GoHost
Smartchat Ultra freed up three to six hours a day that we used to spend on customer service. Now we have more time to grow the company and fewer negative review scores.
Milan, Italy
40
Background
GoHost is a property management company based in Milan, founded in September 2024.
Starting with a single unit, the company scaled within six months to 27 apartments in Milan and a 13-room residence in Alassio, reaching a total of 40 operational units.
GoHost provides full-service property management—from booking optimization and guest support to coordinating day-to-day operations.
At the same time, the team built local partnerships to offer additional services such as private chefs, car rentals, transfers, massages, and customized tours, aiming to enhance the overall guest experience.
Their mission is twofold: deliver high-level service to guests while ensuring maximum profitability, peace of mind, and outstanding reviews for property owners.
The challenge
From the outset, GoHost focused on building structured, scalable processes, with automation playing a central role in its growth strategy.
The first step was implementing Smartpricing, Smartness’s AI-powered dynamic pricing software.
“At the time, we were managing an apartment near Milan Central Station with a 90% monthly occupancy rate. We quickly realized we couldn’t handle everything at once, so we started by automating pricing. Smartpricing helped us recover a significant amount of time.”
However, when the portfolio expanded to 27 apartments, another critical issue emerged: customer service.
Depending on the season, the team spent between three and six hours per day handling calls and guest messages.
“Customer service is probably the most important part of the guest experience, so for as long as we could, we handled it ourselves. But we reached a point where we were spending eight consecutive hours on phone calls, and the phone kept ringing well beyond working hours.
If one of us had an appointment or was away for the weekend, we constantly had to reorganize to ensure coverage. We were close to burnout.
Beyond the exhaustion, it simply wasn’t sustainable to dedicate three to six hours every day to guest communication. It meant sacrificing everything else—from administrative work to visiting new apartments—and that wasn’t an option.”
The solution
GoHost chose Smartchat Ultra, Smartness’s fully managed guest communication service, providing a professional team that personally handles all calls and messages from Booking.com, WhatsApp, Airbnb, and email.
The decision was driven by a specific need:
“All our apartments are in Milan, but in different neighborhoods, and each one has unique features. You can’t standardize responses or improvise. That’s why we looked for a service run by experienced people, offering real human support.
We wanted to guarantee both fast replies and the possibility for guests to interact with an actual person.”
In addition, thanks to the adoption of Smartpms, the Smartchat Ultra team can independently manage bookings coming from calls and messages.
“With direct access to our PMS, they also take over all the work related to incoming reservations.”
The results
After a short onboarding phase, the Smartchat Ultra team took over full responsibility for customer service. The impact was noticeable immediately.
“We realized right away that we had made the right choice. The first positive impact was the time saved: as soon as onboarding was completed, our daily workload became significantly lighter.
It was exactly what we needed: a service that’s both fast and high-quality. We would choose it again a thousand times without hesitation. Once you activate it, you can’t imagine going back. It’s like chocolate—once you try it…”
Over 30,000 interactions handled in just three and a half months
In the first three and a half months, Smartchat Ultra managed a total of 30,506 interactions between messages and phone calls—an average of around 302 per day.
Most of the volume came from messaging, with 29,926 messages handled across WhatsApp, email, Booking.com, and Airbnb.
Call volume was also significant: 580 phone calls, totaling nearly 20 hours on the phone.
The average wait time before answering was just 11 seconds.
A noticeable improvement in service perception
GoHost was already delivering a high-quality customer experience. With Smartchat Ultra, however, they were able to raise the bar further:
“Guests now perceive even more value in our service. We already had strong ratings, but occasionally we’d receive lower scores. Since activating Smartchat Ultra, we’ve seen fewer negative reviews—and when they do appear, they’re never related to customer service.
We’ve even received reviews that specifically mention the support provided. For us, that’s a very clear indicator of the improvement we’ve achieved.”
More time to scale the business
Partnering with Smartness allowed the GoHost team to refocus on growth initiatives.
“In addition to Smartpricing and Smartchat Ultra, we’ve also implemented Smartconnect for email marketing campaigns, and we’re very satisfied with that decision.
Right now, Smartness is the right partner for us because it has taken a lot off our plate and brought structure to the growth we want to achieve. We now have the clarity and the tools we need to think strategically about the long term.”
Mamaco
When I saw how the Smartchat Ultra team was responding to guests, I was won over. From the very beginning, they helped us reduce OTA dependency. We had never seen so many direct bookings.
Homekeepers
It’s really the mix of everything—but the support makes the difference. Whenever we need something, we get a quick and reliable response.