Steve V2: 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 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.
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?
Speaker 2: 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.
Speaker 3: 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,
Steve V2: 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.
So you, you both have families in Aruba and children.
So tell me a little about your family, Philippe.
Speaker 2: 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.
Steve V2: Yeah, I bet.
It's amazing.
And they can't get very far.
No, no,
Speaker 2: no, no, no.
Farthest you can go is about, uh, yeah, 20 miles up or down.
That's
Speaker 3: 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.
So
Steve V2: you
Speaker 3: guys were
Steve V2: both restaurateurs before this, right?
Speaker 2: 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.
Steve V2: And how about you?
You're, you're also a restauranteur, is that right?
Yes,
Speaker 3: 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
Steve V2: within the group.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Steve V2: 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
Speaker 3: 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.
Steve V2: Yeah, yeah.
Now, you guys have seen a lot of growth already, right?
Speaker 2: 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.
Steve V2: That's fantastic.
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2: So,
Steve V2: you know, as you guys are growing, what made you
decide to become part of Casago?
Speaker 3: 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.
Speaker 2: 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.
Steve V2: 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.
Speaker 2: 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.
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,
Steve V2: 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.
Speaker 2: 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,
Steve V2: 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.
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.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Steve V2: 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?
Speaker 3: 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.
Speaker 2: 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.
., Steve V2: 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.
And do you see that?
Do you see the similarities?
For that.
Oh, yes.
Can you tell me about that a little bit?
Speaker 2: 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.
Speaker 3: 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.
Speaker 2: And one step further, and that's the difference.
Yeah, exactly.
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.
Speaker 3: 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
Steve V2: 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.
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?
Speaker 3: 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
Speaker 2: 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?
Speaker 3: And he's looking forward to the second property because
he found out that he's got space for another property to purchase.
Speaker 2: He's soon to be owner of two properties instead of one?
Speaker 3: In a golf
Steve V2: course property.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Steve V2: It's
Speaker 3: a luxury
Steve V2: 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.
Speaker 3: 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.
Steve V2: Yeah, great.
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
Speaker 2: 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.
Steve V2: 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.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.