Name of your website?Dubrovnik Apartment Source
Your name?
Michelle Kehoe
Your Location (city, etc)
Dubrovnik
Please give us a short summary of your website?
We are a leading provider of high-quality holiday apartment and villa rentals in and around Dubrovnik, Croatia. All accommodations on our site have been personally inspected to ensure that they meet our high standard of quality. Our search feature makes it easy for travelers to find an accommodation that suits their needs. Once they do, they may book directly online and receive instant confirmation.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
We first visited Croatia in February 2006 and decided to have our wedding there. During the wedding planning process, we realized that hotels in Dubrovnik were way too expensive for our guests. Our Croatian wedding planner then informed us that private accommodation (apartments and villas) would be a good option. When we asked if she could find us accommodation for our 25 guests, she replied, "Oh no, that would be too difficult". At first we were puzzled by her reply. Wasn't there a website that one could visit to search through the sea of accommodations? We quickly realized that the answer was 'no'.
We spent several days searching the internet looking at apartment after apartment. For each one we needed to email the owner to arrange a viewing. 70% of the owners never responded. Of the ones we did see, about 50% were grossly misrepresented; the nice photos and description advertised on the website did not match reality. It took us 4 days to find suitable accommodations for 25 guests, and we were required to pay a CASH deposit for the apartments we reserved. We said to ourselves, "There has to be a better way for travelers to Dubrovnik to find good quality private accommodations." And so we created one.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
We launched Dubrovnik Apartment Source in June 2006.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
We wanted our website to convey what our business offers. We are the "source" for Dubrovnik Apartments. It's kind of simple, but it works.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
Our website is different from other Dubrovnik accommodation websites in many ways. For one thing, we personally vet each property and list only those that we would choose to stay in ourselves. We turn down a lot of requests from apartment owners who want to be included on our site because their properties just are not nice enough (at a minimum they must be renovated and extremely clean). Most other websites just list as many accommodations as they can, without regard to quality. Second, we write our own personal descriptions and take our own photos whenever possible. As a result, each listing is an accurate representation of what the customer will experience upon arrival. Other websites use the property owners' descriptions, which of course are not objective. Third, our website has real-time availability calendars for each property, so users can search for what is available during their intended stay without having to email to check availability. Most other websites do not even have search features, let alone availability calendars. Finally, we have instant online booking and deposit payment. Users can book and pay a deposit for their accommodation, and receive a confirmation email, all within a matter of minutes. Many other websites claim to have online booking, but all that is is a booking inquiry form. We also offer the best customer service in the industry. We respond to all customer inquires in a timely manner and make ourselves available to assist our customers even after they have booked their accommodation. We brought a Western style of efficiency, professionalism, and customer service to Croatia.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Our near-term goal is to grow the business, which is highly scale-able. We plan to run it for as long as we can, but we haven't ruled out selling it to a larger company.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I'm not sure I fully understand this question, but I'll give it a shot. We are very pleased with the success we've had. Of course we invest a lot of time in the business, but that is because it is our own and we care very much about it. The fact that our business is web-based gives us a tremendous amount of personal flexibility. We can work from anywhere in the world as long as we have an internet connection, and so we do travel a fair amount. It's just that we are always technically working, even while on vacation.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Funny you should ask--we're actually in the middle of a redesign right now, since the look of our website hasn't changed since its launch. I can't divulge the changes we're making because, well, we want it to be a surprise. But I can say that in general, we are happy with the functionality of our website and if we had an unlimited budget, we would spend it on promoting the site. That is our main problem - getting customers to find our website. We get so much feedback from satisfied customers saying things like, "after spending days on the internet searching for accommodation, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon your site". We want customers to not have to stumble upon our site. We want it right there in front of them when they need it.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes, absolutely. As I mentioned before, our website is highly scale-able because most of it is automated. If our business doubled in volume overnight, we (my husband/business partner) and I would be able to handle it, although we'd probably need to invest in better back-end systems. We would still take the time to go vet new apartments and we would always be the ones to interact with the apartment owners with whom we work. Those 2 jobs cannot be given to anyone else.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Of course it is always tricky doing business in a foreign country, especially as a foreigner. There are differences in customs and culture that we've had to get used to. We were accustomed to how business is conducted in America, specifically in New York City where we previously lived and worked. Doing business in Croatia is very, very different. But we are fortunate that our company is an American company governed by American laws.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Our biggest challenge has been spreading the word about our website. We were lucky to be mentioned in a popular guidebook (Rick Steves) in our first year of operation. We have gotten a lot of business from it over the past few years. But we haven't been able to get any of the other major guidebooks to list us (not for lack of trying on our part). It's funny - we actually had a Fodor's editor (not for Croatia) use our website for her personal travel. She liked our service so much that she emailed the Fodor's Croatia guidebook editor saying that he should consider adding us to the guide. But for some reason, we're still not listed.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
We do a lot of pay-per-click advertising on Google and Yahoo, and that works well for us. We also do some print advertising, which is less effective on the surface, but helps to generate brand awareness.
Over the past 2 years we've seen a dramatic increase in word-of-mouth referrals. That is shaping up to be a material portion of our business, and it says a lot about our service. If previous customers are telling their friends, family, and colleagues about us, then we must be doing something right.
The Rick Steves guidebook mention has also been great at promoting our website.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Running the website has exceeded our expectations. Neither my husband nor I had ever run a website before. He was a lawyer and I was a hedge fund analyst in our previous careers. If 5 years ago you had told us that in 5 years we would own our own web-based company offering holiday accommodation rentals in Croatia, we would have thought you were mad. Initially the idea of running a website was foreign to us, but we approached it like we would any other new endeavor - by doing research and learning more about it. And now our website is more successful than we initially expected it to be.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
Our site has been in operation for almost 3 1/2 years and we plan to keep it running it for as long as it is profitable.
What do you like best about running your website?
Running our website gives us deep satisfaction and a feeling of accomplishment. We like that we've created something that is ours, and that we can really take pride in our work. It is great getting unsolicited feedback from customers telling us how much they enjoyed our service and that we helped make their trip to Croatia wonderful. We have even made friends with some of our customers, which is nice. Knowing that we are doing a good job and providing a useful service to others (and knowing that they appreciate it) is truly rewarding. It's what keeps us going.
What is your website address?
Dubrovnik Apartment Source
