We have all seen elements of the hospitality industry stepping up and providing shelter for those who have needed it, and we’ve witnessed some lovely examples of kindness, compassion and care. The importance of good hospitality and providing exemplary guest experience is most important in times of crisis and need.

Guesty was recently contacted by Boaz Sobrado, one of our Guesty clients based In Cuba. Boaz is the co-founder of CubaPura, a company that helps Cubans market tourism services and vacation rentals, online. Guesty is a cloud-based solution designed to simplify property manager’s operations all in one platform and allow the management of listings from multiple accounts like Airbnb, Booking.com and other vacation rental booking channels.

In September, due to Hurricane Irma, most guests who had booked to travel to Cuba cancelled their reservations. This in itself, put many of the local hospitality businesses in a financially difficult position.

One hospitality business that was impacted by the hurricane was the Baylac family, one of CubaPura’s most beloved hosts. Owners, Jenny and Jorge, are so loving to their guests, so attentive to their every need, that not a single person has given them anything less than a 5-star review. They are the type of hosts that go out of their way to provide an exceptional experience for their guests.

Unfortunately, because of it’s location next to the seafront in Havana, the Baylac’s property was severely damaged from the flooding.

Boaz wanted to do something to help the Baylac family and felt sure that their past guests would want to help too. As most of that Baylac’s guests had booked through Airbnb, where there is no shared contact information, Boaz would not have been able to trace the contact details of past guests.

Using Guesty’s Address Book feature, Boaz was able to track contact details of guests who have stayed at the property. Through the Guest Book feature, Boaz was able to export a list of 60 phone numbers of guests who had previously stayed with the Baylac family and over the course of the weekend he contacted all 60 guests by SMS and asked if they would like to help support the Cuban family. Amazingly all 60 wanted to help and donated to a GoFundMe page.

This story is a lovely example as we come to the close of 2017 of how both owners, managers and guests can look out for each other. It also shows the wider ripple effect of providing a top-notch guest experience and how important it can be to keep an open communication channel between accommodation providers and guests.

You can read the full story of Boaz and the Baylac family on our blog.