INTERVIEW : Géraldine & David, founders of Villanovo
Written on : 04 August 2022 By : Delphine Thebaud
INTERVIEW : Géraldine & David, founders of Villanovo
David and Géraldine Schneuwly have always been passionate travellers. Through their time spent living with their 3 children in France, Morocco and Spain, they have developed a keen sense of hospitality and an appreciation of local knowledge.
In 2008, while residing in Marrakesh, they created Villanovo, with the aim of combining the advantages of a sublime villa in a select destination with dedicated, local expertise and on-site service.
Le Magazine has caught up with them to find out the latest from Villanovo.
Q : How did Villanovo manage during the pandemic ?
A : David - We have reorganized and adapted to the situation by being flexible with our customers while maintaining balanced agreements with our owners: a more thorough approach to dealing with cancellations, ensuring postponements are negotiated fairly and our customers reimbursed when justified. When regional restrictions were removed, we did our best to accommodate new demand for destinations closer to home. While our major destinations like Morocco and Mauritius were closed, we focused on developing our portfolio in France, Italy and Spain. We also took the opportunity to deploy significant technological improvements on our platform as well as in our internal procedures.
Q : How has the private villa holiday rental business evolved over the last few years?
A : David – As well as a reduction in the distance to their holiday destination, our clients are tending to extend the duration of their rentals, and are showing a significant increase in interest around organising local experiences. The demand is growing for personalised support and additional services of all kinds (travel, excursions, experiences, domestic services). We have also observed an increase in requests for short stays outside of high season. Due to the pandemic, more people are choosing the option of a private house over a shared resort or hotel, especially if it is accompanied by tailor-made services and a guarantee of real quality.
Q : What are your main competitive advantages over the competition?
A : Géraldine - Villanovo's 3000 properties are carefully selected: idyllic locations, the very best service, a strong emphasis on luxury and distinctive properties! To ensure the quality of every stay, we have a team of local specialists dedicated to each destination: they know the areas and offer our customers the most suitable experience in line with their wishes. Meanwhile, our concierge team is on hand to provide strong support and peace of mind to our clients. Our priority has always been quality over quantity; we make sure our clients live the best experience possible and, therefore, look to us when they want to repeat it!
Q : Do you have any key projects in the pipeline?
A : Géraldine - Our objective is to continue to develop our business, especially in the existing markets, where we want to reinforce our presence and specialisation. One focus is oriented towards the owner and portfolio side. A new team is working on bringing quality support to our owners and ensuring our existing portfolio is up-to-date and appealing, while also keeping an eye open for new star properties to include in our portfolio. I am personally leading our new marketing and communication projects, such as the rebranding of Villanovo - which is exciting! A new website will soon be launched, better adapted to our portfolio and the more experiential approach to holidaying that we want to promote. Lastly, we are focusing on improving our internal processes to further support our day-to-day workings and bring even more satisfaction to our owners and clients!
Q : What do you propose for the owners of your villas?
A : David - We have worked with over 1500 owners for many years. We have forged relationships with them built on trust and we try to provide them with a highly personalised follow-up with our sales teams. In recent years, we have implemented a platform especially designed for owners. This dashboard is a monitoring tool where owners can find a list of all rental requests and confirmed bookings, the status of payments for each confirmed booking, a calendar showing availability for updates, etc. In all cases, we favour direct contact with our representatives in the destinations or from our central offices. Each owner can reach us every day by phone, whatsapp or email. We are here for them!
Today, we manage the exclusive distribution of more than a hundred villas for which we play the role of central agent. We offer our expertise throughout the booking chain, from managing the commercial relationship with potential guests to the booking payments and post-rental follow-up. Our advisers bring their know-how and personal touch to clients, while our scalable technological platform facilitates exceptional marketing and sales dynamism. Each house has its own website and domain name and we rely on a rich and varied international network of partners to reach quality customers all over the world.
