Villa Vesuviana
Smartchat has become essential to my work. No more stress from the phone ringing, better service quality, and I’m planning to open a second property.
Torre del Greco, Italy
15
Background
Villa Vesuviana is a residence located along the famous “Miglio d’Oro” in Torre del Greco, a coastal stretch known for its scenic beauty and historic 18th-century villas.
The property itself was born from the restoration of one of these noble homes and has grown over the years into a residence with 15 fully equipped apartments, each with a kitchen and private parking.
Villa Vesuviana is open year-round and welcomes a balanced mix of Italian and international leisure guests.
The challenge
Villa Vesuviana reached out to Smartness when customer communication had become unmanageable. During high season, phone time exceeded two hours a day—broken up into dozens of short calls. The impact on personal life was significant.
“When I started 15 years ago, I had only two apartments and talking to guests was actually enjoyable. Then the business grew, I became a father, and dealing with calls and messages every day became a real problem.
It wasn’t the time on the phone, it was the timing. Calls came during lunch, dinner, while I was driving, showering, or feeding my daughter.
And that affected service quality too. If a guest calls while you’re eating and in a rush, you end up sounding annoyed.”
The stress led to a drastic decision: stop answering phone calls and WhatsApp, and respond only to platform messages from Airbnb and Booking.com.
That choice, however, created new issues: reviews and bookings started to decline.
“It was frustrating: only about 10% of all those calls turned into bookings. So at some point, right in high season, I said enough. I turned off the phone and waited to see what happened.
Nothing good. In July, reviews started to dip. Bookings held steady until September because demand was high, but by November I saw revenue drop. December was the first time ever we made less than the previous year.”
The solution
Faced with declining revenue and guest satisfaction, Villa Vesuviana began looking for a way to restore high-quality customer service, evaluating both software and hiring someone.
“I was ready to hire, but didn’t like the idea of someone working from home, on their phone, on their own. I needed something fully reliable 100% of the time.
I contacted other service providers, but nobody offered a complete solution. Some handled calls, but not messaging. Others did phone and WhatsApp, but not Airbnb or Booking.com. Then I found Smartchat.”
Villa Vesuviana chose Smartchat Ultra, which provides a dedicated team that handles all communication: calls, emails, WhatsApp, Airbnb, and Booking.com messages.
“I went with Smartchat because it gave me everything I needed—at a time I really needed help. I figured they’d do better than me. I didn’t see it as a cost. I saw it as an investment.”
The results
After just one day of training on the specifics of Villa Vesuviana, the Smartchat Ultra team took over full customer communication.
“The onboarding was handled very professionally and was easy for me. After the initial training, I only got a few follow-up questions in the first month. Then the communication basically stopped—they’re fully autonomous now.”
10,000 messages handled in 3 months
In the first three months, Smartchat Ultra managed more than 130 guest requests per day, across both calls and messages.
The bulk of the volume came from messaging: nearly 10,000 messages across all channels, with consistent, fast, and professional replies to every guest.
Phone results were just as strong: 515 calls handled, more than 22 hours of talk time, and an average wait time of just 10 seconds before answering.
More time for strategic growth
The structured handling of calls and messages eliminated constant interruptions, freeing up time for the team to focus on long-term goals.
“Smartchat has become essential to my work. I’m no longer stressed about the phone ringing, and I’ve regained the quality of our guest experience.
I expect to grow the customer base, and I’m finally working toward my goal of opening a second property within a year.
With the help of Smartchat and the other Smartness tools, I want to set things up so the properties run themselves. I feel like I’m on the right path.”
Lesdomus
With Smartpms, we created a flow that runs on its own and cut our workload by 70%. Without it, I’d need at least two or three more people on my team.
La Pointe Beach Huts
We were drawn to automation, but letting go of control was scary. Smartpricing proved we could grow revenue and trust the process.