¶ Introduction to Keynotes Podcast
Welcome to Keynotes, a podcast just for Casago homeowners. This is where we explore how to get the most out of your relationship with Casago, learn tips and tricks on how to make more income with your property, and learn a little bit about the short term rental industry along the way. I've been a vacation rental nerd since my 20s, and the team has finally let me have this podcast so I can share everything I've learned with you. I'm your host, Steve Schwab, and this is Keynotes. Hey, welcome
¶ Meet the Casago Aruba Owners
to Keynotes. I'm here with Philippe and Gerald. They're the owners of Casago in Aruba. They've been with the company now for just a little bit underneath the year and have seen growth already. They're doing a fantastic job as a local heroes And today we're going to talk a little bit about how they see hospitality, Casago, and being owner centric. Gentlemen, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Thanks for having us. So nice to have you guys here.
It's so good to meet you guys in person.
¶ Casacon 2024 Insights
We're at Casacon 2024, which is the Casagos convention here learning a lot about how to be better property managers, be better business owners, how to love on our homeowners and guests, use technology and just all the way around the, uh, more efficient at what we do. Have you guys learned anything interesting yet?
Oh yeah, I think we're at 25 percent of the total package that we're going to receive and while my brain is about to explode, but in a positive way, there's been so much, a lot of learning, a lot of new techniques. It's also really great to catch on with other owners and hear about their experience, learn from them. It's been rewarding already and we're not even halfway.
How about you, Gerald? Well, there's definitely a lot of learnings and, uh, 25%, it's, uh, a lot already. And we've met a lot of nice personalities, nice people, nice homeowners that we're learning from their previous experience. Everybody loves Aruba, I can see. Yeah,
I think everybody's trying to convince us to do, uh, Casacon 2025 in Aruba. I thought it was a deal already. Yeah. We gotta convince the rest of them. Yeah. Ha, ha, ha.
¶ Family Life in Aruba
So you, you both have families in Aruba and children. So tell me a little about your family, Philippe.
Yeah, I'm a, I'm definitely a family guy. My wife and I, we have three kids. Well, we moved to Aruba, to be honest, it's exactly 10 years ago, I think. Not on the dot, but tomorrow or the day after, it's ten years ago that we moved from the Netherlands to Aruba. And back then we were a family of four. Um, our daughter, the youngest, is born in Aruba, so she's the only real Aruban in the house. But, uh, we all feel Aruban.
It's, uh, it's It's a beautiful place, and especially for us as a family, it's a perfect place. It's safe. Kids can play outside all day. There's sun. Well, if there's 365 days in the year, then it's 360 days of sun. And if not, it's 361 days of sun. It's a leap year. The island is beautiful, safe, like I said. The kids get a lot of exposure with other cultures. There's people from all over the world on the island. So, no, it's beautiful. It's a blessing to be able to raise them over there.
Yeah, I bet. It's amazing. And they can't get very far. No, no,
no, no, no. Farthest you can go is about, uh, yeah, 20 miles up or down. That's
it. And what about you, Gerald? You have, you have children too. Yes, my wife and I, we have two boys, eight years old and three years old.
¶ Transition from Restaurateurs to Property Managers
So
you
guys were
both restaurateurs before this, right?
Yes, sir. Yeah, yeah. We've been, actually, restaurateur was my, uh, my third or fourth life, I guess. Before that, I was a banker, and I also, uh, did some governmental work, economic diplomacy. Both very boring, uh, in comparison to the restaurant, and especially the world of, uh, short term stays, which is way more exciting. So much fun.
And how about you? You're, you're also a restauranteur, is that right? Yes,
uh, we currently hold the four restaurants and before that I used to work in the hotel industry, mostly in restaurants, opening restaurants. The four current restaurant that we have, it's my 13th, if not 14th restaurant that I opened. from scratch. Wow. And still counting. We're hoping to open a new acquisition, hopefully before the year end, that would make it the fifth restaurant that we have under our management
within the group. Yeah. It's amazing.
Yes.
Well, it's obvious that you guys love hospitality and it's a natural fit to come right into the short term rental world. Definitely. Definitely not
working from the hotel industry for 16 years before I left the hotel industry again, uh, joined another company that yet still deal with the hospitality industry. It doesn't get boring. It's, uh, it's a constant learning and a consistent, uh, surprises in a positive way. It's addictive.
Yeah, yeah. Now, you guys have seen a lot of growth already, right?
Yeah, yeah, we can't complain. It didn't come easy, of course, but it's rewarding, uh, when it, uh, when it works. Uh, we're at a total of 43 properties right now and, um, continuously growing. Yeah.
That's fantastic. That's fantastic.
So,
¶ Joining Casago and Embracing Structure
you know, as you guys are growing, what made you decide to become part of Casago?
That's a fun question. Uh, I would start, sorry, Phil, I would start with the process, you know, I have always been a believer, a strong believer in companies or companies that I've worked for and with that had process in place, you know, have tested the challenges and have withstand all the opportunities there is instead of starting from scratch and failing and trial and error yourself. Why not do something that, you know, Someone had experience of and that we can rely on.
Um, of course the competitiveness is the top, uh, Aruba is a tough market and having to have the edge like Casa Go have someone to have 24 seven support is absolutely a quick win.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And, um, if I may, uh, when we start, because Both Gerald and I, separate from each other, we had a property. I had one and Gerald had one property also that we were renting out short term rental. Very mom and pop type, uh, like, uh, the approach that we both did and both doing really good. And looking back, we always had the feeling of, yeah, there's, there's more. We should do this more professionally, but where do you start?
And then that is where last year when, when Gerald suddenly came up with a, Hey, this is a, this is something that we could do. Here's a structure. Here's something we can rely on. And then it's easier also to do on behalf of others, because the one thing you don't want to do is. Uh, on board people, uh, and, and, and then fail on them or not deliver on the promise you want to make. That would be a bummer for them and then certainly for us, uh, the same.
So having this structure, like Gerald was explaining that, that made the difference that made the difference that we said, okay, let's do this. And, um, yeah, we went head first and it's paying off.
That's fantastic. You know, being able to systematize a hospitality organization like this really benefits the homeowners and making sure that you're loving on them, that your systems serve them, you know, that you're, you're finding ways to systematically transparent through technology, through people, through training. I think it's the real advantage to Kasago and helps us be very owner centric and very owner centered when it comes to.
You know, loving on these homeowners and making sure that we serve them well and not, you know, failing for them.
Oh, definitely. I think that's one of the scares also for people buying into our market is obviously you can't be there. Some, some people are that blessed that they can actually live, come and live on the island, but most people buy and then go back home. And you want somebody that you can trust that your property is well managed, but also that they are transparent as you said, uh, towards you and everything that happens because there's things can go wrong. And then, and then.
¶ Building Trust with Homeowners
So just to name an example, you can have a leak, you can have a, uh, something that breaks, but knowing that you can trust them that to be followed up properly and, and, and, and repaired and, and that you have insight in what is being done and when it is being done, that makes a big difference because it's scary as a homeowner living in the States or in Canada or wherever in the world and yeah, Aruba is a far away place and, you know, it's What are they doing to my house and is, is it really
done properly? Yeah, that's, uh, that's a big difference that we can make with Casago. It's, uh,
yeah, yeah. Our systems, the way that we do our work orders, the transparency with photos, all of that makes such a big difference for homeowners, especially being on an island so far away. They can't just drive over and see what's going on. Oh, no. Oh, yeah.
¶ Transparency and Control in Property Management
If I can give an example, when we, uh, because we acquired a portfolio through another company that is now also part of Casago. And um, one of the things that we hear from other existing homeowners within that portfolio is the difference that it's, that's being made with the transparency in the system. They can see what is happening. They can book their own house whenever they need it. They can, uh, they can adjust prices. You name it.
They, uh, they have full control over the property which is being managed by us and that gives them a very, very comfortable feeling. It's a, it's a big change in comparison to what they had. Not that they were unhappy. They were with that property manager for a reason. There was a lot of good stuff, but this is better. Yeah,
it doesn't mean that last property manager was bad. It just means that they got upgraded a little bit by some really cool systems and people and policy and technology. Definitely.
¶ The Orange Credo: Advocating for Owners
Something you said earlier about homeowners being far away. And at the end of the day, this is a high trust relationship we have with them. Transparency builds trust. And what a lot of people don't know, we all know internally, is we have this Orange Credo. We go through it at every single meeting. We talk about it. You know, it's a set of principles that we all agree to follow and use as decision making processes. And the very first words of that Orange Credo is, I am the owner's advocate.
Yep.
I'll make all decisions based on the owner's best interest. And that is such a game changer for us. Has that been a game changer for you guys being on the ground? Have you been able to articulate that to homeowners?
Definitely, definitely a big game changer for us. The trust is a big, very, um, you know, the, the biggest word that we can use to, um, towards, um, to explain that.
¶ From Restaurants to Rentals: Ensuring Satisfaction
It also connects with what we've done in the past. If we, uh, we, we are restaurateurs, uh, From our past experience, and we still are. And in our restaurants, one of the, the really, really important things that we, uh, we look after is that there's satisfaction in all ends. And that means that it's not only about the customer. It's certainly about the customer who comes in. It needs to be happy, it needs to be serviced. But it's also about our employees. It's about the, the, the landlord.
It's about the, yeah, the total experience for everybody. That was the word I was looking for. All the stakeholders. And, and we, we live that in the restaurants and yeah, with Casago, we, uh, we relive that now in the short term mental industry.
¶ Back of the House: The Backbone of Operations
you know, I actually own a restaurant down in Mexico. And I always think about the restaurant as front of the house and back of the house. Exactly. And the truth is, without great operations in the back of the house, there is no satisfaction in the front of the house. That's very true. That's very true. And do you see that? Do you see the similarities? For that. Oh, yes. Can you tell me about that a little bit?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, uh, it's as simple as, uh, the, the cleaner is doing a proper job and, and, and doing it according to a set plan. I mean, if you look at, uh, what makes you happy as a client when you come into a house or a unit that you've rented, it's often the simple things, uh, cleanliness, it's, uh, that everything works. It's the atmosphere. It's things being in place. It's things being simple.
It's, it's little things that make a big difference and, uh, it's not, uh, that the, the place is located at the beach. That makes it perfect. No, it's that step one, then comes step two, three, four, five, six, and, uh, that's similar in the restaurants and similar in this industry. The back of the house makes it possible that the front of the house can give that presentation and make it wow for everybody who walks in.
Back of the house is the analytics. The recommendations that you can give, uh, the follow up, right, making sure that they're informed of what are happening, um, in the island or whatnot.
And one step further, and that's the difference. Yeah, exactly.
¶ Dynamic Pricing and Revenue Management
Uh, between the, the restaurants and the short term, uh, industry in a restaurant, we make a menu and we stick to that for probably 12 months. In the short term rental industry, you want to be dynamic, so you want to change prices according to the market and. That is something where the back of the house comes in, if I may.
The back of the house is the one that does that revenue management and does that revenue management to make sure that for the homeowner, he gets that optimal pricing and gets that optimal return on his property. So no, the back of the house is definitely very, very important and, um, very well equipped through Casagrande.
We actually can reverse that because the question was, okay, how can you relate the restaurant business into Casago? It's actually the reason why, a very reason why that we believe so much and have trust with the Casago is actually for the same reason, same question and same answers, which is the structure of the back and front is covered. You have a Bible, we have the brand standards in place. Any questions asked, or will be answered. And we have
answers to all questions. That's amazing. So, I know you guys are really passionate about, you know, taking care of homeowners and guests and your team and the community.
¶ A Heartwarming Homeowner Story
But do you have a, Is there a story that sticks out when it comes to homeowners that really shows, you know, like how you feel about them or just a great experience that they've had that sticks out in your mind?
Well, we don't have much to tell because we started out with an acquisition and then we inherit like 42. We have one significant one. I don't know if I should share. Yeah, of course. We have, uh, his name is Johnny James, so he has a property in Tierra del Sol. It is an orthodox experience, if I may, because when you think about the homeowners, you think about as per immediate is how do I book your property or how can I help you improve your income, your revenue?
But in this case, This person actually have had the weird contract, I should say, because he has, um, a rental purchase contract and being the background of, uh, my partner here, Philip, in debt management, uh, we said to him, okay, how can we maximize that? Because in the end of the day, how much do you pay in a month?
So having, taking a look at that contract, we noticed that it's actually a very steep situation for him and it's not our responsibility to give him advice at that moment, but we Feel and think that if we help him, we could grow together with him fast forward. You can continue with
Fast forward. Yeah in a nutshell We did the complete analysis on his his property and helped him in converting that rent to own into a simple Straightforward mortgage and, um, lowers his costs and, uh, makes him happy end of the day, right?
And he's looking forward to the second property because he found out that he's got space for another property to purchase.
He's soon to be owner of two properties instead of one?
In a golf
course property.
Yeah.
It's
a luxury
place. You know, I'm convinced that when we take care of homeowners, Outside of the transaction or they're loving on homeowners taking care of their best interests doing things That helped them out, even as we're not making money off of it. That's where our best relationships are built. And that's those homeowners that end up being with us for 20 years. Because we build a relationship that transcends business with them. Awesome.
Yes, absolutely. And it's actually, he's bringing us leads. Because his neighbor is finishing a construction of a luxury Yeah. Property and, um, he's already given them our numbers to, you know, to contact them for onboarding them.
Yeah, great.
¶ Contact Information and Closing Remarks
Gentlemen, if somebody wants to get a hold of you guys to list their property with you, what's a good email or phone number that they can reach out to you
with? Yeah, absolutely. The email address they can reach out to is gm at kasagoaruba. com. Using that email, they'll get in touch with me, with Gerald, and with Mark Renis, who's our general manager for the, for the operations.
That's fantastic. Guys, thanks so much for coming on. Appreciate the time with y'all and getting to know y'all. It's a pleasure. It's ours.
Thank you so much.