A START-UP which manages properties and lists them on the likes of Airbnb has seen business triple in a year.

Bournemouth-based Vantage Point was set up to make it easier for people to rent out their empty properties on the growing online platform.

It does the work of listing and managing the homes and dealing with the guests and has branched out to cover other platforms such as Booking.com and TripAdvisor.

Jon Duignan, who set up Vantage Point with Chellenka Davis, said: “This year, we’ll have had 25,000 guests staying with us.

“We’ve tripled the number of properties within a year.”

The business has also acquired its own properties for renting.

Latimer House, near Poole Quay, is a former office building converted into 15 self-contained apartments, whose guests have included business visitors to nearby Lush. Lyons House, in Swanage, consists of six apartments and a house.

The company is introducing a reward card, with which it intends to boost local businesses by arranging special offers for its guests.

“Especially in the winter months, we get a lot of people coming down for short breaks. We’re trying to help our client base and local businesses by promoting the reward card," said Mr Duignan.

The rising popularity of Airbnb and rival platforms has allowed people to make money from homes they are not using, but also raised fears that it could worsen the housing shortage.

But Mr Duignan said: “Especially in Bournemouth and Poole, the leases on a lot of apartments do not allow Airbnb, so it’s very much a myth that it takes a lot of rental properties out of the market. Ninety-eight per cent of the apartments in Bournemouth and Poole do not allow holiday lets.”

He added: “Latimer House was an office block for many years before it was converted. It was a space that was otherwise not going to be used.”

There have also been fears of properties being turned into party houses, but Mr Duignan said Airbnb had employed several measures to ensure guests behaved well – including the facility for landlords to review their guests.

“We manage all our properties. We’re very strict with the guests,” he said.

He said there had been few attempts to offer the same service “There’s been a lot of agents that have attempted it but it’s a very full-on job. It’s basically a 24/7 business. You’ve got to be on call for guests at all times,” he added.