WEBSITE OF THE YEAR: ONEFINESTAY.COM
The judges were unanimous in choosing onefinestay as the outright winner. onefinestay, the world’s first unhotel, lets guests live like a local in a distinctive private home while the owner is out of town, but with all the comforts and conveniences of a hotel. The carefully curated collection of homes across London and New York are showcased in beautiful photography displayed on onefinestay’s slick website. Not only aesthetically appealing but also user-friendly, the sophisticated online booking platform allows a home to be booked as easily as a hotel room. In addition, it enables the owners to log on and update their homes' availability in moments.
onefinestay was founded in September 2009 by Greg Marsh, Demetrios Zoppos and Tim Davey, who between them have backgrounds in property management, logistics, investment and technology.
onefinestay founders, Greg Marsh, Tim Davey
CATEGORY WINNERS
The evening commenced with the announcement of winners of the twelve categories.
Arabella Dymoke, MD of the GWG, commented, "Drawing up the shortlist was a hard task but then choosing the category winners was even trickier, as all of them have merits. The shortlisted sites, whether they win tonight or not, have certainly earned their place on this list and are extremely useful sites, some of them game changers." Arabella went on to thank the judges, Alex Chesterman, Gabrielle Hase, Julie Meyer and Chris Turner, who put the sites through their paces.
RETAIL
www.cultbeauty.co.uk - An online beauty boutique and ezine where the best kept secrets to looking good are revealed.
HOME & GARDEN
www.seedpantry.co.uk - A great range of grow-your-own veg boxes, seeds, plants and gardening equipment, as well as tips and how-to guides.
FOOD & DRINK
www.housebites.com - Reinventing the takeaway, allowing customers to order food from top chefs in their neighbourhood for home delivery.
BEST OF BRITISH
www.biscuiteers.com - Famed for its tins of delicious picture perfect iced biscuits.
TRAVEL
www.onefinestay.com - Gives you the opportunity to stay in someone's home while they're out of town, with hotel service to match.
BUSINESS
www.parcelmonkey.com - Gives users access to cheap courier services for parcel delivery in the UK, Europe and over 250 international destinations.
FINANCE
www.TheEnergyShop.com - Lets you compare energy prices for your home, helping customers switch to a cheaper energy supplier.
EDUCATIONAL
www.sortedfood.com - Online hub for all your food needs, with 100s of recipe videos.
INFORMATION/NEWS
www.darlingcollective.com - Online boutique for things to do, from cupcake making to bee keeping, all hand-picked and curated by a small and dedicated team devoted to promoting unique, high quality entrepreneurial ventures.
ARTS/CULTURE
www.weheart.co.uk - A cultural hotpot, where travel, design, art and all manner of general gubbins, meet, infuse and inspire.
CHARITY
www.sizeofwales.org.uk - Encouraging the people of Wales and beyond to take positive action and help protect an area of rainforest equivalent to the size of Wales.
SOCIAL/COMMUNITY
www.sharemystorage.com - A social marketplace that brings together those who have spare space and those who need storage space.
AND FINALLY
The public voted for their favourite site amongst the shortlist and Parcel Monkey walked away with The People's Choice.
Congratulations to all the winners and shortlisted sites.
21 November 2012