'Avoiding problematic reservations with Truvi'

Dainius Podolinskis, Founder of Stay in London, tells the story of building a successful rental management company and using Truvi to protect premium properties.

Dainius has been in rentals for over 9 years, having started with an idea to get his own property. To afford it, he took a part-time second job at one of the big management companies back in 2016. Pretty quickly, he realized he could do it better.

 

 

‘I quit and set up my own company’

 

“They were growing massively and were having all of these quality issues and problems with owners. And I realized that I could do a better job, and that’s what I did.”

Now, Stay in London manages around thirty properties.

“We focus on slightly larger, slightly nicer, very central properties. We are experts in London. We all live in London and want to just focus on that market, which we know so well.”

 

 

‘We were looking for an integrated solution’

 

As their business was scaling, Dainius needed a more centralized way to verify guests and collect damage deposits.

We were looking for a solution that would not just cover guest verification, but also collect a deposit or damage waiver. We needed something that would integrate seamlessly with our property management software, Guesty. And Truvi had it.”

 

 

Truvi solved multiple rental issues at once

 

Like most property management companies, Stay in London faced fraud, property damage, and other common short-term rental problems.

“The need for insurance and ID checks comes from bad experiences with a few fraud cases where we didn’t verify the ID. The person who made the reservation was actually not the person staying. Trying to avoid all of these problematic reservations, problematic guests kind of led us to having Truvi.”

 

 

‘Guests like paying the waiver and not worrying about any issues’

 

When we asked Dainius whether some guests were resistant to screening requests, he said that many people actually appreciated it.

“We give them the option of either choosing the waiver or paying the deposit. And we’ve noticed that very often, especially for guests that are coming from the US, it’s kind of a standard. They really like paying the waiver and then they don’t have to worry about any issues. It’s a very smooth process. What we like and our guests like is that when they get the link, they can pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay very easily.”

 

 

‘That also reduces the risk of having problematic guests’

 

Even when people resist sharing their data, it’s not necessarily something bad. Refusal from ID verification may help detect suspicious guests and protect property.

“Of course, we did have cases where guests were uncomfortable with uploading that information, confirming it. And that’s also a red flag from our point of view. If somebody is not willing to tell us who they are, then should we really be handing over keys to a two-million-pound townhouse in Islington?”

 

 

‘It’s very important to communicate well’

 

Dainius emphasizes the importance of transparent communication. Guests must understand why they share personal data and how it is used.

“We explain that Truvі has all of the data protected, and the need for doing that. Sometimes, we just say, look, in every hotel, when you check in or when you rent a car, they always check your ID. They do store that information on their secure server. We’re doing exactly the same thing online.”

 

 

One last tip: Keep the human aspect

 

“Automation is great. It saves you a ton of time. However, a certain level of human interaction is always appreciated. If you want to run a successful Airbnb, you should actually interact with people and show them that there is a real person.

We’re not planning to have AI talking to our guests. We still want people to do it. AI helps you, but it’s a tool. When they travel, they still want to see that there are local people living there and share their experience.”