More revenue and more free time with Guesty

When the onus fell on Ali El Hajouji, Founder and CEO of AppartAli, to find a long-term tenant for his brother’s apartment, he searched far and wide for months on end, but time and time again came up empty-handed. 

After little success, he went hail mary and listed the property on Airbnb. To his surprise, he received a booking that same day. And just like that, AppartAli was born.

“Steve Harvey said ‘just find one product to be sold, even if it’s worth $1, and then duplicate it.’ So that’s what I did.”

That was Casablanca, 2018. Fast forward four years, and Appartali is thriving with 14 full-time employees and 37 modern apartments and growing rapidly with an entire building of 30 apartments on the way this year.

Their mission is clear: “ To treat each guest like the last customer on earth.” By utilizing “everything on Guesty” and providing “fully equipped, modernly designed properties,” they have become “well known in Casablanca” for doing exactly that.

The Challenge 

Over the next three years, AppartAli was gradually adding listings to their name, but an unscalable business model largely stunted growth. The day-to-day operations were becoming an all-consuming, 24/7 job for Ali. As far as he was concerned, his main challenge was keeping his “hair from going gray.” 

With a never-ending stream of guests’ messages flowing in from multiple directions, Ali was looking for a system to streamline and automate these communications.

Without an efficient system to manage his business and employees, task delegation proved cumbersome. He spent far too much time frantically chasing housekeepers and cleaners from property to property to ensure everyone was on the same page with their tasks. Not to mention the visits he paid to each and every guest to collect their rental agreement contract. 

Ali had tried other PMS systems in the past, but none could streamline and automate the range of operations he needed for scalable growth.

The Solution

In October 2021, after “searching for a quality PMS to work with in the long-term, Guesty was the obvious choice.” He hasn’t looked back since.

Ali’s mountain of guest communications has now been reduced to a mere molehill, thanks to Guesty’s automated messaging tools sharing the workload.

Automated Tasks also proved to be a game-changer. “Without talking to each other, everyone is on the same page. The staff has everything they need, so we only need to meet once a week”. And with effective communication in place, his team “feel happier and more independent.”

He can now grant his employees differing permission roles, allowing him to delegate tasks that he wasn’t able to before, further freeing up his time to focus on the things that matter most; growing his business.

And with Guesty’s Pre-Stay Tools, those visits he paid guests to collect their rental agreements are now a thing of the past. “With one simple link, two minutes, and we’re good.”

The Results

“Before Guesty I was doing everything. Now I’m doing nothing and my key metrics have gone up.”

Thanks to 85% of their operational time saved by Guesty’s Automation Tools, AppartAli is onboarding a brand new 30-apartment building, set to launch this summer, almost doubling their total listings and marking a whopping 139% growth with Guesty.

As for Ali, the spare time has allowed him to channel his creative spirit. He has been honing his craft for a newly discovered talent—interior design. With this, he has brought his vision of new sleek, modern, authentic apartments to life and made his business—and apartments—shine.

AppartAli’s revenue is also up 30% since they started using Guesty, which he attributes to the effective management of bookings through the Multi-Calendar. With this feature, double bookings are at an all-time low. They now use dynamic pricing and offer one-night stays and have seen their “occupancy improve, and revenue positively impacted.”

With AppartAli emerging as a household name within the short-term rental sphere in Casablanca, it’s no surprise that their website draws plenty of traffic. With Guesty’s Direct Booking Website, they are turning these lookers into bookers, with 55% of customers booking directly.

We asked Ali how they would be doing without Guesty? His answer: “I don’t have that vision, because I can’t even comprehend it.”