Latvian hospitality isn’t worldwide famous (even though it should be!) but Dace and Romans at Riga Lux Apartments are definitely bringing you the best of the best. Located in the heart of Riga, walking distance from all the main attractions it’s truly a home you have on your holiday.
Now that GuestJoy and Cloudbeds have two-way integration the hotel managers have an even easier job. All visitors can check-in online, and the two platforms work harmoniously together in the background.
GuestJoy: What was the concept behind the Riga Lux Apartments?
Romans: 6 years ago we had an idea; let’s try to invest in short-term rentals but in a different way, somewhere between a hotel and a home. We wanted our guests to be able to submerge in local culture yet feel at home. To be able to explore the city easily and provide them with all the comfort and amenities that their own house would have. This is our ideal vacation style. We tried this for a summer and saw immediately that there is a need for this.
All of us like to be with our guests, we put effort into engaging with them. After all these years we have 37 apartments and we are very proud that the customer service is still top quality.
“…now that we have GuestJoy we can send out automated emails with all kinds of information and upselling to our guests. We feel strongly that the guests should have a perfect stay and personalized offers can enhance that. “
Dace: I joined in because I was searching for a new challenge. I worked as a real estate property developer and when Romans invited me to help him develop his business I was very excited. We share a passion for hospitality. In Latvia, the guest always gets the best place at the table, the best slice of pie, and the best room to sleep in. It’s a tradition.
GuestJoy: How do you deal with challenges in the industry? What is your advice to hospitality professionals?
Romans: We don’t have one big challenge I could point out, it’s rather about constant learning and adapting. Besides reading hospitality news and getting the best technology out there I keep very informed about our guests and talk to them regularly. We are constantly improving ourselves.
Informing guests can be challenging, but we are very grateful that we have GuestJoy as a platform for communication. And also for all the statistics, tips and advice. Now we know how to best engage with the customer pre-arrival, and market our services effectively. It’s especially important for late arrivals because people can just easily look up the information and they don’t have to be at the reception for an hour.
Dace: I believe that hospitality will not yet recover from the times we are experiencing now, but we can all use this time to slow down and reflect. Not just on ourselves, but to reconsider how we do our jobs and how can we do even more, how can we give the best to our visitors. I have a lot of ideas for development.
GuestJoy: What do you enjoy most about your job?
Romans: Personally, I like to engage with the guest, and I am very proud of the ‘product’ and service we created. Riga Lux Apartments is truly special, it’s your home when on vacation.
Dace: There are so many things, I don’t know where to start! Firstly, just like Romans, I love the brand we created. We are all passionate hospitality professionals, and the whole crew believes in the product. We are truly like a family here.
How does GuestJoy help you in your daily work?
Romans: The pre and post-stay emails are lifesavers! Before we would have done this manually, but now that we have GuestJoy we can send out automated emails with all kinds of information and upsell to our guests. We feel strongly that the guests should have a perfect stay and personalized offers can enhance that.
Dace: We are grateful for your support team. Even though the system works once we set it up we still get a lot of input from you all. We love the email function, enabling us to get in touch with every guest. And it’s great that they read it. We also get statistics from you and that’s wonderful because we can learn from it and improve further.
