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Impressive Growth, with Operations Lagging Behind
Olala Homes launched in 2015 with just three apartment rentals in Barcelona. The company quickly acquired inventory through an owner-operator strategy, and soon boasted a portfolio of over 200 boutique apartment rentals in Spain, Greece, Portugal, Israel, Romania, Bulgaria, and expanding.
International growth complicated Olala Homes' operations and the manager's property programs began lagging behind. Their tech stack consisted of disjointed systems; including Avantio's PMS, Zendesk, Asana, WhatsApp, Slack and a few other tools. This was a recipe for manual efforts, and the team spent an hour each morning scheduling property care without a way to accommodate any changes in reservations.
The real problem though was coordinating work with internal teams. "Communicating through WhatsApp created string after string of status updates and issues between housekeepers, maintenance provers, inspectors, and managers," said Michelle Jaw, CMO. "Housekeepers would message the operations manager after each clean, who would then relay any issues to our maintenance teams. The WhatsApp conversations became nearly impossible to track, and details were falling through the cracks." The scales really tipped when the company deployed an 'In-House Guest Care Center'. While this served as an incredible benefit for our guests, it added to the never-ending chain of confusing internal communication.
To make things more complex, housekeepers used paper checklists to track cleaning tasks. Olala Homes' field teams didn't use a standardized checklist, and consequently had a hard time performing consistent and high-quality care at each property. Lack of visibility into each job meant that management couldn't verify that elements of each checklist were actually completed. It soon became a priority for Olala Homes to revamp its property preparation programs and better uphold the quality of its product.
Connecting Breezeway with Avantio Lead to Massive Efficiency Gains
When Olala Homes heard about Avantio's integration with Breezeway, the company jumped to try the industry's leading property operations and service software. Connecting Avantio with Breezeway was key for Olala Homes (something that their former tech stack was lacking), and automatically pulled check-in and check-outs in real-time. The data sync removed a bottleneck in the company's property operations, creating a concrete foundation to implement smarter property care programs. Automating task assignments eliminated 5 hours of manual scheduling each week, and gave managers confidence that the right jobs were assigned to the right people.
More importantly though, Breezeway's quality service tools completely smoothed Olala Homes' internal communication. Teams now add notes and comments directly to tasks removing the need for ad-hoc communication and empowering staff to easily upload images and report maintenance issues. "Communicating task statuses is exponentially more organized with Breezeway. We now have mobile checklists to perform cleans and inspections, and are easily able to surface important details and issues across our teams."
It wasn't long before Olala Homes saw a massive return on its new operational programs. Fewer missed jobs, higher quality property care, quicker maintenance repairs, and more guest service boosted average cleaning scores from 8.44 to 8.93, and average staff reviews from 8.23 to 8.77 in just a few months. This operational backbone is now a competitive edge for Olala Homes, and has led to more branded experiences and repeat business.
"Communicating task statuses is exponentially more organized with Breezeway. We now have mobile checklists to perform cleans and inspections, and are easily able to surface important details and issues across our teams". - Michelle Jaw, Chief Marketing Officer, Olala Homes
Navigating the Pandemic with Breezeway
The global pandemic turned cleanliness and safety into two of the most important booking factors for travelers. Olala Homes sought to instill more confidence in guest through comprehensive sanitization and disinfection protocols, and used Breezeway to deploy and communicate these measures. "Breezeway helps us ensure our inspectors leave hand disinfectant at each building entrance. The software eased our burden throughout 2020, and enabled us to showcase our rigorous procedures to guests."
The cherry on top came when Olala Homes was awarded the 'Best Use of Innovative Technology' in AltoVita's Corporate Home Awards last November (for successfully introducing a new technology to enhance the guest experience). Olala Homes plans to lean on Breezeway's smart software to optimize its property care programs in 2021, and further accelerate its business.
"Breezeway helps us ensure our inspectors leave hand disinfectant at each building entrance. The software eased our burden throughout 2020, and enabled us to showcase our rigorous procedures to guests."
