Casiola is a success story, Sjoerd and Julia’s management company grew exponentially in just one year to a business servicing more than 80 vacation rental properties.
They just inaugurated their headquarters on Sasaki, a centrally located commercial building with an oversize hot pink/fuchsia logo!
It’s a good story. The pair ran the Boardwalk small hotel in 1989. They started handling a few vacation rentals, in the Bakval neighborhood, in 2003, under their company name, RentStar. They ran around 20 homes. Then Julia went to a Vacation Rental conference in Las Vegas and bumped into a Belgian born entrepreneur, the owner of Casiola in Orlando who cracked the code on how to manage different and diverse properties in different and diverse addresses via smart technology.
Julia who was practically born into the hotel business, her father, hotelier Jan de Ruiter, ran the Holiday Inn for decades. She recognized a good thing when she saw it, and pursued Dennis Goedheid, until he said I do, prepared to branch out and give his blessing to Casiola Aruba, most of all share his technological breakthroughs, innovations and branding secrets with his counterparts here.
Sounds easy, but think about it, you deal with so many owners, in so many different configurations, condos, villas, apartments, it’s not like managing the rental pool in a condo complex, this is strategically layered, and complex.
But they cracked the code, and now they have a branded quality product, swanky headquarters with a community room, a small café, a professional laundry, a fleet of new logoed vans, friendly, trained agents in fuchsia shirts, a great website, maintenance people, housekeepers, and an army of vendors providing garden services, repairs, the works.
Vacation Aruba, by Alex Cybul is equally successful with more than 150 vacation rentals he runs for different owners, all over the island.
Both Alex and Sjoerd are among the founders of VRPA, Vacation Rental Professionals Aruba, together with Francis Saladin and Albert Perret Gentil. Vacation Rental Professionals Aruba (VRPA) is in favor of further compliance and regulation on the vacation rental industry in order for the industry to continue to thrive. They report that vacation rentals account for a large part of the tourism industry. It is a global travel trend that is growing exponentially.
A long time ago, more than ten year, hotelier Jeff Lesker, came back from St Martin where he worked for the Radisson to help brand vacation rentals in Aruba under one management company. He opened an office and started adding clients to his vacation rental portfolio. Alas, he was ahead of his time.
His idea was to provide the same type of linens, the same bathroom amenities, the same bed making, triple sheet standards, and run different far-apart properties just like he would a hotel, by the handbook, implementing quality standards and helping grow the accommodation rates.
It was a solid plan, as I said, ahead of its time, and Jeff left to run a hotel in Jamaica, then off to the US.
VRPA is now a reality, and Aruba is blessed with top rated vacation home management companies, focusing on powerful marketing, the ease of booking, excellent 24/7 guest service and 5-star property care.
That translates into millions, $478.7 million in income for Aruba, 5,635 jobs, from a total of 3,500 vacation rentals with 8,000 beds, according to VRPA Directive for responsible and sustainable vacation rentals in Aruba
@CasiolaAruba #CasiolaAruva @VacationAruba #VacationAruba
