How Arnaud grows his property management business without compromising guest experience with smartiz
Every short-term rental (STR) company that grows eventually asks themselves the same question: at what number of properties does the quality of the welcome start to decline? Messages are sent later, guest questions sit waiting, and the manager spends their evenings on their phone. Many then choose not to grow, or to grow while accepting that guest follow-up will be slightly compromised.
Arnaud, founder of Patrimonia Conciergerie in Drôme and Ardèche, built his business so that this question never arises. At smartiz, the guest experience is the starting point: the platform was born within a STR company, and its features are built based on what guests expect and how they make decisions—before, during, and after their stay. The goal is the same as Arnaud's: better stays and better reviews.
1 week
saved over the summer with 7 properties
5 min
average response time, 3 min with AI
10
requests handled during the stay thanks to the 1st-night survey
0
negative responses to the check-out survey
Patrimonia Conciergerie
Arnaud created Patrimonia Conciergerie just over a year ago. He manages renovated individual holiday homes in the countryside for short-stay guests. He works alone, with independent service providers, and uses Smoobu as his PMS. He started with his own properties, manages seven today, and plans to reach about fifteen.
His remuneration includes a fixed monthly fee and a commission indexed to the rating left by guests: if the rating drops, the commission drops. The guest, the owner, and the property manager thus share the same interest. Every tool he adopts must serve this objective. This is where smartiz aligns with his model: message sequences, the digital welcome book, and in-stay surveys are built on guest psychology, ensuring the right information arrives at the right time, requests are handled during the stay, and the final review reflects that.
Why smartiz
Arnaud has been communicating with his guests on WhatsApp since his first property, like many managers who started with their own homes. He used to send his sequences manually: confirmation upon booking, request for information before arrival, arrival video the day before. The time slot reserved each day in his calendar grew from half an hour to an hour and a half as he added a few more properties.
He already had a PMS and didn't want to add a separate communication tool only to find himself, despite everything, writing to guests in the evening. His criterion: a tool must save him more time than it requires from him. smartiz starts from WhatsApp, which he was already using, and connects to Smoobu. A booking arrives in the PMS, and the guest receives their message sequence on WhatsApp.
Before and After
Before | With smartiz | |
|---|---|---|
Guest messages | Sequence sent manually, daily slot of 30 min then 1 hr 30 min | Automatic sequence, tracked from the phone |
Guest questions | Replies in the evening, on the phone | Response in 5 minutes on average, 3 minutes with AI |
Welcome book | Paper, in the accommodation | Digital on WhatsApp, updated with every recurring question, in addition to paper |
Local recommendations | The manager's suggestions, in the paper booklet | Owners' favorites, in the digital welcome book |
Adding a property | Notes then Excel file | Property profile filled out by Arnaud, verified by the smartiz team |
Capacity | Ceiling linked to time spent on messages | Seven properties, target of fifteen |
What Arnaud implemented
Effortless messaging
The first five properties were set up with the smartiz team. Arnaud now adds new properties himself and requests a check before going live. At the end of the season, he reviews his message sequences with the team to integrate new ideas.
At smartiz, there are no small or large clients. The team is always listening to me.
An evolving welcome book
Guests receive the welcome book on their phones via WhatsApp: arrival video, practical instructions, activities around the accommodation. They have access to it even when they aren't on-site. When a question comes up several times, Arnaud adds the answer, and future guests have it at their fingertips.
With the smartiz welcome book, my guests have all the info in their pocket, on WhatsApp, and I enrich it with every question that comes up.
Owners participate in the welcome
Most of Arnaud's owners stay in their own homes and have their favorite local spots: an ice cream shop, a bistro, a specific walk. Arnaud asked them to share these. They appear in the guide as "owner's favorites." Guests receive recommendations from someone who knows the area, and owners feel part of the guest experience.
Knowing during the stay, not after
A survey is sent after the first night. This summer, ten guests used it to report a request or an issue to resolve, and Arnaud was able to intervene during the stay. The check-out survey received zero negative responses.
Results
Over ten weeks of summer, with seven properties, the platform's data represents one full week of work saved on automated messaging and responses alone. His guests get a response in five minutes on average—three when the AI responds. The time recovered goes toward finding new properties, managing existing ones, and his personal life.
What's next?
Arnaud now offers options through a form integrated into the welcome book: the guest checks the option, and Arnaud receives a notification. He is testing the smartiz AI to answer guests in the evening. To a colleague who is hesitating, he would first ask one question: how much time do they spend responding to their guests?