In our first installment of our ‘ten steps to rental success’ series, we summarised the ways we approached the Covid-19 situation and how this helped us maintain success. In our second installment, it’s time to talk about the first step - be proactive.

We want to share the steps we took to help people’s voices be heard throughout the pandemic. Not just our own, but our many owner partners, our guests and fellow businesses here in the Algarve.

The importance of being proactive and reactive

Wanting to be a voice for the Algarve is an important thing, but it’s all about how we reacted to constant developments and how quickly we did so. It wasn’t just about repeating what was written in the press, but fully understanding developments as they happened and how they affected our clients.

Some travel rule changes were announced literally overnight, so we were sure to be responsive to these seven days a week. When a strategy change was needed, the team calmly assessed the situation and quickly introduced new approaches in line with travel rules.

Our owners’ wellbeing, and villa rental success, is always a priority. When changes came into effect, they were the first to know with regular updates. Without this proactive and reactive approach, our team and our clients would have felt the effects of these constant changes. We were not prepared to let that happen.

Putting ourselves at the centre of challenges

A main characteristic of being proactive is to have passion for what you do. SandyBlue certainly has that and we used our passion to be a positive yet firm voice for the Algarve. We wanted to get our views across, which in turn inspired many other business owners to do the same.

Being at the centre of the challenges, lobbying politicians and working closely with tourism and government ministers was something that we saw as vital in our proactive approach. In July 2020, our founder, Joe Mountain met with Prime Minister Antonio Costa alongside other passionate business owners. This was an opportunity to get our views across as well as emphasising our continued support and passion for the region.

We wanted to be proactive about changes outside Portugal too. Throughout the pandemic, we took part in TV interviews and press articles for the BBC, The Times and The Telegraph. In fact, a last minute BBC appearance from SandyBlue’s CTO was a very effective argument for the extension of the travel corridor in September 2020. It simply shows that being so proactive and passionate will get you results. Perseverance is key.

Promoting new initiatives to support owners and guests

While we will go into more detail on new initiatives and approaches in a later installment, they are a great example of how our proactive approach helped keep momentum. It was all about communicating that the Algarve was a safe destination, championing in-villa services, remote working and ‘Clean & Safe’ protocols.

With the in-villa services in particular, it allowed us to support local businesses which further boosted the Algarve community spirit. SandyBlue always wants to show the importance of a proactive partnership that represents the voices and needs of our guests, villa owners and fellow businesses - no matter how much turbulence we may face.