How Urban Chic Unlocked Growth by Letting Go of Operations

A London short-term rental operator with around 200 units restructured its entire operational model: fixed staffing overhead eliminated, 14 staff TUPE transferred to Opago, and a founder freed to pursue international expansion.

Service: Housekeeping and operations transfer · Location: London · Key outcome: 85% reduction in operational overhead

Urban Chic: built from the ground up

Urban Chic is a London serviced apartment operator with over ten years in the city, running approximately 200 units across prime central locations including Covent Garden, Paddington, Fitzrovia and Marylebone. Founded by Alexander Kiteow, the business expanded into two further Covent Garden properties in February 2024, offering one to three-bedroom apartments with fully equipped kitchens and hotel-grade amenities throughout.

The business was built the hard way. Alexander hired his own cleaners, built his own operations team and ran the day-to-day himself. At its peak the internal housekeeping and operations function employed 16 people, supported by a warehouse, a vehicle and a full-time Operations Director. For a single-city operation that model works. Until it doesn’t.

Trapped by the operation he built

Alexander had a clear next move: expand into the Middle East. The London portfolio was performing and the opportunity was real. The path was blocked, not by capital or demand, but by operational gravity.

Running 200 units with a 16-person in-house team meant constant exposure to staffing risk, rota management, HR obligations, compliance tracking, sickness cover and the daily firefighting that comes with a large cleaning workforce. The cost base was largely fixed — payroll-heavy, with a warehouse and a vehicle to maintain regardless of occupancy.

The Operations Director was effectively full-time keeping London running. Expansion into a new market was incompatible with that structure.

A complete operational transfer, not just a contract

Opago did not simply win a housekeeping contract. The engagement was structured as a full operational transition, absorbing the complexity of Urban Chic’s London function so the founder could step back from it entirely.

Portfolio onboarding. The full 200-unit portfolio was onboarded onto the Opago platform, integrating with existing systems for day-one continuity, with no disruption to guests or service levels.

TUPE transfer of 14 staff. Fourteen members of the housekeeping and operations team — the housekeeping manager, supervisor, driver and cleaners — transferred to Opago under TUPE. Knowledge of the buildings was preserved, staff were protected, and the payroll liability moved off Urban Chic’s books.

Fixed to variable. A payroll-heavy fixed cost structure became fully variable. Urban Chic now pays for operational capacity as it is used: no warehouse, no vehicle, no HR overhead, no sickness risk.

Dedicated account management. A named account manager, and full access to the Opago platform for real-time visibility of services, scheduling, compliance and reporting in one place.

What we built with Urban Chic isn’t a supplier relationship, it’s a structural partnership. We absorbed 14 members of their team, their systems and their operational complexity. In return, Alexander got something more valuable than a cheaper clean: he got his time back, and a cost base that finally makes sense for a business trying to grow beyond one city.

Erskine Berry — Co-founder & Managing Director, Opago

The results

85% reduction in operational overhead · 14 staff TUPE transferred with zero disruption · ~200 units on a fully variable cost model · 2 retained internal staff, down from 16

Annual operational spend moved from approximately £450,000 to around £400,000. More significantly, what had been a fixed, staff-heavy structure carrying HR risk, warehouse costs and management overhead is now entirely variable. Costs flex with occupancy.

With London operations absorbed, Alexander was freed from running a cleaning and facilities function and able to pursue international expansion without being pulled back into the city. That expansion into the Middle East is now underway.

Adding new blocks no longer requires hiring, training or onboarding staff. New buildings can be taken on without incremental friction, which matters for a business in growth mode. And the TUPE transfer kept continuity with the team who knew the buildings best, so service levels held while systems replaced individual heroics.

I spent ten years building Urban Chic from nothing — every cleaner hired personally, every rota managed, every operational crisis handled myself. It worked. But it consumed me. Handing our operations to Opago wasn’t just about cutting costs, it was about buying back my own capacity. They took on 14 members of our team through TUPE, maintained our service standards without missing a beat, and removed every operational dependency I had on being in London. That decision directly enabled us to launch our expansion into the Middle East.

Alexander Kiteow — Co-founder, Urban Chic

A model built on mutual benefit

Facilities management is not a high-margin business, and the model only works when everyone wins. Urban Chic gained a fully variable cost base, no staffing or HR risk, the freedom to expand internationally, and new blocks with no onboarding friction. Opago gained operational density, long-term recurring revenue and a client partnership that compounds as the portfolio grows.

Scaling a property business and running a cleaning operation are two different disciplines. This is what it looks like when an operator stops trying to do both.