How to co-manage and grow a vacation rental business from afar

Background

In 2018, Alexie visited the island of Siargao and fell in love with it. Although it was already recognized as the surf capital of the Philippines, she quickly realized it had so much more to offer beyond surfing. “I saw that it was growing very fast in terms of tourism,” she explained, “and that there was a chance for us to be a part of that growth.”

At the time, most of the accommodations available were either budget-friendly hostels or high-end resorts. Alexie saw the opportunity to fill the gap, and decided to build three A-frame villas as vacation rentals with a native exterior design combined with modern interior comforts at an accessible price.

Alexie saw almost immediate success: “Once the three villas were up, I listed them on Airbnb and Booking.com, and I was able to get consistent bookings for the first two years.”

But in 2020, COVID-19 hit, forcing the entire island to lock down until 2021. Then, in December of 2021, the community faced yet another unexpected challenge in the form of the Category 5 Super Typhoon Odette (known as Typhoon Rai outside of the Philippines), devastating the majority of the island’s infrastructure.

While Triangle Palms villas’ foundation remained intact thanks to their triangular design and solid construction, the rest of Alexie’s neighborhood was razed to the ground. “I really thought about giving up in this moment,” Alexie recalled, “but I saw the resilience of the community and it inspired me to keep on going.”

Challenge

After the pandemic and Super Typhoon Odette, Alexie didn’t want to simply reopen: She wanted to expand with two more villas and set her business up for even greater success, and that meant growing her team.

“That’s when Leslie came in to take our brand and guest experience to the next level,” explained Alexie.

But expanding the team wasn’t going to be a solution in and of itself. Since Alexie’s new partner Leslie was based in California, they needed to find a way to collaborate and grow the business from two different countries and timezones.

On top of that, Leslie was motivated to create a clear brand presence and develop marketing strategies to reach a larger audience of travelers as Siargao began gaining more traction online as a must-see destination in Southeast Asia.

Solution

Alexie and Leslie found a solution for both of these challenges in Lodgify.

“My first goal was to build our website so we could start securing direct bookings outside of Airbnb and Booking.com,” explained Leslie, “and Lodgify’s website builder made it really easy for us to do that. Since then, we’ve increased our visibility online.”

Leslie also leveraged social media to attract the attention of travel influencers around the world, who in turn created content to either share their experiences with their own followers, or provide Triangle Palms with collateral to use for other marketing or growth initiatives.

And as for managing the business from afar? That came down to Lodgify’s property management software.

“Even though we’re so far away, having a property management software has made it possible for us to see all of our reservations and all of our messages in one place,” said Leslie. Thanks to Lodgify’s PMS, both partners have been able to collaborate more seamlessly despite the distance.

In addition to the channel manager and unified inbox features, Alexie and Leslie have taken advantage of Lodgify’s automation tools to reduce their workload. As Alexie explains, this has proven essential to free them up for bigger-picture projects: “Instead of doing all of this manual work, Lodgify takes care of that for you. And that has saved us so much time that we can focus on other things in the business.”

Results

Triangle Palms Siargao didn’t merely survive the pandemic and supertyphoon—it came back stronger than ever, with more direct bookings, greater online visibility, and an internationally attention-grabbing brand. What’s more, Alexie and Leslie were able to achieve these results from afar thanks to Lodgify.

Now, what’s next for Triangle Palms? Big things are certainly in store, but Leslie and Alexie aren’t quite sure what that will look like yet.

“We obviously have big dreams,” Leslie shared. “We would love to eventually expand to other islands in the Philippines, but we don’t know what to expect. We’re really just living in the moment and making the most of what we have right now.”

Advice for aspiring hosts

Both Alexie and Leslie have learned a lot throughout their hosting journey. So, unsurprisingly, their advice to aspiring hosts boils down to learning from your challenges and mistakes.

“My advice to aspiring vacation rental hosts would be to never give up,” explained Alexie. “Failure is feedback and you’re going to be faced with a lot of challenges as you run and own your own vacation rental. Having to learn new ways again is what’s going to help you continue growing.”

Leslie echoed Alexie’s sentiments: “Remember, you are providing an experience for your guests and getting feedback is how you learn. You’re always going to be learning, new things are going to come up, and just have fun with it. Don’t burn yourself out.”

Don’t ever take the fun out of hosting, because it is really fun.”

You can learn more about Triangle Palms by visiting their website or following them on Instagram and TikTok.