This time last year I was enjoying an after work catch up with Mark, a property manager from overseas who happened to be in Auckland for a meeting (remember the days of international travel..?!). During our catch up, I remember Mark said, what was at the time a throw away comment; “eventually we’ll basically be a software company that manages bricks and mortar”. As the last 12 months have passed and many circumstances beyond our control have occurred, we have increased our use of technology and software substantially, and slowly that statement has become a reality for us.
The onset of COVID-19 meant for nearly everyone in the travel and tourism industry, particularly those involved with international travel, cancellations EN MASSE!! This left us scrambling to work out how we would continue as a business and what this would mean going forward. We soon realised the power of the data we had at our fingertips, and we were, to be honest, not harnessing anywhere near its full potential.
Guesty
Guesty is our main software platform, providing both PMS (Property Management Software) and CMS (Channel Management Software), and as such, helps us to navigate the difficult world of STR (Short Term Rental) management. The data that is stored and readily available to download on Guesty, gives us the ability to analyse it in many different ways to assist with decision making, with everything from pricing to customer needs and local trends.
The data that Guesty collects from our guests allowed us to manage our re-marketing efforts to the guests that had cancelled whilst offering special offers and discounts for future travel. We were also able to add data from corporates, government agencies and essential services in order to give us a wide reach of people who would potentially need accommodation, which especially helped us during lockdown.
Rentals United
Rentals United is another channel manager we use, as their software allows us to advertise on more platforms, connect with more potential guests, and provide a seamless service for all.
Rentals United is a long-standing partner of Guesty, and they both work perfectly together to connect us with more booking platforms such as Expedia and Google, helping us to get more bookings and higher occupancy. If you would like to read more about how we use Rental United to benefit our services, you can click here to read our case study blog on their website.
Beyond Pricing
Beyond Pricing is our dynamic pricing software that uses data across our operating areas, to give us accurate pricing and occupancy data of all vacation rentals, as well as hotels, airport data and much, much more.
Having this software allows us to see where the market is at for competitive pricing for a certain period, therefore allowing us to set our nightly rates at an attractive price that is in line with market demand. What’s more, it allows us to set expectations for our owners with their forecast revenue data.
AirDNA
AirDNA is an industry-wide database that collates information from Airbnb and VRBO and shows all market trends for certain areas and geographies, we are currently trialing this software to see how we can use the data to further analyse and determine the market.
Virtual Real Estate
Virtual Real Estate is a software provider that further allowed us to market to corporates and essential services as well as overseas companies that needed accommodation for Americas Cup and other events. We sent a full 3D walk-through link to an overseas naval architecture firm who wanted to book an apartment for their CEO for 4 months and this helped the client to visualize the apartment and helped us to secure the booking. If you're interested, you can click here to view one of our walk-through videos.
Since the recent world events, we have harnessed the use of all of these software providers to our advantage and truly see the value of using technology to control our bricks and mortar business and create a competitive advantage. Lastly, if you have an investment property and you’re struggling with occupancy, we are here to help! Get in contact with us for a free consultation or if you have any questions regarding our full end-to-end property management services.
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