Scaling a Short-Term Rental Business the Smart Way

In this episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast, we welcome Oihan Campandegui, Founder of Destination Côte Basque, which provides rental property management services in Biarritz and Bordeaux, France. Oihan manages 45 properties and uses Hospitable to streamline operations (he is our Mogul Plan user).

Oihan shares how he got into the short-term rental industry, started managing properties for others, and how investing in technology helped him transform his real estate side hustle into a full-time business and his primary source of income.

Press Play now to discover how Oihan scaled to manage 45 properties and how he uses technology to make his business more efficient and save time.

If you prefer to read the highlights, we’ve got a summary of the key takeaways below.

How Oihan Got into the Short-Term Rental Industry

Oihan lives in the South of France, in Biarritz, a stylish beach town that attracts many tourists. “I've grown up around tourism and the seasonality that we have here. Beaches, the mountains, so it’s something around hospitality,” he says. “So I did my studies in catering. I was formerly the head of management in hotels. And when I was around 21, I bought my first flat.”

Oihan started renting out the flat as a side hustle to earn money, and when he was searching online for a tool to help him manage his property, he discovered Hospitable, which was then known as Smartbnb. “Of course, it didn't have as many features as you have today. But I think the main feature was the way of setting up automations and messaging.”

Oihan says he created a rather “complicated messaging process” with a lot of different messages and custom codes. He was impressed that it was easy to communicate with guests via messages and send self-check-in links from his webpage.

Managing Properties for Others

“Everything was very smooth and straightforward, and money was coming in from my own flat,” Oihan notes. “So then I just started to speak about it to my sister. She gave me her flat, and then she told her friends about it. And it just grew like this very smoothly, and with no pressure because it was a side job.”

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a surge in travel and tourism, and many people visited Biarritz. Many local property owners have come to Oihan and asked him to manage their properties. “I never went to see the owners and say, ‘You need me. I have this and that.’ It was always friends of friends or family of friends, and it was easy for me because I enjoy working very closely with people”.

Oihan decided to quit his job at the hotel and completed a training course to obtain his real estate license. Now, he has two real estate companies and manages 45 properties in Biarritz and Bordeaux, including boutique hotels where they only rent out the bedrooms and handle check-ins and checkouts, similar to hotels.

They have three staff members because they don’t outsource the cleaning. Oihan emphasizes that it’s the primary thing that hosts and property managers must excel at, so it’s essential to have good staff.

Growing Business

Oihan owns two properties. He bought the first one when he was 21, and since he wanted to buy a new property every three years, he purchased his second flat in Biarritz three years later, thanks to the money he made with the first one. Now Oihan is 30, and he wants to have more time to enjoy life.

“And having had the chance to find time now with all this automation that you can have, the AI, which helps a lot, I was feeling like, let's just find new owners. I actually liked the way it’s seasonal because now I can plan to leave for six months and then come back for the peak season here.”

Oihan says they are expanding their business in Bordeaux. “It's very different. We will offer co-living spaces and short-term rentals. I already thought of how we can use Hospitable for that, and it works perfectly”. Oihan notes that Hospitable helps him manage everything efficiently and save money on staff members.

What Oihan Likes about Hospitable

Oihan says that Hospitable really fits his needs, helping his business grow faster and smarter by automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks. For example, using the Owner Statements feature, which is included in the Mogul plan, allows him to save 15 to 17 hours a month.

Oihan points out that Hospitable helps him automate all everyday tasks, such as communication with guests, scheduling cleanings, and managing bookings, and allows him to scale without the extra stress. “Without this, I wouldn't be here. I’d be in a hotel, working for someone else. So for me, I think it’s the butterfly effect.”

Listen to the full episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast to learn more about the practical strategies Oihan uses to grow a successful property management business.