Álvaro Gónzález is from Tahíche and went to study Business Administration and Management in English in Madrid. Afterwards, he went to England, where he became increasingly involved in the financial sector, and back in Madrid, he specialized in real estate operations with international consulting firms and investment funds.
Today he is CEO of Villalize, a technology company that manages vacation rentals that he founded at the end of last year on his island.
“I am very fond of Lanzarote, I always intended to return, but it is true that outside you have opportunities to do complex operations, which you are not going to see here, and I think that is what differentiates me from those who manage vacation home assets, tourist apartments and hotels on the island today,” he says.
Lanzarote, "a quality destination with real experiences"
“We want to sell Lanzarote as a quality destination, the assets do not have to be luxurious, but apart from complying with the regulations, the accommodations have to make you feel part of Lanzarote.” We also work with wineries and artisans to offer experiences, private excursions, trekking, sailing, like a travel agency.”
González explains that they collaborate with La Molina de San Bartolomé so that visitors can learn how gofio is made. “We send them a guide to try Canarian food, have real experiences, and value that kind of thing.”
According to González, Villalize is also different from others in its field due to its level of technological development. “We have implemented technology at levels that no one in Lanzarote is offering.”
“We are working with development companies from the peninsula and the United States to make our platform for owners, VillalizeHUB, much more transparent (than others) in terms of managing their property and we have designed it from scratch.”
González explains that the innovation of this platform is the main reason why the Lanzarote Chamber of Commerce supported his project and awarded Villalize the Semillas de Talento (Seeds of Talent) award.
This award, promoted by the Employment Area of the Cabildo (Island Council) and managed by the Chamber, allows the winners to test the viability of their projects without economic risk and have a free office equipped in the Chamber of Commerce Incubator.
Data analysis to "maximize price and profitability"
The CEO of Villalize also emphasizes that his company is distinguished by including innovative predictive models that “are even capable of analyzing prices on flights to adjust the prices of tourist accommodations.”
Belén Alba, a marketing expert specialized in online marketing, is in charge of this and, according to González, is also working on models to market directly and thus avoid payments to Booking or Airbnb.
“We have models that analyze a large amount of data such as flight prices, conversion rates, international online searches about ‘I want to go to the Canary Islands.’ We analyze emerging markets for Lanzarote such as Denmark or Poland. “Sometimes it is more worthwhile to target Poland than Germany in a certain week.”
“We treat many variables at a financial level to optimize the price of the house and guarantee maximum profitability for owners and investors.”
“We analyze whether a trend is confirmed or whether direct flights or flights with only one stopover are established, we analyze national holidays or income levels of population groups to hit the mark.”
“Our commission is the most profitable on the market”
González also believes that his business is different in terms of price thanks to the optimization of processes. “We do not charge a marketing or reservation commission, we only have a 15% management commission, the most aggressive or profitable on the market, compared to 20 or 25% of other managers. Plus the booking or Airbnb commissions and the additional cleaning and maintenance costs.”
Asked about the competition from Airbnb, which charges 3% to owners, González explains that in reality “Airbnb charges the same as Booking and other platforms, between 15% and 19%, only that the former “transfers the commission to the guest by raising the price of the house and perhaps that owner loses that sale because their house is more expensive on the market.”
“Our objective is to reduce dependence on large platforms by 35%, that is, of every ten reservations, almost four come through Villalize and you save that money,” explains González.
Villalize offers both “marketing and financial optimization” services as well as comprehensive management, which, in addition to the above, includes communication with the cleaning company or others, transfers, or customer reception, “which is usually automated.” “The client does not have to pay for that management apart from the 15% that we charge, only what corresponds to the cleaning company, for example.”
Currently, Villalize takes care of properties in Lanzarote, but as its website indicates, it soon intends to manage accommodations also in Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
Residential rental services and for hotels
In addition, the Villalize project, which belongs to the parent company, AGC Property Asset Management, founded by González and which manages 18 properties on the island, runs in parallel with another secondary line of business called Homelize and oriented to long-term rentals.
“With Homelize we are trying to bring a lot of housing to the market, residential housing, which is much needed, also giving the owner a little legal security with non-payment insurance, for example,” describes González.
AGC also offers revenue and marketing services to hotels, outside the Villalize brand, “hotels already have their own branding and do not need it,” explains González.
Villalize has three employees and is now in the consolidation phase, but hopes to hire more professionals in the future. “Although we have a very high level of technology, it is not going to replace the human factor, especially in the tourism sector.”
“We will need staff to do the digital reception, attend to incidents, questions... and also asset managers, for asset management,” he anticipates.
