Michael Flaxman: joins Staycity board
European serviced apartment operator Staycity is pleased to announce the appointment of a non-executive board director and two senior executives.
Former Accor chief operating officer and member of Accor’s global executive committee, Michael Flaxman, has been appointed to the board as a non-executive director.
Flaxman, a much respected hotel operator, spent 27 years with Accor working across its hotel portfolio, which includes brands such as Sofitel, Adagio, Novotel, Mercure and Ibis. He left Accor in 2011 and has since been working as a consultant to the hotel industry.
Keith Freeman becomes Staycity’s chief operating officer. Freeman, previously operations manager with Whitbread’s leading budget brand Premier Inn, was closely involved in the successful launch of the brand in Ireland.
“Recruiting high calibre, experienced hospitality professionals is a vital part of our strategy and will help us in our aim to develop and expand. I admire Premier Inn for its award-winning customer service and am delighted to welcome Keith on board to drive our own customer service to new highs,” commented Staycity co-founder and CEO Tom Walsh.
The appointment of Michael Flaxman and Keith Freeman follows that of Anthony Carragher as Staycity’s chief commercial & development officer.
Anthony has served on the board of Staycity since 2007 having previously been partner/chief financial and investment officer for Irelandia, the investment vehicle of the Ryan family, founders of Ryanair, in which capacity Anthony served on several high-growth airline boards.
Staycity, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary, has over 1,000 apartments across eight European cities with plans to expand to 5,000 over the next five years.
Later this month the company will open 161 purpose-built apartments across two properties in Greenwich, London, with further apartments to follow in Venice and Lyon.
Recently, Staycity unveiled the first TV advertising campaign for the serviced apartment sector, designed to raise customer awareness of the brand.
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EDITOR’S NOTES
About Staycity
Staycity is a profitable, privately held company with headquarters in Dublin, offering quality short-term apartment lettings in city centre locations. The majority shareholding is held by the
founders and management, while some 40% is held by Irelandia, the investment vehicle of the Ryan family, one of Ireland’s wealthiest families.
Staycity’s business model is based on long term, full repairing and insuring leases and increasingly management contracts. Apartments are fitted with the aim of giving customers what they want, while stripping out extraneous features for which the travelling public does not necessarily want to pay.
As well as having a fully equipped kitchen with dining room/lounge and bathroom, properties also feature complimentary Wi-Fi access; flatscreen TV; complimentary sports channels; a living area/kitchen; weekly housekeeping; heating; rollaway sofa beds in many apartments; iron and ironing board; cot & high chair (on request); hairdryer; and a lift to all floors.
Tom Walsh – Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dublin-based Tom Walsh was previously Plant Manager of Henkel Loctite Ireland, a high-tech specialty chemical and biomedical manufacturer with a €150m turnover. He was in charge of operations, logistics and engineering with a staff of 200 employees.
Tom holds a primary degree in Engineering (Dublin) and a first class honours Business degree from UCD. He founded Staycity in 2004, with his brother Ger, working part-time for the company before becoming full-time in 2006.
