Lynx Customer Spotlight: Casiola Vacation Homes

Q: What’s unique about Casiola that makes owners love you?

A: “I heard of the horror stories from owners such as, “their property manager mentioned the property is vacant but when their friends came in and saw that it’s occupied.” I quickly noticed that communication and transparency are very important for most homeowners, so we build the tools to make sure that we can show them everything that’s going on, whether it’s the good, the bad, and the ugly.

We have a property dashboard where owners can see occupancy, status of the property flip, guest reviews and with APIs from Lynx Automation they will soon see a real-time audit trail of who was in the property and when. 

This transparency allows all my staff to stay accountable and our owners choose us for the combination of trust, transparency and accountability.”

Q: Why did you choose Aruba as your next expansion and what’s next?

A: “I was invited by a local property management company to visit them in Aruba, 2 years ago, to evaluate a potential acquisition. I saw good potential and a growing market. Competition is scarce and most of them have not achieved any operational efficiency through automation either. We thought with our experience and knowledge here in Orlando, and our adoption of technology we can take Aruba vacation rental property management to the next level.”

Q: Why did you choose to work with Lynx automation?

A:  “From the start, we did not want to deal with keys and the hassles of guests losing keys. We also wanted to have a connected technology software platform that can manage the thermostat, digital locks, noise sensors and other connected devices. I was looking for a specific type of lock solution, as I have tried several systems in the past and we faced issues like changing the batteries every week, jammed doors, and unreliable software. So, we kept evaluating options until we found Lynx. Since Lynx is compatible with so many different smart locks, you’ll were able to find us a smart lock that would fit our needs. Your consulting in this matter was invaluable. Lynx was also integrated with our PMS, Escapia which was also important to us. Next, Lynx met all our evaluation criteria on software reliability and also enterprise features a company like Casiola would need operating in multiple cities. 

Q: How has Lynx cloud-connected contact-less check-in automation changed how Casiola operates?

A: “There are a couple of big differences. Since Lynx portal allows us to see the status of locks, batteries and even operate them remotely. So, we have been able to accept properties typically outside of our management radius. Meaning we have been able to expand our business with confidence. 

With Lynx, we can also see real-time if the housekeeper is in the house or inspection is completed or not. This visibility allows us to allocate our people efficiently and deal with staffing issues better than our competitors. With contactless self check-in, it’s convenient for our guests and we are able to assert more control over house rules as we can also know when a guest is trying to access the wrong house or before check-in time.  

One of the most important features of Lynx is the ability to “pause a stay”. We can stop access codes or overwrite them when guests don’t follow house rules, noise ordinances or have not completed the pre-check-in process.

Q: What is your technology roadmap in general and in property automation?

A: “Today, A PMS is not the software one should use for operational improvements. We will be implementing Lynx’s API in our owner dashboard and to build the “Proof of Check-in” to manage guest disputes. My larger vision is for the guest portal to show the status of the maintenance or guest service requests. Laundry management software is another one that we’d like to build. These are small improvements but can add up quickly for a company our size.”