Rentujemy's Journey to a 50% Profit Spike with Dtravel Direct and a Simple Marketing Strategy
Rentujemy's journey is a masterclass in innovative entrepreneurship, blending a background in technology with first-principles thinking to redefine the short-term rental market. Since launching their booking site, Rentujemy has already seen a 300% uptick in overall direct bookings.
Introduction
In the ever-evolving landscape of short-term rentals, a blend of innovation, foresight, and first principle strategies can be all it takes to stay ahead of the curve. Adrian Barwicki, the founder of Rentujemy, embodies this blend. His journey from a physics student in Germany to a prolific entrepreneur in Poland encapsulates the spirit of modern entrepreneurship. In this blog we dive into how Adrian's background in technology and ability to apply his experience to new industries transformed Rentujemy into a short-term rental market leader.
From Sharing Economy to Short-term Rentals
Adrian Barwicki's entrepreneurial saga began in the university corridors of Heidelberg, where he pursued physics. At 22, he launched his first startup in the sharing economy, a project akin to TaskRabbit, which at the time, forged a foundation for his ever evolving skillset. Though this venture didn't financially succeed, it was a vital stepping stone to continue pushing forward. Shortly after, Adrian transitioned into a lucrative consulting business, working with giants like SAP and honing his ability to produce bottom line results. Over the years, his success in consulting provided Adrian with the financial capital to begin investing in real estate and like many operators, was drawn to the higher ROI potential of short-term rentals over traditional long-term contracts.
The Birth and Growth of Rentujemy
Rentujemy, Adrian’s management company, emerged from his dissatisfaction with existing short-term rental services and their lack of transparency. Recounting a story from one of his previous consulting clients, "I was spending so much in provisions for them and they were not entirely honest with how they reported the revenue to me." This experience propelled Adrian to manage properties through his own company, Rentujemy. With only a handful of properties initially, Rentujemy quickly gained traction. Its low commission rates and reliable service garnered media attention, catapulting Adrian’s company toward rapid growth. By early 2020, Rentujemy, now with 100 properties under management, decided to franchise their model in order to expand operations across multiple cities without the need for a physical presence.
Rentujemy's business model cleverly combines direct management with franchising. They manage customer relations and sales centrally while leveraging local operators for property management. With this model, Rentujemy has the ability to exponentially scale and is now targeting over 200 properties by the end of 2024.
In parallel to their rental operations, Rentujemy also introduced an innovative investment arm whereby their network can provide loans and participate in the returns of short-term rental properties under Rentujemy management. Most recently, Rentujemy investors received a 7% return from operations and an additional 15% once the property was converted and sold as a profitable short-term rental business.
Tech Integration and Discovering Dtravel Direct
Adrian's background in software development has led to the development of a number of innovative automations that have drastically improved Rentujemy’s customer and short-term rental management service. From text messaging and AI-driven guest communications to designing their own guest screening and fraud protection system, Adrian and his team continue to optimize for efficiencies and improve the operations of their business. When it came time to explore direct booking solutions however, one name came to mind.
Not surprisingly, Adrian was drawn to the application of cryptocurrencies, and in 2019, started honest.cash, a publishing platform that enabled users to earn bitcoin for their content. It was during this time that Adrian first learned about Dtravel and when the day came for Rentujemy to begin reducing its dependence on OTAs (online travel agencies), he created a Dtravel Direct account and re-launched Rentujemy.com.
“I think [Dtravel Direct] really has the perfect balance of what an operator would like to have customized and what you take as a standard solution for everyone.”
The Sticker Strategy for Direct Bookings
Despite their tech-drive approach to the short-term rental industry, one of Rentujemy's most successful strategies to driving direct bookings is the use of a low-cost marketing tactic — stickers.
The stickers strategy goes like this:
First time guests typically book through either Airbnb or Booking.com and more often than not, these guests will decide to prolong their stay. Instead of rebooking through Airbnb or Booking.com, the stickers let the guests know they can bypass OTA commission fees, save on cleaning fees and receive a better rate by booking directly at Rentujemy.com. This simple yet effective tactic has led to a substantial increase in direct bookings and profits. "Especially those [guests] from Booking.com are not very much attached to the platform. Airbnb clients are more attached to Airbnb. And we try to convert them, and that's with Dtravel," Adrian explains.
If a guest decides to instead contact Rentujemy directly, Adrian’s team makes use of the Dtravel Direct manual reservation feature. After a guest reaches out, a Rentujemy employee will create a manual reservation less the cleaning fees and send the request back over to the guest so they can complete their stay extension.
This simple yet impactful tactic has significantly increased direct bookings, which are far more profitable for Rentujemy compared to OTA bookings. As a service based business, Rentujemy earns a management fee on bookings while their clients cover the OTA fees. By capturing bookings through their own Dtravel Direct powered booking site, Rentujemy is earns both their management fee and what would have been an OTA fee, effectively doubling their profit margins. By adding more properties and pushing for direct bookings, Rentujemy is growing profits by an extra 50%. What’s most interesting is that since launching their Dtravel Direct powered booking site, Rentujemy has already seen a 300% uptick in overall direct bookings. Adrian attributes the increase in growth and profits to the optimized design and their site’s ability to convert new guests who prefer not to book through an OTA. “It certainly has the potential to continue improving our margins up to 100% if we get all reservations from direct channels.”
In just a couple months from launching Rentujemy.com with Dtravel Direct, Adrian and team have experienced a significant boost to their business. This just goes to show not only the earning potential of direct bookings, but the effortless ways operators can implement low cost tactics that encourage guests to book or rebook directly instead of through an OTA.
Conclusion
Adrian Barwicki's journey with Rentujemy is a masterclass in innovative entrepreneurship, blending a background in technology with first-principles thinking to redefine the short-term rental market. Rentujemy's success, characterized by its unique business model, technological integrations, and simple yet effective strategies, showcase how traditional industries can be revolutionized through creativity and a keen understanding of market dynamics.
Through Rentujemy, Adrian has not only created a robust platform for property management and investment opportunities, but they have also set a new standard for efficiency and profitability in the short-term rental sector. The utilization of Dtravel Direct to bypass OTA commissions, coupled with the simple yet effective sticker strategy, underscores how small, thoughtful changes can yield significant results, offering a blueprint for other operators in the industry to follow.