History
AB Apartment Barcelona has established itself as a leading agency in the rental of tourist and long-term apartments in Barcelona, standing out for its adaptability and proactive approach to market challenges.
Offering some 700 properties, from stylish apartments in L'Eixample to idyllic beachside locations, they provide versatile accommodation options, ideal for families and groups of friends. Their commitment to excellence extends beyond their properties, offering a centrally located office available 365 days a year to ensure a worry-free experience for their guests.
In response to the pandemic, AB Apartment Barcelona has successfully navigated from short- to medium-term rentals, maintaining above-market average occupancy and strengthening owner profitability. This strategic approach, coupled with the implementation of enhanced security protocols and innovative check-in systems, has solidified their position as an industry pioneer.
The Challenge
AB Apartment Barcelona, has 3 main challenges to grow in a sustainable and scalable way:
- Maintain occupancy.
- Manage VUTs with constant tenant turnover.
- Maximize owners' profitability.
This involves coordinating and efficiently managing supplies for their apartments, ensuring that they all have electricity, water, gas and internet services, working correctly and efficiently.
"The margin of the business depends largely on operations costs being under control"
This involves coordinating and efficiently managing supplies for their apartments, ensuring that they all have electricity, water, gas and internet services, working correctly and efficiently. Equally, it is a challenge to find ways to reduce operating expenses related to supplies, without compromising the quality of service offered to guests and to quickly handle any problems or incidents related to supplies to avoid inconveniencing guests and owners.
Solución
Polaroo, se presenta como un eje importante para desarrollar las tareas operativas que no aportan valor, simplificando la gestión de suministros y permitiendo a la agencia concentrarse en lo esencial: hacer crecer el negocio.
Iniciando con la centralización de todas los suministros en un solo lugar en el software de Polaroo, fue posible identificar patrones de consumo y necesidades para realizar el estudio de optimización de costes.
Así mismo, algunas de las gestiones de mayor implicación horaria realizadas por Polaroo para AB Apartment fueron:
- Aumentos de potencia porque les saltaban los diferenciales.
- Dar de alta suministros de apartamentos partiendo de 0 para pisos ocupados.
- Conseguir datos de los suministros para contratarlos cuando el cliente no cuenta con la información, hacer ese trabajo de investigación y conseguir activar a su nombre.
Resultados
Once AB Apartment started working with us, it wasn't long before they were able to understand their supply behavior and get proposals for supply optimization. In addition to improving control and visibility, it has brought them significant savings in:
- In the first year alone, Polaroo contributed more than 11,000 euros in savings, associated with a 20% saving on its electricity bills, and 15% on its gas bills.
- By 2024, the results obtained for 82 of its assets are: 1,122 hours of time saved, reaching more than 20,000 euros in savings in the cost of supplies and 80% more efficient operations.
AB Apartment's feedback confirms this:
"Very happy with the service and great savings on supply invoices", David Aguilar, CEO of AB Apartment.
""The use of Polaroo makes it easier for us to calculate supplies and we can have invoices easily available, avoiding entering each supplier to download them," Carlos Altamirano, Accounting Dept.
Together, operational efficiency and a customer-centric approach are key to overcoming adversities and leading the way to a promising future.