The Story
SH Barcelona is a real estate agency with over 20 years of experience in the sector, specializing in short- and long-term rentals as well as property sales in Barcelona. With a broad portfolio of over 2,000 properties—including apartments, studios, lofts, and penthouses—the company has become a benchmark in the city’s real estate market. Their multilingual and professional team offers services tailored to clients’ needs, including renovation, interior design, and decoration projects.
Over the years, SH Barcelona has been recognized for its excellent customer service, collaborating with prestigious institutions, companies, and universities, both nationally and internationally. The company stands out as a key player in the tourist rental and temporary housing market for executives and students.
As their property portfolio grew, SH Barcelona faced the challenge of managing utility consumption for hundreds of properties under temporary rental. Calculating consumption and managing deposit returns within a 30-day deadline was a slow, third-party-dependent process that affected operational efficiency.
Press play to hear their story firsthand or keep reading to learn how our collaboration helped them overcome these challenges and improve their utility management.
The Challenge
With the expansion of their portfolio, SH Barcelona encountered a major administrative challenge: calculating utility consumption (water, electricity, gas, etc.) for over 1,600 temporary rental properties.
Each month, they needed to calculate the exact utility usage in order to return tenant deposits on time.
This process depended on third parties and involved managing a high volume of properties and clients, making communication and billing processes slow and error-prone. It affected internal productivity, making the calculation of consumption and deposit returns extremely labor-intensive.
“It was a process that took a lot more time—you had to depend on someone to say, ‘Hey, please send me the invoices,’ and you were relying on a third person who might not be available, or who didn’t have direct access and had to come to the office, scan all the bills, take them away, etc. That’s why we looked for Polaroo, where you just enter the move-in and move-out dates and get a clear snapshot of actual consumption for a given period,”
explains Valentí Soley, Key Account Manager at SH Barcelona.
The Solution
By implementing Polaroo’s services, the agency was able to simplify the process of calculating and assigning each tenant’s utility usage.
The system we developed within the basic utilities management platform allows entry of move-in and move-out dates to obtain accurate information about the real utility consumption of each property.
“You have your control panel, you see the final cost, and you also have all the invoices you can present. This has helped us communicate better and offer a higher quality service,” continues Valentí.
With the platform, SH Barcelona’s team has access to a control panel where they can quickly and efficiently review all consumption data and related deposit calculations. Since all invoices are centralized in one place, they’ve eliminated reliance on third parties and the need to exchange physical documents—saving time and improving client communication.
Valentí also adds: “Thanks to data centralization, we can handle a higher volume. Why? Because the time we used to spend on these calculations can now be dedicated to customer service or many other tasks. Quality comes from the amount of time we can save by avoiding all those emails like, ‘Okay, but where did this come from?’ or ‘Why is this like that?"
The Results
Thanks to the work done through our service, SH Barcelona has seen a significant improvement in operational efficiency. Key results include:
- Reduced management time: The process of calculating consumption and deposits has been greatly simplified. Tasks that used to take days now take only minutes. This allows SH Barcelona’s team to focus more on customer service and other business areas.
- Data centralization: With Polaroo, all utility invoices and consumption data are centralized in a single platform. This has improved transparency in utility management and facilitated decision-making for both the administrative and customer service teams.
- Faster communication: With instant access to consumption data and invoices, SH Barcelona has optimized their ability to quickly respond to client queries. This has reduced incidents and unnecessary interactions, improving the customer experience.
- Efficiency in deposit calculation and return: The time required to calculate usage and return deposits has been reduced, allowing SH Barcelona to meet deadlines consistently. Additionally, the platform has enabled the creation of clear, detailed reports that simplify the resolution of doubts or discrepancies.
Thanks to our collaboration with SH Barcelona, the service provided by Polaroo has helped reduce the time spent on calculations and improve both efficiency and communication speed—without increasing administrative workload.