Rentals can be a great addition to an established business operating in a different field. They can be complementary offerings that add to a customer’s convenience and experience. This was the case for Caribbean Lofts Bonaire, which saw guests also desire additional services during their stay. They added several rental options for their customers and eventually chose Booqable to upgrade their rental management system.
Caribbean Lofts Bonaire
Caribbean Lofts Bonaire was founded in 2017 as a vacation property rental management business. They offer a wide range of apartments and villas for guests across Bonaire, from single-bedroom apartments to spacious 3-bedroom villas. Over the past few years, the company has built a portfolio that includes almost 20 properties, which can be booked through their website or aggregators like booking.com.
After managing these rental properties for a while, they found that guests often asked for recommendations for other services. These included car rentals, boat rentals, scooter rentals, and equipment for other activities like beach chairs and SUP boards. They decided that they could benefit from offering these services themselves. Soon, they began investing in equipment and started offering it for rental.
They can now offer guests a complete service, where they can choose their property and any additional equipment they need. When they arrive for their vacation, their car or other equipment is outside their vacation property, ready for them to use immediately. In addition to the value added to their service with these additional options, they have also invested significantly in completely renovating some of their rental properties.
Automating messages and bookings overview
While offering equipment rentals alongside their properties seemed like a great idea, it didn’t happen without its fair share of challenges. A couple of issues they faced were finding a reliable system to send automated messages regarding equipment bookings and a calendar where they could see all their bookings simultaneously. This proved to be more of a challenge as the number of bookings grew.
So, Gian-Marco started looking for a solution that would solve these issues and allow them to streamline the operation of their equipment rentals. His search led him to Booqable, where he saw that many equipment rental businesses had successfully implemented it. He integrated it into his existing WordPress website and smoothly offered equipment rentals alongside their apartments and villas.
Meanwhile, managing bookings became a lot easier for the team as they could get a complete overview of all of their equipment. The calendar has proved particularly useful as they can see precisely when equipment is needed and what to prepare for upcoming guests. In addition, when customers book online, they receive an automated email confirming their booking. This was previously a time-consuming task for staff to handle for each booking.
Offering more services
Now that Caribbean Lofts Bonaire has mastered its equipment rental services, it wants to expand by offering more service-oriented accommodation. This will involve expanding the property types it offers, equipment rentals, and other services that complement this goal. In the next five years, they hope to be able to cater to almost every desire their guests could have while visiting Bonaire.
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