Shielded for success: Ohana’s distribution breakthrough fuelled 158% growth

Ohana is a family-run property management group operating spacious vacation homes in some of the most breathtaking regions of New Zealand. Led by Phil Cooper and his son, Andreas, Ohana began seven years ago with a single cottage on their property and quickly grew into the second-largest accommodation provider in New Zealand, with over 120 listings across Canterbury, Auckland, Wellington, and Tekapo.

The name “Ohana” means family, reflecting their commitment to creating genuine, family-friendly experiences that stand apart from standard vacation rentals. Today, the Ohana Group caters to both large international markets, mainly from Australia and China, as well as local travellers.

The Coopers’ focus on unique, family-friendly properties drove substantial growth over seven years. However, their ambition for scale was severely limited by narrow distribution due to a lack of essentials that ranged from suitable insurance coverage to reporting capabilities and software support. According to the Coopers, Guesty changed everything.

Owner relationships and booking errors
Manual communication with property owners led to the frequent risk of reservation errors, as they struggled to synchronize owner stays with guest bookings. Additionally, property owners increasingly demanded more data and transparency on their properties’ performance. Ohana lacked an efficient way to provide this information while maintaining oversight control.

Unreliable service and software support
With 120+ properties across multiple regions, implementing and maintaining a property management system presented significant challenges. Ohana suffered from multiple time-sensitive issues, including significant claims processing challenges and a lack of personalized attention from software providers who didn’t understand their scale.

Integration complexity
Finding software solutions that worked together seamlessly posed a significant obstacle. The lack of integration between critical systems created workflow inefficiencies and greatly limited Ohana’s ability to adopt potentially beneficial technologies. Ohana simply could not trust the technology.

Guesty Shield
Implementing Guesty Shield was a crucial turning point for Ohana. With reliable and unbiased insurance coverage, they confidently expanded their distribution beyond Airbnb to include direct bookings and additional platforms like Booking.com. This diversification resulted in 30-40% of their bookings now coming from outside Airbnb. 
According to Andreas Cooper, Shield not only reduced administrative work around filing and approving claims, but provided the ultimate benefit–peace of mind for both guests and hosts. 

Advanced reports and actionable insights 
Guesty’s reporting suite transformed Ohana’s analysis capabilities and performance. The ability to quickly assess occupancy rates and property-specific performance metrics has become essential to their scaling operations, providing actionable insights across their portfolio. The transition to trusted, automated reporting fundamentally changed how the Ohana Group makes strategic decisions. “You can gather that information so quickly, all the tools are right there,” Phil Cooper said. “Our financial controller loves it because now she can just grab that information and give me the numbers in minutes–occupancy, the percentage on each property, payout figures for the clients. She relies on Guesty’s information, so it’s extremely important.” 

Owner Portal 
Guesty’s Owner Portal is now a vital aspect of Ohana’s operations, addressing increasing owner demand for data, transparency, and the ability to book stays at their own property without causing reservation errors. According to Andreas, “this is arguably the most important thing for owners when they’re going to the short-term market.” This function eliminated double bookings and manual communication errors, markedly improving owner relationships and retention. 

Support at scale 
At Ohana’s scale, dedicated support is fundamental. During a critical retention meeting, Guesty demonstrated commitment to the partnership by assigning dedicated team members for technical support and claims processing. Together, Ohana and Guesty formed a collaborative approach and feedback loop for software solutions. Direct access to support personnel who deeply understood Ohana’s business was a key differentiator when Ohana was deciding between Guesty and competitors. “Ultimately, it comes down to building relationships, and that’s one thing Guesty has done exceptionally well.”

White-label integrations 
Andreas praised Guesty’s software integrations for being so seamless and well-branded, they “wouldn’t know it was third-party.” This integration capability has become so central to their operations that they now make business decisions based on compatibility with their PMS: “It all comes down to one factor–do they integrate with Guesty?” 

The transition to Guesty’s platform fundamentally changed how Ohana operates. They’ve significantly relieved administrative burden through automation, transformed strategic decision-making with data insights, eliminated double bookings and manual errors, and mastered owner communications and transparency.
The result was remarkable business growth. Ohana has achieved a 158% year-over-year portfolio growth, maintained a current occupancy rate of 88.5%, increased RevPAR by 46.49%, and improved its overall occupancy rate by 38% over three years. According to the Coopers, this is directly correlated to the confidence Guesty Shield gave them to broaden their distribution strategy.

Today, Ohana is expanding in Tekapo’s high-end tourism market with large, stunning properties that offer unique experiences from spas and saunas to bowling alleys, farm animals, and even Hobbit homes. The Ohana Group has also expanded operations with four companies under its helm, providing linen, construction and development, property partnership, and property management.

The partnership between Ohana and Guesty demonstrates the power of collaboration and human relationships when it comes to refining software solutions for unique business models. With a highly integrated, reliable tech stack that aligns with their operational needs and protection they can trust, Ohana is primed for successful expansion and continued market dominance in New Zealand’s thriving hospitality sector.