About us

Richard has almost two decades’ experience in holiday letting and has seen many changes in that time. As a holiday cottage owner he found it surprising that no company seemed to offer a service-led, owner-centric approach to the full management of properties and thus Finest Retreats was born.

Having owned holiday cottages for many years, Richard knows perfectly all the emotions involved with letting a property to guests and wanted to create a passionate agency that always tailored its services to suit each individual’s circumstances.

Having always lobbied hard for holiday let owners, Richard has featured on BBC Breakfast Radio and written thought leadership articles on the sector for The Times and other publications.

A young family with two toddler sons keeps him busy during evenings and weekends, and with what little time is left over from running a business and looking after the children he can be found playing or watching a multitude of sports.

With over twenty years of expertise in international luxury hospitality management, Julia heads up the Operations team at Finest Retreats to ensure a friendly and professional experience for owners and organised property management, with satisfying commercial results. A stickler for processes and methodical systems, Julia can usually be found in our Cornish office working with the team or on the phone to an owner advising on the current market conditions.

Julia loves to travel, discovering new cultures and has lived in Canada, the Middle East and South East Asia over the years.

Now happily settled back in England, in her free time, she enjoys exploring the Cornish coastline with her family.

As Head of Guest Experience Emma gets to deal with the quirky things that can pop up! This can be special requests for special occasions, accommodating a pet frog (yup!) or turning a bad experience back into a brilliant one. With no two days ever the same Emma enjoys the variety of guest requests and all the positive feedback we get from guests.

As one of the earliest employees at Finest Retreats, there’s not much that Emma hasn’t seen and her friendly and knowledgeable approach with guests goes down a treat.

Outside of work, as a new homeowner Emma is most likely to be found renovating her own property or in the garden at the BBQ with her partner and children over the summer months.

Joining the team in 2022, Beth currently manages the growing portfolio of our existing properties, helping owners maximize their holiday lettings, and overseeing the onboarding of new properties into the Finest Retreats collection.

Beth enjoys working with everything from quirky tree houses with compost toilets to breath-taking period homes packed with eclectic history and getting the marketing mix right to ensure lettings success. Beth is an expert in pricing, advertising and pays close (daily!) attention to bookings rates and occupancy.

A young family keeps her busy most weekends and they enjoy exploring their beautiful home in Cornwall, discovering new beaches and hidden gems.

Hayley takes care of anything operational for our owners in the South West. Her main role is to work with owners, housekeepers, and maintenance teams to make sure the property is well cared for and ready for guests. Hayley is a super-organised, people-person and loves getting to know owners, building relationships and adding a friendly touch to the business side of owning a holiday let.

Hayley loves looking after the region as she and her family spend a lot of time exploring and holidaying there themselves with regular staycations.

Outside of work Hayley can usually found doing something football related. Whether this be playing, watching or being her daughter's number one fan on the sideline. Family beach days and lovely long walks with her two dogs are also high on the list for her days off.

Ellie is also part of the Operations team, responsible for ensuring properties run smoothly on a day-to-day basis. Ellie looks after her portfolio of owners, housekeepers and maintenance staff to make sure that our highest standards are maintained and guests can fully enjoy the properties they holiday in.

Having joined the team in early 2024, Ellie brings with her a wealth of experience in property maintenance and management having previously helped manage large property redevelopment projects.

In her spare time, Ellie enjoys participating in local park runs and chasing after her cat for affection.

As one of our Operations Coordinators, Marie’s primary responsibility is to provide a top-notch service to our fully managed owners. Marie helps ensure smooth running of properties by sourcing and supporting the finest housekeepers and service providers. Prior to joining the Operations team, Marie was a holiday let housekeeper herself, and before that was a Hotel Manager with a large UK brand so she brings with her plenty of incredible experience of how to keep properties in top condition. Having been at the sharp end of holiday letting, Marie knows well what guests are looking for and the standards expected.

In her spare time, Marie treasures her moments with her family, friends and her two spaniels. They all love beach walks, particularly on Sundays when seeking out the perfect spot for a tasty Sunday lunch.

Danielle joined the Finest Retreats team in 2023 and is responsible for processing bookings, answering queries and looking at all feedback so we can continue to improve every day.

Outside of work Danielle enjoys spending time with friends and family exploring the beautiful Cornish Coastline – either on or in the water!

Ellie is our newest member of the Guest Experience team and often the first contact a guest will have.

Ellie works with guests helping with any queries to ensure they are have a wonderful time at our properties and enjoy a smooth check in and out. Ellie enjoys that no two day is the same and everyday she gets to have conversations with guests getting excited for their holidays and owners about their lovely properties.

In her free time Ellie loves to be outside: she surfs, swims, hikes, camps and paddleboards regularly, often found cold water swimming at 5am!

Amanda’s main role is to be the first contact with potential new owners, explaining how we can help at Finest Retreats and how we will look after them on an individual basis. Following a call, or an in-person visit to meet an owner Amanda will type up a tailored proposal and answer any questions they may have about holiday letting. Amanda has owned a successful holiday let herself so can provide plenty of great advice for owners starting out for the first time.

Property is Amanda’s passion and has been for 25 years since leaving British Airways as a stewardess flying the world.

Amanda’s other passions are her Golden Retrievers – she has three! Her rescue dogs have required a lot of rehabilitation and love and so Amanda is most likely to be found on the beach being taken for a walk when not out on the road visiting owners and their wonderful properties.

Jodie joined the Finest Retreats team in 2023, where her main duties include day-to-day bookkeeping, processing of guest balance payments, paying of supplier invoices and completing monthly owner settlements.

Jodie’s superb attention to detail ensures that guests have a seamless experience from initially making their booking until they check out as well as supporting owners in gaining access to any accounting information needed for their property. Jodie is always on hand to answer any payments or financial queries.

Jodie is an AAT certified accountant and Finest Retreats have been supporting her to further advance her accounting qualifications.

Outside of work Jodie likes to spend a lot of time on the water enjoying water sports and exploring the Cornish Coast.

Carla helps build the listings when owners first join Finest Retreats and ensures that properties get off to the best possible start with bookings. Carla will arrange photography and liaise with the Operations team to ensure owners’ first experience of Finest Retreats is a positive one.

As a current owner of several holiday lets herself, Carla knows all the ins and outs of what makes a successful let and how best to optimise a listing to attract the guests. Pricing, marketing and listings administration are her forte and she enjoys providing an individual service to our new owners.

Carla enjoys surfing, paddle boarding, and spending time with her family.

David is our fully employed maintenance and waste collection operative. David covers the whole of North Wales and Snowdonia and can be found out on the road every day in our Finest Retreats van providing fast and reliable maintenance to our fully managed properties in the region.

As a holiday let management specialist, we believe we are unique in having full-time, employed maintenance experts and strongly believe it helps us provide a faster, more cost effective service for our owners.

No job is too small or too tricky for David and he loves getting his hands dirty (quite literally) whether it be fixing fence panels, painting walls or mending leaking pipes.

When not driving around the scenic roads of Snowdonia, David will be found walking his German Shepherd dogs.

We simply could not provide the service we do without our ‘boots on the ground’ working tirelessly week-in, week-out to ensure properties are kept to the highest standards.

Finest Retreats has a dependable team spread across the whole of the UK – and our housekeepers are more than just ‘cleaners’. They are relied upon to check properties for issues after changeovers, maintain hot tubs, change light bulbs and do the hundreds of other small things required to prepare properties for guest arrivals each time.

It speaks volumes that our housekeepers stay with us for many years. Finest Retreats also prefers to work differently – we don’t ‘roster’ staff and the same housekeeper is responsible for each property every week. Most housekeepers are responsible for just one property each. This helps us maintain higher standards and provide owners with the peace of mind their properties are well looked after.

Every month we pay a ‘above and beyond’ bonus to all those who’ve helped a guest or owner outside the usual call of duty. It’s always a pleasure to reward those who’ve shown amazing levels of care like late night visits to lend guests their own dongles when wifi has failed, or battery-powered lamps during a power cut.