May 3, 2012 – In a recent interview with InstaManager, Mario Galvao talked about his company and tourism in Brazil. Mario Galvao, you are the founder and CEO of GoHouse -- a marketing savvy Vacation Rental brand focused on revolutionizing and leading the Vacation Rental marketplace in Brazil. Today, your country is currently the 5th or 6th leading world economy and about to take center stage as Brazil plays host to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and of course the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. What is it about Brazil that makes it a great place for the world to travel to?? Mario Galvao: We have it all. The sun and amazing world renowned beaches. Sports. Culture. Adventure and Eco tourism. The strongest companies and business markets throughout South America. We are emerging on the world stage and more and more people are traveling to Brazil for both business and leisure and it is an exciting time to be a part of it. How important is tourism to your business, and the projected growth of GoHouse? Mario Galvao: We have studied this industry since 2010 and looked at many lodging markets, especially in Europe, how vacation rentals have a huge market share. Business and tourism is booming here in Brazil. The largest travel agency here for example is growing by over 25% a year. We saw a great opportunity for a professional vacation rental management company – really a first here in Brazil. We see ourselves at a market maker and have hired the professional staff to make that so. As a relative new comer to the VR industry (you had a prestigious career in Investment Banking prior), what do you love about the VR industry? What don’t you love and want to change? Mario Galvao: With my background I have always looked for the unseen opportunity. The untapped market in which to be the first mover. As I said, we studied the global growth trend in holiday rentals vs. hotel rooms and identified that there were no professional management companies yet in Brazil. That’s what we aim to change and that’s how we will become the market leader. That and the right people which is another area of major focus. You had numerous choices in picking a technology and marketing partner. What attributes were important to you? Mario Galvao: Internet focus. Looking for a company already in the cloud. Also, we were looking for a partner that would keep improving the system and what they had to offer. Someone we could grow with. Were there any specific features of the InstaManager product and platform that stood out in your decision process?? Mario Galvao: Absolutely. The international features are critical for us. We also looked for a lead management system that would help us with our productivity here. That really sold us because after all the companies we spoke to, only InstaManager had this feature. What have been your results thus far and where do you see GoHouse going over the new few years? Mario Galvao: We started here in Rio de Janeiro and have already made key inroads here, with over 50 bookings per month, and adding 5 new property listings per week. Our goal is to become the largest vacation rental company in Brazil within the next three years, achieving 700 properties. In the next phase we will expand to 5 more cities around the country. That is one of the exciting aspects in Brazil – that Rio is only of many great tourist centers throughout the country. In terms of improvements or enhancements, what would you like our engineers in VR Labs to be working on that would help you meet your unique business goals? Mario Galvao: To help us find a way to integrate with a better credit card processor here in Brazil so we can go beyond PayPal. We also wish for a more advanced “blogging” technology with some of the additional features like in WordPress that we’re used to, which I think will help us even more with SEO organics. Finally, do you have any specific advice or any sort of message you would like to give others in the global VR community -- perhaps about your experience, your company, your market -- anything at all you would like to communicate via this interview? Mario Galvao: Yes, I am glad you asked this question. First, I would like to invite other vacation rental managers from around the world to come to Brazil and see firsthand what an amazing place this is for travel. Just call me or email me at mario.galvao@gohouse.com.br and I will personally handle your booking here. Also, the same holds true for your clients who are coming for the World Cup and Olympics. We are open to creating win-win type partnerships with you so please connect with me to discuss ideas. Finally, we want this type of connection with our peers around the globe as we know we have a lot to learn here and I will answer any call or email personally so please connect at any time. Thank you Mario! Thank you for your time today and for participating in the InstaManager Interview. Best wishes to you and the entire GoHouse Team on your continued Online Success!
Posted by Joel Fellman on 5/3/2012 12:25:22 PM 0 Comments