Vila Anca in Sibiu has been around for almost two decades, and it has recently reopened under new management. The family business is now led by a new generation of entrepreneurs, Alin Moldovan and his wife Anca after they took over the reins. Although they lacked experience in the hospitality industry, they used their knowledge of economics and law to rebuild the guesthouse. They applied everything they learned from their leisure and business travels to ensure a great experience for their guests. The villa's name comes from Anca, Alin's wife.

The guesthouse now emphasizes an interior design that radiates warmth, light, and comfort, while also providing ideal conditions for "remote working" (office, fast connection).

With 12 comfortable, modern, and well-equipped rooms, Vila Anca equally attracts guests eager to discover the attractions of Sibiu, as well as employees traveling on business.
 

Business Challenges

At Vila Anca, modernization and refinement of services quickly led to an accelerated increase in the number of bookings. The Moldovans are involved in several businesses and do not exclusively manage the guesthouse. This means that the allocated time is limited, and they are often neither on location nor even in Sibiu.

Initially, they opted for an international solution that allowed online bookings, but it quickly showed its limitations: it did not integrate with local booking platforms, increasing the risk of overbooking, and lacked invoicing functionalities, requiring additional work and expenses.

"Initially, we paid for a subscription to an international platform, but we didn't solve all the problems we faced. The functionalities were limited, both in terms of the number of online booking platforms it could integrate and the ability to automatically invoice the services offered. The main concern was overbooking because we couldn't automatically synchronize all the bookings and there was a risk of offering rooms that were not available," says Alin Moldovan, entrepreneur Vila Anca.

To eliminate such situations that affected the guesthouse's image and guests' experience, the Moldovans decided to take a real step towards digitization and look for a management platform with advanced functionalities.

The Solution

The solution to Vila Anca's problems came after a discussion with the owner of another guesthouse, who made a simple recommendation to the Moldovans: Pynbooking, a cloud platform that he was already using and was very satisfied with.

The next step was to request a demo, have a few phone conversations about functionalities, and open an account.

"The trial immediately showed me that Pynbooking is an easy-to-use platform, accessible directly from the browser, without complicated installations and configurations. I was convinced by the automations in the PMS, the possibility of synchronizing with a large number of online booking platforms, and that I could invoice directly from Pynbooking, without paying for a dedicated solution," says Alin Moldovan.

The initial setup went without incident, with over 80% of operations performed without assistance from Pynbooking's support team.

“Pynbooking's support is very prompt, and requests are resolved within minutes. Thus, any difficulty in configuring the account is immediately overcome.”

All bookings are centralized and processed automatically in PMS Cloud Hotel. Availability and prices are updated and automatically distributed, both to online booking platforms and on their site. Through Channel Manager, Vila Anca has extended its presence on six online booking platforms, and through Booking Engine, it exploits its website and presence on Google Hotel Search much more efficiently.

The website www.vilaanca.ro allows payment or guarantee with a bank card, as well as payment with holiday vouchers. The data is processed in Pynbooking, and the invoices are sent to guests automatically by email.

After check-out, through GuestApp, guests automatically receive an invitation to write a review and give a score. The Moldovans have mobile access to an extended set of reports on occupancy rates, price dynamics, issued invoices, cancellations, etc.

"For Vila Anca, the need for digitization came first as a result of the increase in the number of bookings. We couldn't keep control of bookings on multiple platforms, and we worked hard to synchronize them. Pynbooking has eliminated these problems and brought us a simple, efficient, and mobile way to manage the guesthouse we coordinate," says Alin Moldovan.

Results

For a family of entrepreneurs, like the Moldovans, time is an important resource, which must be divided between business, passions, and family. Through the automation in Pynbooking, they have won this time, but also achieved a superior level of efficiency in managing the business.

All bookings are synchronized in PMS Cloud Hotel (the essence of the Pynbooking platform), thus eliminating manual processing of availability and prices, the risk of overbooking, and the manual processing of billing data.

"Pynbooking has brought us clear time savings, complemented by the ability to manage the guesthouse from a distance. We took advantage of this time to travel more. For us, as entrepreneurs and travel enthusiasts, it is essential to be able to manage our businesses from a distance," says Alin Moldovan.

Adding Travelminit to Pynbooking Channel Manager has brought more guests to Vila Anca, and the increase in direct bookings through the site and Google Hotel Search has reduced commissions paid to third parties by 5-6%.

Additionally, the invoicing functionalities of Pynbooking have eliminated the cost of a dedicated invoicing solution, as well as the manual operations of sending these documents to guests.

Integration of the "Book Now" button on the site has allowed Vila Anca to direct most phone inquiries to the site, reducing the workload and the percentage of cancellations/no-shows.
 

Vila Anca also periodically runs promotional campaigns, with excellent results in both brand awareness and sales. The reviews carried out through GuestApp have a good response rate, and the cumulative score is 9.6 (Excellent), an indicator with a direct impact on the image of the guesthouse and bookings.
 

"The main gain brought by Pynbooking is the ease with which we can manage the business. We no longer waste time with manual updates, nor do we have the risk of overbooking. The managerial reports are comprehensive, and with Pynbooking, everything is simple and transparent," Alin Moldovan, Vila Anca.