“Francoise built the machine. Abbie is the reason it has a personality.” Inside the partnership behind Stay®’s 42-fold growth in six months.
When Abbie Dibbert and Francoise Albrando took over the day-to-day running of Stay® Property Management, the region was in the middle of a conflict. They chose to keep building. “We saw an opportunity to grow, to expand, and to believe even harder in the UAE and its ability to rise within the chaos,” the directors explain. Over the six months following their March takeover, the live portfolio — homes actually hosting guests — grew to 42 times its starting size.
The Standards Abbie Wouldn’t Let Slide
Growth put pressure on the everyday work: getting homes ready, keeping owners informed and making sure the next guest arrived to the same standard as the last. Stay® is licensed by DET (formerly DTCM) and has held its operating licence since October 2025. Each home has its own permit and liability cover.
Dibbert, Director of Operations, comes from travel and tourism. She thinks about a holiday home the way a hotelier thinks about a room: what will the guest find when they arrive, and who will put things right if something is wrong? Her work spans onboarding, guest relations, quality control and business development. “Every rule that F-spot now enforces started as a rule Abbie made on the floor and refused to let slide,” the directors explain. Albrando, Administrative Director, handles finance, HR, administration and compliance, building the systems around those everyday demands.
“Sameness, in the best sense,” is how the directors describe the guest experience. The home may change, but the linen standard, supplies and response time should feel familiar. Before each arrival, the team records a photo-evidenced quality check. Guests’ feedback gives them a way to judge whether that work is paying off: Stay® holds Airbnb Superhost status across its portfolio and an average Airbnb review score of 4.97. “For an operator this young, that is the number we are proudest of,” the directors say. Reviews on Google and Booking.com tell a similar story, with averages of 5.0 and 8.5 respectively.
Owners also need to see what is happening inside their property. The owner portal, launched in September, shows income, occupancy, the next payout date and each statement, with documents supporting the charges. Statements go out on the 10th of each month and owners are paid on the 15th.
“We Can Make This. I Trust Us.”
Keeping those moving parts connected became Albrando’s next project. The business was using eight separate tools for contacts, inspections, e-signatures, HR and owner statements, with WhatsApp filling the gaps. She decided to build a platform around the way the team actually worked.
Albrando had never written software. “We can make this, I trust us,” she said before beginning the build. “You are only as limited as your imagination, and my head is always in the clouds,” is how she describes her approach.
She began studying, researching and building in May with Claude as her engineering partner. By June, the first version was live and every contact and deal had been migrated. Twelve weeks after she started, the whole company was running on F-spot: owner statements, bank and payroll, inspections, e-signatures, recruitment, HR and dynamic pricing, behind one login. No outside developers were involved. “One director, an AI, and a lot of evenings,” the directors write.
That work earned Stay® Best AI Tools (Self-built or Adoption) at the Scale Middle East Awards 2026. The company was also shortlisted for Best Operator in the UAE and Industry Pioneer.
One Builds It. The Other Makes It Work.
Their partnership becomes clearest when a new part of F-spot is ready. Albrando builds it; Dibbert puts it into the team’s hands that same afternoon and makes sure it becomes part of the working day. The software carries standards learned on the floor, and the people using it help turn those standards into a consistent experience for owners and guests. Neither side works in isolation.
Both women arrived from other industries: Dibbert from travel and tourism, Albrando from HR, executive roles and building her own e-commerce brands. That experience shapes how they choose their team. They look for people who take responsibility for what happens next, and promote those who have learned the work firsthand. “We would rather say ‘here is what happened and here is the fix’ than defend,” they explain. It is the kind of answer they expect themselves to give when an owner calls with a problem.
The next stage includes new headquarters at Schon Business Park, DIP, and planned AI agents for onboarding, the monthly finance close and statement checking. Each addition starts with a task the team already knows, and a question Albrando and Dibbert have been asking since March: how can they do it better as more homes come on board?
The portfolio is now 42 times its starting size, but the partnership still turns on the same exchange: a standard Dibbert refuses to let slide, and a system Albrando builds to help the team keep it. Their next stage of growth will be measured in more homes; its success will depend on what happens inside each one. “Built quietly. Run precisely. Grow boldly.”
Also published on Medium.
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