How the Casetta Group turns simple conversations into five-star reviews

Italian for “little house” or “lodge,” Casetta is a group of boutique hotels with a focus on breathing new life into storied properties. Striking the perfect balance between restoration and renovation, their hotels all tell their own colorful story and have a way of bringing the community into each one.

With five properties and two more under development, the Casetta team has found success in creating unique and memorable spaces for guests while prioritizing guest experience and sustainability. 

Sitting in the heart of San Diego’s close-knit Point Loma community, the Casetta Group’s Pearl property lives up to its name and stands out as the sparkly gem that it is. Originally constructed in 1959, the Pearl’s unique guest rooms offer a contemporary feel and decor, while still maintaining its mid-century modern aesthetic at its core. 

With an oyster-shaped pool, a vibrant onsite cocktail bar and restaurant, and weekly staples like movie nights and local artist showcases, the Pearl offers a distinctive guest experience. 

When it came to hospitality platforms, General Manager, Anthony Gutierrez, and the team were all too familiar with the problems that arise from unreliable solutions: equipment failures and problems with integrations between different reservation sources, key systems, and guest correspondence platforms. 

The Pearl’s front desk team, which has significant collective experience using other major Property Management Systems, all agree that Cloudbeds’ accessibility, intuitive interface, and integration compatibility makes their jobs substantially easier, and establishes it as the PMS for today’s age.

Cloudbeds’ pricing intelligence capabilities – which empower hoteliers to keep pricing competitive with real-time market data and automated pricing alerts – helps the Pearl with effective yield management, driving more business.

The educational resources available at Cloudbeds have also proven to be incredibly reliable. As Anthony describes it,

The accessibility of CBU, the knowledge base, and live chat with support is invaluable. There’s not always occasions where the front desk has a supervisor available and they’re able to get the answers they need through the Cloudbeds platform.

However, what really stands out is Cloudbeds Guest Experience. Anthony explains, “Post-covid there were a lot of new trends in hospitality. With labor shortages for key roles like housekeeping or stewards we had to amend the duties of roles. Wear many hats. Here at the Pearl we shifted to offering housekeeping services for stayover guests on request. We’ve been able to handle it well. Guests are able to message us when they’re heading out and we can have our housekeeping team swing by.” 

This seamless guest correspondence also extends into the collecting of reviews and tangible feedback thanks to the ease of sending post-stay surveys and the integration of the Tripadvisor widget. The Pearl is impressively ranked one of Tripadvisor’s top 20 hotels in San Diego out of over 500 hotels in the city.

Cloudbeds Guest Experience allows hoteliers to engage and delight their guests at every stage of their journey thanks to multiple messaging channels, a unified inbox, and automated translations.

The Casetta group uses it across all its properties and have seen how it has transformed their front desk experience. Anthony explains:

Cloudbeds Guest Experience has impacted the guest experience pretty substantially. The ease of access to support from our front desk team, the ability to request any number of things from your cell phone really takes a lot off of the guests’ plate. They don’t have to call or come down to the front desk. It makes it a really seamless experience for them.

Trading a clunky walkie-talkie for a quiet conversation

Cloudbeds Guest Experience also makes managing housekeeping staff a breeze. Instead of using something outdated, like a loud and clunky walkie-talkie, all communication between the housekeeping staff and the front desk can be handled seamlessly, free of any noise pollution or guest disturbance.

Five-star reviews that start with a simple text message

When it comes to collecting valuable guest reviews – and good, honest feedback – Cloudbeds Guest Experience makes the process significantly easier. As Anthony puts it,

Cloudbeds Guest Experience automatically will send a message that includes a Tripadvisor link to leave a review. It’s very easy. On the other side of that, if that survey review comes back at 8 or below it opens a dialogue with the front desk to resolve any issues they experienced during their stay to curtail negative reviews.

It also helps the Casetta group increase revenue through upselling. Guests simply need to scan a QR code to browse an inventory of offerings and any orders placed are delivered to their door in minutes. Guests are also given, through a text message, the ability to opt for an early check-in or late checkout.

Anthony recommends properties use Cloudbeds Guest Experience to enhance guest communication and satisfaction. As he puts it, “the ability to correspond with the guest allows us to manage competing priorities and get to guests quickly to resolve any requests or inquiries.”