house organised."

The daily dashboard has become a staple for the whole team, a quick, clear window into everything happening that day and the week ahead.

What's Next? Owning the Market, One Destination at a Time

The next chapter for Albany Global Property isn't about adding more pins to the map. The focus now is on depth over breadth, becoming the definitive name in luxury short-term rentals across each of the 18 destinations they already call home.

The goal is to offer the most exclusive properties, deliver exceptional experiences for guests, and generate strong, reliable returns for homeowners. It's a quality-over-quantity mindset, grounded in a simple but powerful belief: Albany Global already has access to some of the finest rental homes in Europe and beyond. Now it's about making sure everyone knows it.

George is clear-eyed about the ambition: "We hope that within five years we can achieve this across our portfolio of destinations. We have renewed focus on quality ahead of quantity, and want to really double down on our belief that we have access to the very best homes available for rental across Europe and beyond."

Company details

• Name: Albany Global Property

• Website: albanyglobalproperty.com

• Primary markets: Saint-Tropez, Comporta, Marbella, Ibiza, Cape Town, Sicily, Barbados, Courchevel, Costa Navarino

• Contact: office@albany-global.com