Anyone using Virtual Assistants in the Philippines to handle guest messaging

[Marc Shin]

I'm thinking about self managing my STR. I have time to handle all of the guest bookings and management / scheduling of cleanings and maintenance, but I don't have time to do all of the messaging that is required to maintain good communications with the guests.

Anyone have experience with using VA's in the Philippines for handling guest messaging aspect of STR's?

[Patricia Andriolo-Bull]

No, I do not and would not.  My reasons...

1.  I used to run operations for a large healthcare IT company.  I was responsible for outsourcing all operations to India and subsequently also the Philippines.  I was all for it.  But in my decades since and have gone from operations to customer success, I realized it wasn't very customer friendly.  I'm also convinced (from personal and professional experience without any real data points), it ends up costing more.  It takes time to teach people to do scripted work (you would be better off with AI and automation), that comes across often as scripted and ends up taking more time that if it was just done right the first time.  

2. This business is all about hospitality. It definitely isn't passive but if you have one STR (I have 4 listings), it is definitely manageable especially with all of the tools available to you (automated messaging and iCal syncing). It's a bigger lift up front (setting everything up), but after, it isn't a terrible amount of work and the results are far better.