Background

Transylvania is a mysterious and fascinating region situated in Romania, in Southeast Europe. This territory’s fame is partly attributed to one of its most renowned rulers, Vlad the Impaler, whose terrible reputation inspired the legend of Dracula, the most well-known of all vampires (sorry, Edward Cullen!).

Our featured host, Tudor Variu, also comes from the ‘Land of Dracula’, but unlike the fellow countrymen mentioned above, he’s in a far less bloody line of business.

Still, similarly to Dracula’s story, which was passed down from generation to generation, Tudor also benefited from word-of-mouth to kickstart his short-term rental business.

That, and being located in Transylvania, may have been the only two similarities between the infamous Dracula and our charming host. But who doesn’t like a fantastic story to introduce an even better one?

Leaving the mystery and legends aside, let’s talk about Tudor’s story and how he became the successful owner of six short-term rental properties in Cluj, Transylvania.

Challenge

Originally from Cluj, Tudor entered the hospitality industry after purchasing two apartments in his hometown. He then combined his real estate venture with his tourism knowledge to expand his business into the thriving enterprise it is today.

Nevertheless, beginnings are never easy, and filling his calendars was quite a challenge at first.

The first bookings we got were from word-of-mouth. Family and friends would recommend us to other people. Then we started using Booking.com, Airbnb, and social media; that’s how we promoted ourselves when we first started to get our first bookings.”

Once he overcame the first challenge, another one arose: how to ensure that all his calendars and bookings were synchronized? Luckily, that’s where Lodgify came into place.

We needed all the reservations we were getting from different channels to be in the same calendar to avoid overbookings. We managed to overcome this challenge with Lodgify.”

Solution

Lodgify ticked all the boxes that Tudor was looking for in a PMS: a reliable channel manager, and a multi-language website builder, all at a reasonable price.

I needed help with a PMS, so I started researching online and checking reviews. My attention focused on Lodgify due to the many possibilities it was offering. I also found the price-quality ratio to be quite good.”

How difficult was it to build your website with Lodgify?

Tudor found building his multi-property website for ZEN Apartments quite easy, mainly thanks to the customizable templates for short-term rentals that Lodgify offers.

Lodgify allows you to choose from different templates that you can adapt to your website and customize. It’s quite straightforward.”

Results

Tudor’s job managing the ZEN Apartments is impressive, as proven by his 9.5 rating average on Booking.com and his Airbnb Superhost status. He’s been able to build a hospitality business that his customers love – and we couldn’t be prouder of having played a role in it.

It wouldn’t have been possible without a PMS like Lodgify to grow and maintain an increase in reservations.”

Lodgify’s PMS has allowed Tudor to synchronize and manage all his reservations and guest communications in one centralized platform, saving time on repetitive tasks, so he could focus on what he enjoys the most; managing and welcoming his guests.

If you have multiple properties, it’s a must to have a system like Lodgify to simplify everything, not to spend all day in front of a laptop, and have more time to interact with guests.”

Tudor’s advice to other hosts

Tudor Variu’s story is one to learn from. Like many short-term rental hosts, Variu had a clear goal: building a thriving business in the always competitive hospitality industry. He invested time and money chasing this goal, overcame the initial challenges and eventually succeeded.

Because of that, we couldn’t finish this case study without asking him for his advice to other fellow hosts. Hopefully, his tips will help many owners become worthy of a success story in no time!

Focus on guest experience and their feedback. Create a brand and get good reviews. Make sure you have beautiful pictures. If you have multiple properties, you need a PMS: managing everything through software will allow you to save time, automate processes and increase your revenue.”

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