In our article covering step number 4, ‘Be innovative’, we spoke about the in-villa experiences we introduced to help guests get the most from their holiday. This in turn ensured the villa owners were happy and seeing great interest in their properties despite the local closures.

We could not have achieved this without working closely with many local businesses in the Algarve. These established brands, big and small, cover food, fitness, lifestyle, gifts and many more.

So, the sixth step in our ‘Ten steps to villa rental success’ is ‘local partnerships’. These have helped us tremendously, allowing us to give back to the community while helping our villa owners.


Why we formed these relationships

Forming local partnerships did not only help our team. All businesses in the Algarve were all in the same boat, so we wanted to give back. Our guest experience and guest services teams worked tirelessly to reach out to various businesses to see how we could work together.

Our in-villa experiences became a prominent feature of our marketing campaigns, which were integral in attracting guests who were not sure if they would get the same Algarve experience during all of the travel uncertainty. Our local partners helped us show them that they could from the comfort of their villas. Our partners were able to showcase their offering, while villa owners had peace of mind that guests were having a great stay at their property.

We were also able to form relationships with travel bloggers and influencers, many of whom are an established presence in the Algarve and on social media. A single social post about a particular villa would see a huge influx of enquiries not just for that property, but for our whole portfolio. In fact, working with influencers saw our Instagram following increase 234% in a five month period.


A welcome surprise

These partnerships helped us create a welcome guests wouldn’t forget. To make our villa holidays even more special, we reinvented our welcome baskets to help represent our local partnerships and the Algarve. From natural soaps to beautiful candles, these have been a huge hit with our guests. When it comes to your villa, first impressions go a long way!

It was important for our team to also promote sustainability with these gifts from the Algarve - something we will cover in more detail later in our series. By offering our guests locally sourced, eco-friendly amenities from the Algarve, we were able to lessen our environmental impact while supporting local businesses.

An ongoing partnerships strategy

These businesses and influencers, many with large followings themselves, have also been incredibly supportive of our team and the similar hurdles we faced. Moving forward, we will continue to be a supportive presence in the Algarve, establishing partnerships that help our team, our owners, our guests and fellow Algarve businesses.

For more information contact us on:

Telephone: +351 289 392 236
Email: listwithus@sandyblue.com