Business Communication Preliminary Report

Modern Languages & Management Team 3

University of Deusto
2020-2021

BILBAO

aloha
Technical Report

Tania Varona, Sandra Ortiz de Zarate, Lorena Cea and Olaia Larragoiti
Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION 3
2.1. Origin 4
2.2. Purpose 4
3. ECONOMIC SECTOR 5
3.1 Service Industry 5
3.2 Actual pandemic crisis 5
4. BUSINESS MODEL 6
4.1 Key audience 6
4.2. Customer Segmentation 7
Funnel of homeowners: 7
Funnel of Aloha apartments’ guests: 15
4.3. Markets in which it operates 29
4.4 Value Proposal: 30
4.5 Channels: 30
4.6 Key Activities: 32
4.7 Key Resources: 33
4.8 Key Partnerships: 34
4.9 Cost Structure: 34
5. COMPETITORS 36
5.1 Main competition 36
5.2 Strategies for handling competition 38
6. MAIN PROFITABLE SERVICES 39
7. KEY MESSAGES 40
8. STRATEGIC GOALS 42
9. KEY COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES 43
10. FEASIBLE OBJECTIVES 46

11. CONCLUSION 47

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY 48

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1. INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this preliminary report is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the

competences to be developed on the Business Communication course. At the same
time, a detailed examination of the company's business model would be developed
in order to understand the main communication challenges and be able to identify
the most convenient and feasible objectives for the company which will, indeed,
unleash the second report of the subject.

In order to conduct this report, an initial research on the company will enable the
comprehension of the company's value proposition which is key to understanding the
complete business model in which customer segmentation, main profitable services,
types of clients and other relevant aspects will be carefully analysed. Afterwards, the
communication methods of the company will be observed, that is, the different key
messages they use to address their audience. Once these messages have been
clarified, the main communication challenges of the company will be identified.
Finally, a feasibility analysis of the objectives established by the company with
further recommendations to improve its business communication will conclude this
report.

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2. RESEARCH ON THE COMPANY

2.1. Origin

Aloha was created by Almudena and Xabier, driven by their passion for traveling and
enjoying quality stays at Airbnb apartments. Since 2016 hosts and Superhosts of
Airbnb get their houses ready for hosts from all around the world. Like these people
Aloha´s owners are pleased to obtain profitability through something they like and
share with others. The reviews on the webpage proves their passion with work that
they achieve.

2.2. Purpose

Aloha offers management and design of Airbnb apartments in order to create an

outstanding experience for its clients. There are three services available to the
owners of an apartment:
1. Airbnb management
2. Interior design
3. Home staging

In this way, Aloha deals with Airbnb holiday rentals for owners who expect high
quality, exclusiveness and a comprehensive service. First, the Airbnb management
service includes interior design counselling, help with the licence procedure,
development of an attractive ad on digital platforms and a professional photo
shooting session of the apartment. Once the ad is placed, Aloha is in charge of
managing bookings, coordinating calendars and optimising prices. Moreover,
customer service before the arrival and greeting as well as the handover of the keys,
is also part of the company’s management service. During the stay, guests would be
supported 24/7 by Aloha in order to manage any possible damage or incidence. After
the departure the Aloha team sends its cleaning service to the apartment to make
sure that everything is in order for the next guests. In case, the owner of the
apartment prefers to manage the rental online, but is not available to perform on-site
activities like meet and greet, Aloha also offers help with the tasks needed.

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The second service offered by Aloha is decoration and interior design of the
apartment. In order to satisfy the clients, Aloha creates a comfortable, attractive and
unique space. Through a prior market analysis, they decide on which items are
suitable for their apartment. A project and budget is given, as well as a shopping
guide. After creating a “boutique” kind of accommodation they expect to reach the
Airbnb Plus category, which ensures higher profitability and excellent feedback.

The third service consists in performing the home staging, in order to make an
apartment more attractive to potential buyers. This is developed in three steps.
Firstly, Aloha´s team advises the owner regarding strengths and weaknesses of the
apartment. Then, the owners receive a plan about the proceeding which is adjusted
to their budget. At last, a professional photography session is hired.

3. ECONOMIC SECTOR

3.1 Service Industry

Aloha is a tertiary sector service industry dedicated to the provision of holiday rentals
located in the capital of Biscay. The hospitality industry is one of the most
prosperous in the modern economy, contributing almost 150 million euros per year in
Spain and employing 12.7% of the population (INE, 2019). Tourism lodging, in
particular, is one of the most demanded activities when it comes to enjoying leisure
and spending holidays. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO),
Spain is the second most visited country with 83 million international tourists in 2018
(UNWTO, 2019.) As for tourism in northern Spain, the survey of tourism movements
in borders (FRONTUR), highlights the Basque Country as an attractive tourist
destination due to its famous gastronomy, festivals, and rural landscapes of both
beach and mountain.

3.2 Actual pandemic crisis

Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, the service sector has suffered major
economic losses, especially countries like Spain whose highest economic income
comes from tourism. At the moment, it is not possible to reach the same numbers as
previous years since, on the contrary, overnight stays in tourist accommodations
have decreased by 41.8% this summer in comparison with last year (INE, 2020).

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However, the current regulations have made it easier, as far as possible, for this kind
of business to continue, as long as it is done in accordance with the required health
and safety measures. In this way, companies such as Aloha have been forced to
redirect their business and adapt it to the new normality.

In order to face this situation, Aloha offers its customers a covid-free service to
guarantee them a safe stay. In addition to this, it is important to mention that the
company has positively managed to overcome the crisis by expanding its market and
attracting new clients like student residence halls to which it offers a room decoration
service.

4. BUSINESS MODEL

4.1 Key audience

Aloha´s has two types of clients: the owners of rents in Bilbao and tourists that come
to visit Bilbao and rent an accomodation. Usually, most frequent visitors are national
and some international tourists from the nearest countries. However, for the current
corona crisis and the development of new protocols and practices, the tourism sector
has been forced to reinvent itself. International tourism has decreased and national
tourism has, on the contrary, increased, especially those from nearby provinces
becoming the majoritarian flow of tourists.

This company follows strict lines and is very rigorous when performing their work.
That is why they have no problem rejecting customers whose apartments do not
meet the minimum standards required. Aloha wants to give their best offering to the
client the certainty that the apartment is going to be perfect. In this sense, Aloha
seeks clients whose apartments meet their expectations of good location, optimal
quality of the building, safe surroundings, etc.

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4.2. Customer Segmentation

In order to achieve a profitable revenue stream it is key to match the company's

value proposition with its customer segmentation with. Accordingly, it is essential for
an organisation to understand the trade-off between different customer segments
and carefully select which segment wants to target. At the same time, the company
must create a value proposition and use a business model that suits the chosen
customer segment’s needs (Belyh, 2020).

In this way, Aloha needs to conduct a client segmentation for which a funnel is
created in order to better analyse the different positioning of its customers and the
possible variables affecting their main services. The following is the funnel aimed at
their main clients, i.e. homeowners.

Funnel of homeowners:

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With regards to the different positions in the funnel, it is evident that Aloha´s main
objective lies in attracting empty homeowners that do not know how to deal with their
rentals. For this, they have to make themselves known to these clients and convince
them that their company is the perfect solution to make their properties profitable
without the need of being concerned about anything.

Clients would mainly learn about Aloha by word of mouth, that is, homeowners who
could be friends, relatives and other acquaintances that told them about this service.
In this way, potential clients would very likely try to get information first before
deciding to purchase from previous customers or from Internet reviews. Customers
would then read about Aloha´s good taste and experience in the field of interior
design being able to redecorate a challenging space and making it stand out from
the rest, as well as being able to understand their customers´ ideas of how they want
their apartment to look like but who do not know how to work it out. If this is what the
potential customer is looking for, s/he would then decide that this is the service s/he
wants to hire.

Middle aged clients are the ones for whom Aloha usually works for since young
people do not usually own a house. They do not normally have the necessary digital
skills required to create and post their home ads on digital platforms like Airbnb.
Some may not know how to write or speak good English which is required to attract
foreign tourists; and they are probably not professional photographers and do not
have the required material to get the best lighting to take stunning rental photos that
attract tenants for their apartments. For all these reasons, many homeowners would
be willing to relegate these tasks to a company that makes this work for them. Once
the new client decides that s/he needs this service, s/he would then contact Aloha
and arrange a date to visit the apartment and begin pitching ideas for optimizing the
space and transforming the apartment into a modern and attractive holiday rental.
However, Aloha needs to bear in mind that clients would probably contact other
companies too, to compare and see what other businesses offer.

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In case customers finally decide to hire Aloha, they would make budgets according
to the specific services hired. Finally, after Aloha has done its work clients would rate
their service and see if they are satisfied with it or not. If their apartments get more
reservations and better reviews this would mean that the value of their rentals has
increased thanks to Aloha and would then think that the money paid was worth it.
Moreover, if their expectations were exceeded they would probably recommend it to
other people with empty houses. In this way, Aloha would not only have gained a
new customer but would also be able to attract new potential customers and expand
their business.

Variables:

V0: Homeowners of an empty house

V1: Worry or not worry
V2: Open to rent it or not
V3: The process is seen as a headache or it seems feasible for them
V4: Skills
V5: Price sensitive or not
V6: Values
V7: They are already renting online not competing on price

Clients on their own:

● Geographic location→ Our clients can be from anywhere, from all over the world
although most of them are currently from Bizkaia. Nevertheless, their apartments
need to be located in Bizkaia since that is the geographic framework in which Aloha
operates.

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● Sociodemographic → For Aloha it is essential that clients have an empty second
home. The age range Aloha needs is probably from 35 onwards. There are many
different personal profiles. Some customers can have university studies and have good
earnings that allow them to have a second house. Some others have been working
long enough to save and buy another apartment. There are also people who have
inherited a second property and would like to generate some extra incomes. To this
regard, Aloha has different ways of approaching each of the clients. Therefore they
try to reach their audience both online, that is through digital websites, and by word of
mouth, so that they can reach customers who are well connected to the internet and
those who prefer traditional communication.

● Psychographic/attitudinal → Aloha´s clients are not characterised for being

carefree people who take fast action; they rather like to think things carefully
before undertaking any challenging task and that is why they prefer to work
with professional and experienced people. Aloha also aims for clients who
are very busy with their work and families, or don't want to spend their free
time redecorating. Apart from that, as it has been already commented, people
are usually aware of the fact that renovating an apartment is not an easy task
if they are not experts or don't know the specialized workers who have to take
part in all the necessary steps a renovation project involves. It can be a total
disaster not leaving your house in expert hands and Aloha clients are not
unconscious or misinformed. For the company not having prejudices or
preconceived ideas is essential. Everybody is welcomed as long as they fit
their value proposal. It doesn't matter where they come from, the language
they speak or the kind of project they have in mind. Nobody would be rejected
as long as his project is technically and economically feasible.

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Clients in relation to Aloha:

● Benefits/Objective: Aloha as a holiday rental manager gives solutions to

homeowners from which they make profits. Aloha also helps clients save a lot
of time because they take all the responsibility so they have no concerns
about any step of the managing, decorating and other related tasks. They
not only take care of the relevant tasks undertaking every necessary step for
the renovation works, but they also, after finishing rebuilding the apartment,
take care of the maintenance works required when the guests come in. Of
course, they also fulfill, indulge and see to every wish or request once the
guests are registered in the apartments. In conclusion, they provide the
owners a comprehensive and skilled service from the beginning to the end,
adapting their service to the specific wishes of the different customer persona.

● Value: As it has already been mentioned, one of the most relevant points
homeowners appreciate when working with Aloha is the fact that the services
they offer adapt perfectly to different customers. Some would need a total
restoration of the house, some others just a few decoration changes; some
would be willing to rent their houses while others would like to sell their
apartments once they are optimized; some would like their Airbnb vacation
rental to be a success, maximizing their income without having to worry about
anything. The versatility of Aloha together with the quality and good prices
they offer, provides high value-added services to their clients.

● Use: Homeowners take advantage of Aloha´s comprehensive services:

decoration projects for sale or rent, management of tourist apartments and
design for Airbnb. This way, hosts choose to hire all the services or just one of
them. However their end users, that is, guests would be the ones enjoying the
service that the homeowners have paid. Consequently, what homeowners are
really using is not the service itself but the satisfaction they get from their
clients who are “using” Aloha´s service and who after their visit would
comment on their apartment with good qualifications, recommending them to
others and even rebooking it.

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● Relationship: Homeowners that have already hired Aloha´s service (currently
14) have a trust relationship with the company since they allow Aloha to enter
and manage their homes as they consider. In this sense, it could be said that
their position on the funnel has gone beyond mere current customers since
they keep their apartments in Aloha´s hands. Despite they are loyal
customers they are not necessarily looking for a close relationship and
indeed, have no time or interest to take care of their properties nor of keeping
constantly in touch with Aloha.

● Behaviour: Understanding customer’s behaviour creates opportunities to

improve and that's why Aloha cares about what matters to them. Each client
has a determined behaviour depending on their personality but also on their
context or external motivations. It is not the same if they are new clients or old
ones; whether they have a tight budget or can spend as much as they want; if
the house needs just a few changes or has to be completely renovated; if the
clients have already visited the webpage or have not much information about
the company. Every client has different motivations when it comes to hiring a
service and for this reason Aloha thinks that it is worth knowing its clients´
personality so that it is able to give them a personalized service. Additionally,
Aloha is aware of the fact that the use of internet tools as customers reviews,
blog comments, Twitter insiders, Facebook or Pinterest can help speed up the
analysis of consumer behavior. With all the help of these tools, Aloha aims to
understand the different types of homeowners and the motivations that
encourage them to use their services.

● Frequency and importance: This is critical for Aloha since the rendered
services to homeowners are its main activity from which they gain profits.
However, Aloha services are not a common need in people's lives. Thus, for
Aloha, keeping its current clients (homeowners) satisfied is really important
because this means new possible customers hiring them since most people
that start a house renovation first ask for recommendations from friends or
acquaintances who have done it before.

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 ● Satisfaction level: As said above homeowners satisfaction is key for Aloha
and consequently they always try to ensure that their clients are happy with
the service received addressing any problem or issue that their clients may
undergo. It is very important for Aloha to overcome all possible objections
clients can have, provide budgets adapted to homeowners´ needs, and make
sure they live up to their promises. When their homeowners satisfaction is
high, they are much more likely to recommend Aloha and become loyal to the
company. This can help word-of-mouth which is key as one of their
communication strategies.

● Solution: As it has been mentioned before, Aloha wants to solve several

issues that arise when thinking of selling or renting a house. They make the
property more attractive to potential buyers, improving the conditions and
reducing the selling time for those clients who do not have much time. They
photograph clients´ houses making them look perfect and thus helping them
sell or rent. They propose the type of Home Staging that is most suitable for
each home adapting to every client's budget. Their versatility offers solutions
for every property and every client's requirements.

Taking into account the different combinations of variables from clients on their own
and the ones in relation to Aloha the following customer personas are created.

Customer personas:

● Maria, 35 → She was a student in Deusto University where she studied Law and a
Master related with Law too. She has been working for almost 10 years now. She has
a boyfriend she is living with right now. Her grandparents died, and as she was the
only granddaughter she inherited their house in Indautxu street, Bilbao. She wants to
get some extra money with this house, because they have just had a child and they
have more expenses. She uses quite a lot of social websites and she loves seeing
decorations photos. However, she does not know decorating nor using her social
networks to rent or promote her house. In addition, with their newborn daughter they
are very busy, with no free time and even very very tired. So they finally think they
need some help to do all the rebuilding work.
● Ana, 41 → She has a certificate of higher education in cooking and works in a
restaurant. She lives alone due to the fact that her parents died in a traffic accident a
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 few years ago, and inherited their house. She doesn't like her parents house at all
because it reminds her about them and these memories make her sad when thinking
that their parents are not with her anymore. Now she has bought a new house and she
wants to pay it with the money she will earn renting her parents house as she does not
want to sell it either because it is her family house and she thinks those sad memories
can disappear as times goes by. In addition, she does not have time to worry about the
house since she works 10 hours a day and the life at the restaurant is very consuming.
She does not like the Internet and social websites and rather prefers to stay offline so
she just relaxes and needs not worry about anything else but her.
● Carlos, 52 → He has not studied, but he has been working since he was 16 years
old at the family´s cars garage. He is married now and has 2 daughters. He and her
wife have been saving for some years now so they have decided a few years ago to
buy a second house to rent it. Nevertheless, when they bought it and started trying to
rent it, they realised that it was more difficult than they thought and they left it aside
because it was giving too much of a headache to rent it. He does not want to be
bothered about inconveniences and concerns when redecorating or managing this
apartament. He does not want to waste his little free time on this so he rather hire an
expert to finally fulfill this project. They don't really need the money in their daily
economy, but of course it would help them with their expenses, especially on leisure
activities and holidays.
● Gaizka, 37 → He was an industrial engineering student in UPV University and then
he did a master and a doctorate . Now he is working in Iberdrola and earns high
revenues so he has decided to invest it on renting a beach house in Laredo. He is
seeking to redecorate the house since it is poorly furnished. Although he has no idea
about decoration, he is constantly on social networks trying to pitch ideas and have
bought some items at online shops but still wants to make more changes so he
considers hiring a professional who can bring the idea he has in mind to reality.

After describing the possible customer personas in Aloha, it is clear that the one that
Aloha is earning more money from is Maria, since she has all the variables that
perfectly fit Aloha´s company and even though she is young, she owns a perfect
empty apartment, she is willing to redecorate, rent and take profit from. The rest of
the customer personas are still profitable but not so much. However, Aloha thanks to
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its versatility would be able to make their clients cost-effective while improving loyalty
to their company.

Funnel of Aloha apartments’ guests:

The funnel above describes the guests' journey before deciding to book an
apartment from Aloha, from the very early stages when someone knows about the
business to full attachment to the company.

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At the top of the funnel there are travellers or visitors who are looking for
accommodation, but do not know about the different options of hosting that exist
besides hotels. Once they know about hosts that offer this kind of alternative they
learn more about it, and discover the differences between them, taking into account
their preferences as guests.

Clients began to ask friends, family and people they are close to about their opinion
and even experience with this kind of service. Consequently, they become interested
in renting an apartment and look for reviews and opinions from Aloha´s previous
guests who have rated their experience with a “Superhost” category. What is more,
the potential customer overcomes uncertainty and understands that its added value
makes sense. Accordingly, they would decide to choose Aloha over competitors.
After their stay at the apartment clients would compare their experience to other
services and decide themselves if the money paid was worth it. If Aloha´s service
fulfills the clients´ expectations, they would probably leave a positive comment on
the reviews. Furthermore, if they are satisfied they would recommend Aloha to
others as enthusiasts of the service. Therefore, these clients would become loyal to
the company and return to it whenever they want to book an apartment in Bilbao.

Variables:

V0: Travellers who need accommodation in Biscay

V1: Care or not about having their own privacy and flexibility
V2: Open to experience different hosting alternatives as rental apartments
V3: They want an apartment that suits their taste or not
V4: Sceptical about about renting a “Superhost” apartment
V5: Price sensitiveness
V6: Used to rent apartments and expect the best service

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Clients on their own:

● Geographic location: Our clients are worldwide, but due to the pandemic
restrictions for some countries Alohas apartments are not so reachable to
everyone. Therefore, Spanish clients from other autonomous communities are
currently their main tourist customers.

● Sociodemographic: Any tourist who is not underage is allowed to book an

apartment on Airbnb. However, the most common age range goes from 32 to
45. Guests are looking for a private space to spend their holidays in, mainly
with their family, but it could also be with friends, in couples or even alone,
although this is not very usual. Guests may not have studies necessarily, but
need to have some sort of income so they probably have a stable job which
allows them to afford to go on holidays. Nevertheless, they need not have
high revenues since apartments are more economical in terms of having all
the utilities so tourists need not make reservations for lunchtime and dinners
as it happens with hotels. However, these apartments are not low-cost and
have an added value which goes along with the price making it more directed
to an audience who spends more money in a better quality of apartments.
Furthermore, most of these guests are familiar with social media and so they
have heard about Airbnb or have even booked there already.

● Psychographic/attitudinal: These guests like national tourism and like to go

on a weekend or spend their holidays exploring different cities of Spain. The
profile of these guests corresponds to independent and adventurous people.
That is why hotels do not suit them and prefer alternatives like holiday rentals
where they can find all the utilities as in their homes. They probably are
curious so would have been comparing different apartments in order to find
the best fit for them and do not want to settle for the first option. In addition,
this is linked to the critical analysis they do when looking for the best service
which adapts to their particular tastes and needs. What these clients value
most is privacy and a good quality service that is not just there for the
welcoming but for any issue related to their stay.

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Clients in relation to Aloha:

● Benefits/Objectives: Travellers or visitors who need accommodation in

Bilbao and surroundings are looking for a nice place to stay. They want their
own privacy and do not want to be bothered with the inconvenience of a hotel
when it comes to cooking, room service, etc. They want to feel at home as
much as possible. Additionally, they are looking for a nice decoration in order
to have a pleasant holiday experience.

● Problem/Solution: There is a wide variety of apartments in the area of the

Biscay on the Internet. Aloha’s customers are looking for an apartment that
fulfils their expectations, so that they are not disappointed once they arrive.
These expectations correspond to a clean, well-kept and well located
apartment. Besides, they are ensured that they would have 24/7 support,
giving them additional trust in the service. Moreover, they are attracted to
Aloha's decoration style and they would be happy to stay in an apartment that
is similar to their tastes.

● Value: Probably Aloha's greatest value contribution for customers is the

quality experience of the apartment thanks to their distribution and decoration
offering all the utilities they are looking for when travelling.

● Use: The use of the apartment would be enjoyed by travellers or visitors who
need accommodation. It is a direct customer since they are looking for this
specific service. This means, at the moment they start to look for
accommodation their final goal is to use that specific apartment they are about
to book.

● Relationship: Customers who booked one of Aloha’s apartments and

enjoyed their stay would probably keep a good memory and thus, have a
positive relationship with the company. Most likely they would recommend it to
others and return to the same accommodation if they were willing to come
back to the area.

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 ● Behaviour: On the one hand, customers who are familiarized with Airbnb,
would look for apartments on Airbnb's website or app. As they know what a
“superhost” means, they would rather focus on those. On the other hand,
potential customers who have not used Airbnb yet, would more likely search
through several holiday rental searching engines. Moreover, others would
have been influenced by others to use this unique service.

● Frequency and importance: Leaving aside the Covid-19 crisis, travelling has
become very trendy during the past years, increasing the demand of holiday
rentals and especially advertised on digital platforms like Airbnb. Experiences
have adopted more importance than material presents and moreover, Bilbao
has experienced an enormous change, due to their investments to improve
and develop the city. As a consequence, Bilbao increased significantly in the
tourism sector, making holiday rentals a continuous source of income. While
there are other accommodation options as hotels, there are customers who
want to have more freedom and feel as comfortable as in their own house,
placing Aloha’s service in a high level of importance.

● Satisfaction: If the visitor is satisfied it would comment on Alohas webpage,

Airbnb reviews or to Aloha’s staff. In the case that their satisfaction is higher
than expected, they would recommend this service to third parties while
becoming a loyal customer, which means reaching the bottom of the funnel.

Customer personas:

● Steve, 32: He is British and is married to Anne and they have two kids. They
both have a stable job and want to enjoy a nice holiday together. He is
thoughtful when it comes to finding the perfect accommodation. They travelled
often before having kids and had very different experiences in Airbnb
apartments so they are quite strict when rating the apartment. As they are four
they need a broader space than a hotel room to spend quality time during
their staying. Steve is also interested in tourism and wants to find an
apartment which is near the city centre.

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 ● Ferdinand, 26: He is German and wants to visit some Spanish friends from
the Basque Country. He finished his studies a few years ago and is currently
working at a banking software company. He wants to have his own privacy,
but he also wants enough space to have some friends over. In addition, he
likes nice decorated apartments with a good location in order to be well
communicated with the main points of interest. Ferdinand smokes, as well as
most of the friends who are going to the apartment to visit him while having
some drinks.
● Marta, 28: She is a math teacher at a public school in Andalusia and owns a
cat. She is very active and curious and one of her passions is to travel. Thus,
she visited many cities and towns in Spain, but has not been in Bilbao yet.
Friends and colleagues recommended her to visit Bilbao, due to their great
gastronomic experience. Since Marta´s boyfriend enjoys food a lot she wants
to surprise her boyfriend and is looking for an apartment in the historic centre
so they can get to all the typical bars to eat “pintxos”. They also enjoy having
a pleasant atmosphere where they can spend time together in the comfort of
their own privacy.
● Miriam, 40: She owns a shop in Oviedo and has a 12 year old daughter. She
is minimalist and likes nordic decoration. Mirjam wants to visit Bilbao with her
daughter, but does not want to pay a high price for a fancy hotel and thinks
that a highly rated apartment fulfills her priorities. Those priorities are a
friendly face who would receive them at the arrival, 24/7 support, and a clean
and modern apartment and environment.

Out of these customer personas the best suit for Aloha´s values would be Steve and
Miriam since they gather the variables from which Aloha can take care of the most.
This is because Steve and Miriam are in their 30-40’s and fit perfectly in Aloha’s
apartments, due to their specific necessities. Furthermore, apartments are more
demanded if they have kids because they need more space. Moreover, families
usually stay a longer period of time, resulting in lower costs for the company as in
administration, cleaning service, etc. Ferdinand and Marta are also potential clients,
but as they are younger it can result in more damages in the apartment and a shorter
stay because they have less income. Additionally, Ferdinand smokes and Marta has
a cat, which is not always accepted in the conditions by the homeowner.

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Funnel of student residence halls:

As mentioned above, Aloha's main customers are homeowners and guests.

However, the lack of bookings due to the pandemic has forced Aloha to expand its
market and offer its services to other types of clients. Although they are not its main
customers as they have only done it once, it can be said that Aloha offers a room
decoration service for student residence halls. For the moment this is temporary, as
it is not their key activity, but it may become a more demanded service in the future
and thus, it is convenient to pay due attention to it. In this way, the funnel represents
the different positions of student residence halls before, during and after the decision
to hire Aloha's room decoration service.

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At the top, there are the residence halls that have never considered the possibility of
hiring a room decoration service, either because they do not know of companies that
do it or because they do not recognise the need to do so. Once they begin to hear
that there are such companies offering decoration to spaces like theirs (student
rooms) they begin to consider the possibility and ask their collaborators,
shareholders, and other relevant people their opinion about this service.

At some point they become interested in Aloha's decoration and look for photos of
their work as interior designers. If they like what they see they would start reading
people's reviews and search for more on the Internet. They would understand that
hiring this service would add value to their company so they decide to contact Aloha
to ask for a budget but at the same time they do it with other companies to compare
services and prices. Once they decide to hire Aloha, the work would start and when
it is finished they would value the service and by comparing the previous and current
view of the rooms they would decide if the money paid was worth it or not. In case
Aloha meets or exceeds the residences expectations, they would probably leave
positive comments and even recommend Aloha to third parties attracting new
potential clients. Consequently, Aloha would have gained a loyal customer that is not
only interested in future renovations but also could have great influence on the
network of other student residence halls.

Variables:

V0: residences that lack room decoration

V1: worry about how they rooms look like
V2: (not) open to a complete renovation
V3: they have no time or do not want to do it themselves
V4: they do not know how to begin with the process
V5: price sensitive
V6: company values (conservative, low-cost, sustainable, elite...)
V7: power of end users (students)

23
According to the variables noted above, different buckets of residence halls that
share similar demographics, behavior and interests can be distinguished. These are
some of the possible combinations from which later an analysis of the most profitable
customer personas would be done in order to better address Aloha´s key audiences.
In this sense, these are some of the factors that need to take into account when
targeting Aloha´s customer personas.

Clients on their own:

● Geographic location: Aloha´s can contact a client from anywhere over the
world. However their properties, in this case, residence halls for students
need to be located in the Basque Country, and if possible in Biscay, since that
is the geographic framework in which Aloha operates.

● Sociodemographic: Aloha would get in touch with different clients, who

would generally be middle-aged entrepreneurs who have either just started
their business so their income is not settled and they cannot afford many
costs or those who already have the business settling and count with stable
income and can afford to spend money on decoration. Probably a company
like theirs would require diverse tasks and responsibilities that would hinder
them from taking care of the room decoration. Moreover, they probably do not
have knowledge of the trends and optimal decoration techniques so they
would prefer to hire a comprehensive service such as the one offered Aloha.

● Psychological/Attitudinal: Regarding the traits and interests of the

residence halls Aloha may encounter very different requests. However, the
variables that best suit its service would be residence halls that wish to make
a complete or partial change of the room, that their values as a company can
be complemented with theirs, and that the duration that they require for the
work is according to the service that they hire. That is, Aloha can adapt to the
different needs of the residence as long as they leave them their space to
work because that is precisely what they do, take care of everything. That is
why the residences that are very exquisite with the selection of the furniture
and that even want to make the families and students participate in the
process, would not be the type of audience that they want to target.
24
Clients in relation to Aloha:

● Benefits/Objectives: Student residence halls looking to optimise and

modernise their rooms would contact Aloha's decoration service to help them
increase the value of their rooms for students. This is their main service and
therefore it is necessary to maximise their profitability in order to increase
sales and achieve greater customer satisfaction. In this case, Aloha offers a
complete room decoration service of which the client (residence) does not
have to worry about anything since Aloha would be in charge of contacting the
suppliers and assembling the furniture.

● Problem/Solution: The main problem that Aloha tries to solve is the burden
of carrying out a project with all that it entails (making the design, visiting
stores, deciding on furniture, distribution and assembly, etc). They already
have all the necessary contacts to carry out any renovation project so they
offer an optimal and efficient service that does not make clients lose time.

● Value: Probably Aloha's greatest value contribution for customers is precisely

the integrity of the service and their taste for decoration thanks to their interior
design professionals.

● Use: In this case, as it is a B2B relationship, the use of the decoration service
is enjoyed by the residence halls´ customers, in this case, students who will
enjoy an improvement of their “homes” without carrying out any of the process
and perhaps without paying for it (this would depend on the residence if it
wants to charge an extra cost for these new decorated rooms or if, on the
contrary, does it as a way of increasing value in general to increase the
satisfaction of its current customers and even attract new ones).

● Relationship: This student residence hall is in the last steps of Aloha´s client
segmentation funnel as it has decided to hire their decoration service, they
are satisfied with the result but have not yet expressed need for new
purchases. Thus, this current client is not considered a loyal customer yet.

25
 ● Behaviour: Current clients, which would be the residence that has already
been bought from Aloha, have visited their website and contacted them for
information on this channel. However new potential clients, that is, other
student residence halls would probably access Aloha's website after they
heard from their key partners or even noticed that their competitors (residence
halls like the one Aloha has decorated) have redecorated their rooms so they
begin to consider this idea.

● Frequency and importance: Decorating the rooms in a student residence

hall can be very expensive depending on how many rooms it has, and since
there are usually more than 30 so they may not decide to decorate them all at
once. The most reasonable thing to do is to hire the decoration service for the
ones which are more deteriorated or to do it by floors. In this way, it is very
likely that the residence would hire Aloha more than once until the whole
decoration project of all the rooms of the residence is finished. This, of course,
assuming that the residence can afford the costs and is satisfied with the
service of Aloha. However, since this is not their key activity Aloha is not
expecting to generate high revenues from it.

● Satisfaction: As it can be seen in the funnel, in case the residence is

satisfied it would comment on Aloha´s service both on their webpage or Aloha
´s. And in the case that their satisfaction is higher than expected they would
recommend this service to third parties becoming a loyal customer, which
means reaching the bottom of the funnel.

Once, the segmentation analysis for the residence halls has been done a further
step on identifying the different buckets and customer personas inside them would
be drawn.

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Buckets:

● Bucket 1 (V1, V3, V4, V5): In this audience bucket there are residence halls
that already have their room decorated but really worry about their rooms
looking nice and feel it is time to give their rooms a modern touch. In this
sense, they are looking for some changes but not a whole renovation so their
budget is rather low. Moreover, they do not want to invest their time so they
rather hire someone else to do it for them. However, they feel uncomfortable
about starting construction work on the building as their rooms are occupied
all year and cannot afford to vacate the rooms for many days.

● Bucket 2 (V0, V1, V3, V5): In this audience bucket there are residence halls
that lack decoration in their rooms and reckon this as a possible stopper of
their sales so they are quite worried about it. Moreover, they are looking for a
comprehensive service so that they need not worry about anything. However,
they have knowledge about the decorating process, and thus, know what
stores to visit and who to contact.

● Bucket 3 (V0, V2, V3, V4): In this audience bucket there are residence halls
that lack decoration in their rooms but do not care necessarily about it since
they are not characterized for being a modern and beautiful residence hall.
Nonetheless, they are open to changes and seek to improve their rooms so
that they can reach more people. However, they do not know how to deal with
the decorating process and in turn, do not want to invest much of their time on
it so they rather hire someone else to do it for them.

● Bucket 4 (V2, V4, V6, V7): In this audience bucket there are residence halls
that already have their rooms decorated and have never thought of the idea of
redecorating them but would be open to it. They want their rooms to match
their values as a conservative catholic residence hall so the decoration should
not be outrageous not too personal. Indeed, they care a lot about the opinion
of their clients (students, families) since these are highly influential to them so
they would like them to take part in the decision of the decoration.

27
Taking into account the different combinations it could be deduced that the audience
buckets most likely to hire Aloha's decoration service would be buckets 1 and 3 as
they gather some of the variables that Aloha can take care of. In this way the
following customer personas from which they can earn the most money can be
distinguished.

Customer personas:

● Urresi: this young residence in San mames, is looking for modern and cozy
spaces that match their value proposal of a young company that establishes
close ties with students. The owners of the residence are two young
entrepreneurs who do not know anything about decoration so they rather hire
someone to do the whole process. Although they have done well the past 5
years with free design applications they lack professionals in their staff so
they are seeking someone who really knows the last home decoration trends.
Moreover, they want to attract international students to the residence so they
are particularly worried about how decoration needs to be addressed when
targeting people from other countries. All in all, Urresi is willing to hire a
professional decoration service but does not want to expend a lot of money
since they prefer having a small taste of it and then decide whether or not
they would continue decorating.

● Bilbokampus: a well known residence in the heart of Bilbao. Their rooms are
already decorated but they are always looking for improvement since it is a
value driven company led by the principle of “renew or die”. The owner of the
residence is a middle aged businessman who has no skills on decoration nor
interest in learning about it so he would rather hire someone else to do this
work and just pay for it. However, an important request is that they want a
personalized decoration since the furniture they have now is very basic and
they want to increase brand recognition by printing their logo on the doors,
painting walls with their colors, etc. It is very relevant that the service is done
in an efficient and effective way as they cannot vacate the rooms for long so
the process would have to be fast and without many complications.

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 ● Euskoresis: this is a network of low-cost residences in the three provinces of
the Basque country. The owner is a senior businessman who opened his first
residence in 1999 in San Sebastian. Since then any renovations have been
made so he thinks it is time to renew all the rooms of the entire building. The
rooms are decorated with basic furniture as they are low-cost rooms for
students and so would be his budget for the decoration per room. Additionally,
the huge amount of residence he manages hinder any dedication to this
project so he is looking for a comprehensive service.

● SH Bilbao: new opening residence in Deusto, is looking for stylist decoration

rooms since they want to open a new category of “luxury rooms”. The owner
of this property is a young lady that has inherited one of her father's
companies and wants to give a different approach to it. She is passionate
about style so wants to work hand by hand with a professional decorator and
make sure she obtains the results she expects. Since the residence has just
opened full decoration needs to be done and especially for the luxury rooms
which by now are 10.

From all of these customer personas the best suit for Aloha´s values would be Urresi
and Bilbokampus since they gather the variables from which Aloha can take care of
the most. In this line, Aloha can provide them with an optimate and comprehensive
service that lasts no longer than 24h. The budget would not be a problem since
Aloha is not seeking to take the most profitability from this type of client as it has just
started to offer this service. According to the rest it is also possible to provide them
with what they are asking for but a complete decoration for a whole building would
mean investing a lot of time which Aloha´s owners do not have at the moment.

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4.3. Markets in which it operates

Aloha operates in the tourism sector and as said before they operate in Vizcaya,
more accurately in Bilbao. Bilbao is becoming a remarkable tourist city and therefore
there is a high demand for holiday rentals and hotels. This opens a market for Aloha,
not only to manage these apartments, but also to redesign them or work on their
home staging.

On the one hand, the holiday rental market is relatively new. This is because the
traditional way of travelling consisted of booking a hotel. However, the times
changed creating a demand for alternatives to hotels, which are not worse in terms
of quality, but with different features. Consequently, apartments with great potential,
a good design and with a good location were the perfect spot for holiday rental
apartments. Moreover, this opens a business not only for homeowners, but also for
companies as Aloha.

On the other hand, as Aloha manages the marketing of the apartments, they also
operate in a wider market, being able to reach people from other countries who are
interested in visiting Bilbao and renting their Airbnb apartments. However, due to the
pandemic the tourism market is struggling to stay in the market and are now looking
to expand their services to other sectors. Nevertheless, an extensive market is
growing in Spain which corresponds to national tourism, due to the decrease of
international travels for Covid-19. It is important to note that, as a business strategy,
new customers were introduced to the interior design market, which are student
residence halls.

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4.4 Value Proposal:

The service they offer comes from a personal experience that happened to them
while they were travelling. Throughout their experiences as travellers, they found out
what tourists were looking for or expecting from the apartment or hotel they were
staying in. They realized people wanted to feel at home, in a room or an apartment
that is not too big or too small, with all the commodities and small details. They also
observed the importance of being treated in a close way, and that is exactly what
they offer to their customers. They discovered the gap in the market where they
personally attend their customers and offer them the best quality apartments for their
hosting where any person can feel like at their own house.

Another thing that characterizes its value proposition is its exclusivity when it comes
to working with the apartments. Aloha is only committed to giving the best of itself if it
recognizes in the apartment the possibilities to get the best return and assure the
owner that the stay would obtain the best marks. In addition to this, their service
aims to make guests feel as if they were at home in terms of safety, and cleanness,
all in a fashionable and well decorated environment. Finally, Aloha tries to
differentiate itself from their competitors offering all kinds of special experiences with
tourism, reliable businesses and lots of tips and recommendations for clients to have
a wonderful stay and so they would repeat their experience.

4.5 Channels:

Channels allow Aloha to reach their customer segments and consequently, help
them to address better their potential clients. As it has been mentioned and
described above, there are different customer segments to approach and for that
reason, a company needs to adapt the channels they use to each of them.

In relation to homeowners, if they have already decided that they want to give a use
to their apartment and they do not know how to do so, they would probably make

31
use of search engines to look for a solution to their problem. It is in this moment
when it becomes essential to have a good web positioning because otherwise, the
potential customer would reach other alternatives much earlier than Aloha. This
needs to be improved if Aloha wants their customer personas to get to their website
easily. Once the homeowner has reached the website, they would find out about the
company's services in order to see whether that is what they are looking for, and if
they like the way they work, their values, objectives, etc. In the case that customers
like what they see and are interested in some of the services, they could contact the
company via email or telephone number which is provided on the website in a
specific section for that and also at the bottom of every page.

Secondly, regarding Aloha apartments’ guests it is very likely that they find Aloha
apartments through Airbnb since that is their main distributor where they get their
service known to the public. As most of their apartments are rated as “Superhost”
they have more chances to stand out from the rest of apartments so clients who
seek accommodation in Bilbao would first come across with best quality options by
defect since that is how Airbnb compensates Superhosts. However, another way to
approach this customer segment is through social media. If Aloha is able to
frequently update their posts and knows well their customer personas and their
interests it is more likely that their target market follows Aloha on its social media
accounts. This helps them build a community of people that are interested in what
they post and consequently, if one of the followers comes to Biscay it is more
probable that they choose an apartment from Aloha than from any other.

Lastly, as Aloha has recently started designing and decorating student residence
halls, it would be a good idea to think about appearing in the newspaper or in the
radio as they reach broad audiences, especially the ones targeted which as
explained above are more likely to be middle aged entrepreneurs who use these
channels. In this way, if the owners of the residence hear or read about Aloha´s
room decoration services, they might consider hiring them to transform their
residence rooms. Until now, Aloha has not considered this channel option due to its
costs, and they rather keep relying on worth of mouth, social media and their
website. However, the company has not given information about this service on

32
social media and for that reason it is impossible to get new clients through this
channel.

All in all, it would be advisable that Aloha reconsiders its communication channels
since for now it has done well with worth of mouth but this has its limits and if they
want to grow as a company they would need to approach new audiences through
different channels, as the ones mentioned before.

4.6 Key Activities:

As it has been mentioned in previous sections, Aloha´s core values are maintaining
a close and trustworthy relationships with their main clients (homeowners) who need
to trust Aloha and allow them enter their houses in order to transform and take care
of their guests. However, it is becoming more difficult to establish close ties with
people since everything is done through online channels which destroy the proximity
of face-to-face treatment which is precisely what Aloha´s owners do best. Despite
this, it can be said that Aloha´s main key activity is problem solving as they try to
solve homeowners´ issues related to not having time or knowledge on home
decoration.

Aloha loves designing and are experts on that, that's why the company turns holiday
rentals into an attractive and stylish space, beautifully decorated with a comfortable
and trendy design. Moreover, Aloha´s main objective is to focus on optimizing the
appearance of the property to stand out from the rest on digital platforms. This
company makes housing more attractive to potential buyers, improving the
apartments´ conditions and providing a 24/7 customer service. In this line, all the
projects proposed by Aloha would keep and adjust to the estimated budget and the
company would carry out exhaustive verifications and monitoring of the
measurements and schedules to strictly comply with the tight budget given to the
customer. To sum up, Aloha´s key activities are taking complete care of
homeowners´ apartments and the resolution of whatsoever issues related to their
management, decoration and home staging.

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4.7 Key Resources:

Usually the key resources of a company are divided into 4 categories, which are
physical resources, human resources, financial resources and intellectual resources.
Regarding physical resources Aloha does not have an office that clients can visit. In
this line, they have no cost to cover on tangible resources such as furniture, lighting
or cleaning staff. Indeed, they work from home using their own computers and motor
vehicles. However, taking into account that it is only the two of them working in the
company by now, it is not necessary to have one.

With regards to their service of home staging, they do require professional

knowledge and for this they need people who are devoted to construction or
renovation of houses and that can work specifically in that field. In this sense, human
resources are crucial for this kind of service as creativity is needed together with
knowledge of latest design trends. In this way, an important key resource is the
intangible resources of knowledge, skills and training the company possesses. In
Aloha´s case it is quite clear that this includes a particular way of doing things. Aloha
´s main intellectual resource is the knowledge their members have about designing
being professional architects.

Apart from this, the company also keeps all the information about their clients stored
in the form of customer databases, networks, technology infrastructure, information
systems, and intellectual property are also some other important intangible
resources for Aloha. Added to this, their customer service orientation is another
important tool for Aloha as it helps the company to build close relationships with its
clients. Moreover, financial resources are essential for Aloha´s company to the
purchase of appropriate equipment, services, and supplies that are needed in order
to implement their projects. Lastly, key resource is the use of social media which as
has been previously addressed is an essential tool to attract and retain customers.

34
4.8 Key Partnerships:

Aloha has not hired any employees yet being Xabier and Almudena the only
members of the team. However, as the company keeps growing they have thought
about hiring new employees that can help them manage their apartments. The
problem with this is that they have to find someone that shares the same values and
that works with the same passion, dedication and effort as they do. In short, they
need to assure their customers that the result would remain optimal even if another
person is performing the tasks.

In terms of identifying their key partners, it can be said that Aloha works with diverse
companies which are essential for the correct functioning of their business. They
have made strategic partnerships with different non-competitors such as cleaning
and laundry company, photographer, furniture and lighting company, among others.
This relationship between the flower companies makes not only Aloha´s services
possible but contributes to all companies' growth so they all obtain profitability.

4.9 Cost Structure:

In order to provide Aloha with a profitable cost structure first its main costs need to be
identified. To this regard, an estimation of 28,700 € is expected for a year. The breakdown of
the calculation of fixed and variable costs per year is shown below.

Fixed costs:

- Web, hosting management programs, design programs and others: 1,500

- Telephone expenses: 1,200 ( for both Almu & Xabi)
- Salaries: 19,200 (800 each, taxes included)
- Total = 21,900

Variable costs:

- Transport: 2,000
- Product replacement: 3,000
- Photographer: 1,800
- Airbnb fee: deduced below
- Total = 6,800
Total fixed+variable costs 28,700 €
35
AIRBNB MANAGEMENT
Process:
1) Guest pays to Airbnb
2) Airbnb charges 8% to advertiser, that is, Aloha and 3% to the owner (it used
to be more but now it has decreased to keep owners renting their holiday
apartments)
3) Aloha receives 20% of the net profit (only if there are reservations)
4) The rest is paid to the owner

Calculation:
Medium price per night: 87.78€
Minimum stay of nights: 2
Cleaning service: 60€
Total = 235.56€

Therefore...
Revenue from Airbnb: 235.56 - 20.28 (fee) =215.28
Net profit: 215.28 - 60 (cleaning staff) = 155.28 → 20% = 31
Total margin profit = 31

Taking into account that Aloha´s annual costs reach 28,700 €, more or less, an income mix
would be then conducted in order to estimate the number of sales that they need to make from
each of the services so that they break even (Table 1). Same would be done this time to
exceed their costs over 30,000€, more or less, (Table 2) so they can say their business is
making profits. All figures are an estimated value of the income from the services rendered
yearly.

TABLE 1

SERVICE VALUE HOW MANY INCOME

Airbnb Management* 31€ (2 nights) 100x14 21,700

Airbnb Decoration 500 6 3,000

Home Staging 1,500 2 3,000

Room Decoration 150 10 1,500

(Students Residences)

29,200€

36
*Note that the value for the Airbnb management is calculated for two nights since it is the
minimum stay but when estimating the number of sales this has to be calculated per night so
the number of sales would be the total reservations of the 14 apartments that Aloha manages
currently.

TABLE 2

SERVICE VALUE HOW MANY INCOME

Airbnb Management 31€ (2 nights) 200x14 43,400

Airbnb Decoration 500 6 3,000

Home Staging 1,500 4 6,000

Room Decoration 150 45 6,750

(Students Residences)

59,150

5. COMPETITORS

5.1 Main competition

The rivalry between companies is very common indistinctly of the sector in which
they operate. In fact, it encourages the company to become better and stand out
from others. Aloha´s main competitors are companies dedicated to the management
and decoration of holiday rentals in the Basque Country, more precisely in Bilbao.
Moreover, as Aloha manages accommodation in Biscay other remarkable
competitors are hotels and hostels.

While hotels may be different in terms of the service, they still have the same
objective, which corresponds to getting customers to spend the night in their
facilities. There are some that have a similar value proposal and decoration style. An
example for this would be the NYX hotel which follows a similar decoration style and
competes within the same range of prices.

37
The same competition arises with hostels which have increased rapidly during the
last years. The most challenging thing about these competitors are the low prices,
making the lack of privacy or adequate decoration seem less important.
Furthermore, there are also new concepts as Optimirooms, which are capsules to
spend the night that emerged in Japan for a very low price in new and comfortable
facilities, which were recently installed in Bilbao.

Regarding these competitors it can be concluded that they are not direct
competitors, due to the differences in the service they offer. However, management
and decoration companies correspond to their main potential competitors. Among
others, the CEO of Aloha, Almudena García, has named the following companies as
their main potential competitors:

● Aston rentals: This company has a greater geographical extension operating

both in the Basque Country and other cities like La Rioja, Cataluny, and
Cantabria. Its rapid growth has made the firm known to tourists visiting Bilbao.
Its speciality is short term rentals and especially property management on
Airbnb, Booking, and other digital platforms.
● Next stop bilbao: This company targets the same market of holiday rental
management services in Bilbao but unlike others, it offers a personalized
service according to the different client personas: families, groups of friends,
couples and business travelers.
● Bilbao Guest: This company operates in Bilbao and offers a very client
centric service since the web is designed not only for the owners of the
houses but also for the tourists offering them flats ready to be booked. They
also provide extra services for tourists such as restaurant reservations,
luggage storage, bicycle rental, museum tickets, event tickets, etc.
● Home Staging Bizkaia is a company that operates only in Bilbao but has
broader services since it is not only directed towards holiday rentals but also
handles the management and decoration of hotels and rural houses,
commercial premises, show flats, homes for rent and/or sale, and even boats.
They offer the same service as Aloha, but besides them there are few
companies that offer this specific service of Home staging for Airbnbs in
Bilbao.
38
However, there is a main competitor that appears in this market, which corresponds
to the Internet. There are several web pages like Raixer, a Spanish company, that
offer home staging recommendations for free. Moreover, worldwide known app
Pinterest has a wide selection of home stagings that allow the owner to imitate the
style they are looking for, in order to make a touristic apartment more attractive.
Additionally, there is a large variety of web pages and blogs which offer this
information, making potential customers reconsider hiring a professional decorator is
really necessary.

5.2 Strategies for handling competition

The previous mentioned four companies offer a very similar service and operate
within the same geographical framework (Bilbao, Baque Country). They all provide
partial or complete management (up to the client) of holiday rentals. As for their
decoration and home staging service, they all work similarly with very neutral and
minimalist styles, a sure hit for all kinds of public.

In order to differentiate from its competitors Aloha shows a four year old experienced
“Superhost” company with professional architectures that master the home staging
field with good communication skills to establish close contact with the owners of the
house. Owners of Aloha, love to address their clients together so that everyone
knows them as a team, as Almu & Xabi. That is how they want their clients to know
them and not just by their company name. Their intention is to break the corporate
veil by exposing themselves to the public so that people first trust them as
individuals, and thus would trust their business.

Unlike other companies, that may only deal with the management of the house and
handover of the keys, Almu & Xabi are always in contact with their clients, both
owners and tourists, not only through online channels but also in person. To make
this possible they limit the number of houses they manage (currently 14 on Airbnb)
so that they ensure that all the apartments are within their reach and can guarantee
their clients a comprehensive service.

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6. MAIN PROFITABLE SERVICES

As it has been said throughout the report, Aloha has three services offered to
homeowners who have holiday rentals at Airbnb. Of these three services
(management, decoration and home staging) the first one is undoubtedly the most
hired (70%) followed by decoration (20%) and finally home staging (10%). At the
moment, Aloha manages 14 apartments in Airbnb which represent 90% of its
business activity and the remaining 10% is dedicated to related services such as
room decoration of student residence halls, a project that has now started due to
Covid-19 crisis. In this line, the economic situation can impact Aloha´s business
altering the percentages above and reducing their activity as a holiday rental
manager in favour of the latter services of room decoration for student residences
halls.

As mentioned above, Aloha has two main customers, homeowners and the tourists
with whom it maintains contact before, during and after the visit. Although its end
customers are guests, clients hiring their service are hosts so the main focus is on
covering the needs of the homeowners. These are usually middle aged people
without much knowledge about digital platforms or without time to devote to create,
post and care about customer service. For these reasons, Aloha acts as a co-host,
that is, it takes care of all the responsibilities and receives a commission for it.
Nonetheless, due to the already mentioned economic situation, Aloha has to
reconsider whether these are still their most profitable customer personas as times
have changed. The lack of tourist bookings is having a direct impact on their
incomes but still they can take advantage of this situation to promote national
tourism which has positively increased since international tourism is no longer an
option for most of the people. In this line, and without considering the temporary
situation of travel limitation in between communities, Aloha can continue relying on
booking of national tourists so would the owners keep hiring their service. However,
realistically, the number of bookings per year would be less than it used to be.
Therefore, as previously stated, it would be advisable to offer Aloha´s services to
other types of clients as is being done with the student residences.

40
All in all, it could be said that the most profitable customer personas who would
demand Aloha´s services today would be mainly visitors who rent the flat for a
weekend. Therefore, the homeowner would not be so interested in investing money
in decoration or home staging and would just hire Aloha for the management of the
flat during those days. In this way, Airbnb management would keep being Aloha´s
main profitable service but with regards to the rest of services (home staging,
decoration) a better target audience needs to be found such as the one they have
already identified with student residence halls demanding interior design advice or
even a photo sessions of their rooms for their website.

7. KEY MESSAGES

Key messages are the ideas that the company wants to transmit to each of their
customer personas. In this sense, Aloha needs to convey very specific and easy to
understand messages so that their target audience identifies the value of the
company whilst connecting their ideas with their personal thoughts or needs. For
instance, with the message “We create experiences” Aloha wants to reach all their
customers in general, that is, their aim here is to transmit that it does not matter if
they are the owners of the apartment or the ones directly enjoying the stay because
the important thing here is that they would all be given an exceptional experience
according to their needs.

However, it is essential that Aloha creates specific messages for each customer
persona. As each customer persona is different, the messages and way of
communicating with them should also be different. Each message has to be tailored,
so that it gives each client a solution to a specific problem taking into account what
each of them knows and wants.

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On the one hand, for homeowners that own an empty house and that worry about
not using it they send messages like “We are the ones who would take care of
everything for you” or “Don't worry about anything”. Then if they are open to
restoring it, “Aloha would make their apartments more attractive for potential
customers” and they promise these clients “A total tune-up, so that your house
shines again”. Moreover, for clients that lack the necessary skills to take care of their
apartment and even less of their guests, conveys messages like “We offer an action
plan tailored to your specific apartment”, “We design experiences” or "We want your
guests to discover Bilbao from our hands, feeling at home, in top-quality
apartments". In the case of price sensitive customer personas, Aloha sends
messages like “And everything, with a limited budget” or “We are committed to
adjust our services to the estimated budget”. Lastly, for clients that are already
renting Aloha sends clear messages that promises an increase of value on their
apartments saying: “Turn your holiday rental into a ‘Boutique’ experience”, “More
than just a hosting”, “We will increase your visits on the apartment, improve the
feedback from clients and make you get higher benefits on sale or rent.” and “We
make your home stand out among the others”. As it can be appreciated, Aloha tries
to send the idea that there is always something to improve, that their purpose is to
help homeowners by providing them with tailor-made services that fulfill each
apartment's particular needs.

On the other hand, the messages intended for the guests are slightly different. For
those travellers who need accommodation in Biscay Aloha sends messages like “We
want the guests' visit to Bilbao to be an unforgettable memory”. For the customers
who are already considering other alternatives the company delivers a message of
“Our clients comment on us” followed by a space where customers can scroll down
and see other guests´ reviews about their service so that they can read about what
makes them so popular among clients. Moreover, tourists who seek cozy and comfy
places to spend their holidays, would be attracted by key messages like “Our
passion for design makes the difference”, making them know that the apartment
would not be decorated in a simplistic and unpersonalised way. Regarding clients
who pay due attention to the price matching the service offered, Aloha guarantees
“First quality apartments” so that these clients can trust they are not booking an
ordinary rental and that the money paid for is worth it.
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As it can be seen, in both cases Aloha uses key messages to convey their culture of
trust, attention to detail, extraordinary experiences and relationships based on trust
and closeness. In this sense, the messages that Aloha transmits are key since they
reflect its value proposal, and that in turn, match their customers values and
interests.

8. STRATEGIC GOALS

According to basic accounting principles, an important aspect is “going concern”

which means that, except for reasons that prevent it, it is presumed that the
company would continue to operate for the foreseeable future. In this sense, Aloha
needs to establish a series of long term objectives for the upcoming years. Here are
some of their strategic goals:

❖ Customer interaction goals: increase customer satisfaction ratings by

reaching the Superhost category in all of their apartments.
❖ Financial goals: increase market share to 15% by 2030.
❖ Growth goals: increase staff and create a diverse team with professionals in
languages, decoration and architecture.

Aloha prefers to maintain their current clients, rather than increasing worldwide
because expanding to other cities means hiring new workers and losing proximity
and closeness with their clients. This company is very specific with the type of
customer they are targeting. Although Aloha has done well so far in keeping a limited
number of loyal customers these times are not favourable for limiting the market as
many of the regular tourists have stopped booking. That is why Aloha needs to
expand the market and embrace new opportunities. While it is true that the pandemic
has reduced the flow of tourists, it has also promoted the so-called “home office”,
which indeed, results in an increasing customer need that Aloha can cover. This
way, many workers are forced to do their work from home and many of them do not
have an optimal work space in their homes so they would be willing to rent
apartments to develop their work activity. Consequently, it can be said that there is a
gap that Aloha, as a rentals manager, can take care of.

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In this sense, Aloha expects to increase its market share to 15% by 2030. To do this,
a broader market segmentation could be considered seeking new clients of different
geographic locations. Accordingly, an increase in their team members would also be
needed to manage all the new apartments. Despite the benefits that would bring a
bigger company, they would also have to consider that staff expansion can also
hinder its value proposition and thus, they need to work carefully on their external
communication with its customers.

As it has been stated before, Airbnb management is Aloha´s most demanded and
therefore, most profitable service. Since Aloha makes the guests feel as if they were
at home, adapting apartments to their needs and desires. They make, with their
personal touch, each client's stay to be a unique experience. Airbnb vacation rental
becomes a success, maximizing the income without having to worry about anything.
Accordingly, it is important to link previous strategic goals to this main service. In this
sense, Aloha is right to focus on increasing customer satisfaction ratings in Airbnb
since it is through this channel that they engage their final customers (guests) and by
increasing their satisfaction they would ensure repeated purchases from their main
clients (hosts).

9. KEY COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES

Aloha´s owners are the ones in charge of all the process of developing a strategic
communication plan. As is well known, this is not an easy task as they have to
identify their most influential and interested customer personas whilst maintaining
and updating their social networks and website with information and posts that
attract these. In order to identify the possible challenges that Aloha may face when
communicating with their customers, it is important to carry out an analysis of their
communication strategy. To do this, it is advisable to use the SWOT analysis since it
determines the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and possible threats of the
company's communication. In this line, the following data is obtained.

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9.1 Swot Analysis

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

- Trustworthy looking faces - Languages that they do not speak

- Excellent reviews - Word of mouth has its limit
- Four languages - Scarce digital community
- Experience as Superhost (Airbnb) - Owners lack efficiency when
- Increase of national tourism transmitting tastes in terms of
decoration
- Decrease of international tourism

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

- Increasing digitalization, especially - Competitors engage broader

now with the pandemic audiences through social networks
- New market opportunities - Future regulations for Covid-19
- New hires may breach the value
proposition
- Part of the message gets lost if
communication is not face-to-face
(when using social networks instead of
word of mouth, etc)

As it can be seen, Aloha mostly relies on word of mouth and on the contrary, social
media is not paid the required attention. Living in a digital era, this part is essential
because through digital platforms they can communicate directly with their current
clients and potential customers and increase their PR for free. Moreover, if it is done
correctly they can build a digital community where Aloha can listen to their que es
customers and find out what are their traits, interests or even more concrete things,
for example what are they concerned about when they are travelling, which types of
accommodation are the most liked and which are the least, among others. The
following, would give an overview of the digital platforms that Aloha is already using
in order to understand their current situation with regards to social media use.

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The first one is Pinterest, where they only have 6 followers and they are following 26
people. From a general perspective, it seems that in their profile they only have a
collection of images from other profiles from which they take ideas for the
apartments they design. In fact, any user that has Pinterest can look for those
designs by themselves without the need of following Aloha. Thus, apparently Aloha
is using this social media to get ideas for themselves and not to communicate with
their clients offering them authentic decoration posts by themselves.

The second platform is Instagram where they have 248 followers and follow 699
people. Aloha has tried to use this platform to show pictures of some of their
apartments, opinions from clients that have stayed in their apartments and some
information about important events related to Aloha. However, this is not enough as
their last post was in May 2020 and the previous one in December 2019. This means
that they are not consistent with the digital platform and therefore, it is more likely
that followers end up unfollowing Aloha if they do not see any content for months.

Something similar happens with Facebook. They post the same content as on
Instagram, so apparently they have Facebook to share the information to those
potential customers that do not have an Instagram account, and the other way
round. The reality is that they only have 36 followers and that they have to deal with
the same problems that they have on Instagram. Moreover, it is important to note
that since their customer personas, as said before, were middle aged people it is
more likely that they address them through Facebook Aloha should be paid due
attention to this channel and maybe leave Instagram for capturing guests who might
be younger. In this way, Aloha is not right to give the same use to two very different
platforms that address very different customers (homeowners, tourists) and thus, the
information transmitted on these channels should be different as it is correctly done
with its key messages on the website.

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Apart from the necessity to increase its digital community, another important
challenge that Aloha´s CEO worries about is the external communication of the new
team members to its clients. To this regard, it is key to work on the external
communication with their clients in order not to lose their culture and mission
statement. A good way to do this, would be to transform the idea of hiring new
personnel not only because Almu and Xabi need to, but because their clients need it
too in order to enjoy Aloha´s best services. In any case, it is very likely that if clients
already trust Almu and Xabi, they would trust their partners as well.

10. FEASIBLE OBJECTIVES

Feasible objectives are key to accomplish the goals set by the company. Alohas’s
selected feasible objectives are an increase in social media engagement and growth
in customer interaction. Using the SMART objectives to guide its goal settings, it can
be observed that the above mentioned objectives would be feasible.

Firstly, social media engagement is a specific tool that is already in use by the
company, even if they are currently not paying enough attention to it. Moreover, it
can be considered as achievable due to its easy use, rapid accessibility and cost
effectiveness since it is mainly for free. Besides, it is relevant to the company
because it would attract a broader audience. Finally, it is time-bound, since the
current situation of the pandemic allows working from home which in turn boosts
digital activity.

When it comes to increasing customer satisfaction ratings by reaching the Superhost

category in all of their apartments, there is a high probability that they would reach
that goal. As it happens with social media, potential guests are current users of
digital platforms like Airbnb and people seeking to rent an apartment are very
concerned with the evaluations of previous visitors. Therefore, there is a
considerable chance that both hosts and guests would evaluate Aloha’s service.

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Nonetheless, Aloha´s growth goals seem less feasible. On the one hand, new hires
represent an added expense that would be more affordable in another economic
situation. On the other hand, it is not advisable to rely on current customers forever,
in turn, the crisis has affected the economy of many people and it is possible that
some of these regular customers cannot afford more expenses and stop hiring their
services. For this reason, it is recommendable that they seek new customers if they
want their business to remain alive. Staying local is not feasible for small cities like
Bilbao. Aloha needs to rethink the idea of expanding its market and attracting new
customers outside the geographical framework.

11. CONCLUSION

After performing extensive analysis on Aloha’s company and proposing possible

communication strategies, a clear picture of the current situation of the company is
regarded. The Covid-19 pandemic is repeatedly mentioned, due to its relevance for
the company as a tourism sector and the threats that might appear on different parts
of the analysis.

Wider analysis of customer segmentation, value propositions, competitors, and other

aspects have helped to understand deeper the purpose and culture of the company.
Consequently, strategic goals, key communication challenges and feasible
objectives were developed with the intention of contributing to Aloha's future
communication strategy. In conclusion, this preliminary report takes a further step
into business communication analysis through primary research.

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12. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Belyh, A. (2020, September 16). Business model canvas: Customer segments.

Cleverism. Retrieved October 22, 2020, from
https://www.cleverism.com/customer-segments-business-model-canvas/

World Tourism Organization. (2019). International Tourism Highlights, 2019

Edition, UNWTO, Madrid. Retrieved from https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/

Instituto Nacional de Estadística. (2019, December 12).

Cuenta satélite del turismo de España. Últimos datos, INE, Madrid.
Retrieved from https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/es/

Instituto Nacional de Estadística. (2020, October 1). Encuestas de ocupación en

alojamientos turísticos extrahoteleros, Agosto 2020, Datos provisionales, INE,
Madrid. Retrieved from https://www.ine.es/daco/daco42/ocuptr/eoat0820.pdf

Home Staging Bizkaia. Retrieved from http://www.homestagingbizkaia.com

Aston Rentals. Retrieved from https://www.astonrentals.com

Next Stop Bilbao. Retrieved from https://www.nextstopbilbao.com

Bilbao Guest. Retrieved from http://www.bilbaoguest.com

Aloha Bilbao. Retrieved from https://alohabilbao.com

Airbnb. Retrieved from https://www.airbnb.es

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