Case Study
Inside a 70-Property Operation: How Localbird Powers Guest Experience at Scale
Stay Hosting is a short-term rental and property management company that runs a growing portfolio of properties, mostly in Costa Rica, alongside a presence in other Latin American markets. They wanted a way to give guests a true concierge experience across dozens of homes and villas, without expanding their internal concierge department. Localbird became the plug-in layer that powers tours, transfers and experiences behind the scenes, while Stay Hosting's team keeps its focus on operations and growth.
About Stay Hosting
Stay Hosting is a short-term rental and property management company focused on helping owners turn their properties into high-performing, guest-ready stays. With more than 15 years of combined experience across hospitality, finance and technology, the team manages a portfolio of over seventy rentals, operating primarily in Costa Rica while also working in other markets in Latin America. The portfolio ranges from eco bungalows and compact apartments near the beach to large three-to-seven bedroom villas designed for families and groups.
The idea behind the company is simple: modern travelers are not just booking a roof and four walls, they are booking a full experience. Guests expect a well-run property, but they also expect local expertise, quick answers and help making the most of their time. Stay Hosting's model is built around that expectation. They combine data-driven management for owners with a hospitality-first mindset for guests so that income goes up, reviews stay high and the stay feels intentional rather than improvised.
To live up to that promise, the team has to do more than hand over keys. Airport transfers, day trips, in-villa services and local experiences are part of the value proposition. As the portfolio grew, delivering all of that consistently became the hard part.
Locations
Costa Rica, Argentina, and more
Property Type
70+ luxury villas & condos
Guest Profile
Upscale leisure, families & groups, wellness-minded
“Before, it used to be a burden to deal with providers and coordinate with the guests. It was extra, extra work.”
Concierge expectations without a concierge team
As Stay Hosting added more properties, especially in Costa Rica, guest expectations rose with them. Guests were arriving with a clear list of needs. They wanted someone to meet them at the airport, a driver they could trust, activities that suited different ages in the group, and something special to remember the trip by, like a boat day or a standout tour. They wanted these things to be easy to arrange, reliable and vetted.
Internally, Stay Hosting had a small concierge function and a reservations team who were doing their best to keep up. Experience requests came in through the same channels as booking questions, mostly via messaging apps and email. Each time a guest asked for something, that single question kicked off a long sequence of work. Someone had to contact providers, confirm prices and times, translate or adapt the information, send it back to the guest, wait for a decision, secure the booking and then keep an eye on any changes. Nothing about it was automated. Everything depended on human follow-through and memory.
At a small scale, this manual rhythm was manageable. With around seventy rentals, it became a constant drain. The team was spending a disproportionate amount of time on coordination instead of on core tasks like sales, onboarding new listings and keeping operations tight. Some experiences were simply not offered because there was no bandwidth to research and manage them. The company leaned on a handful of familiar providers and default options, even though the destination had far more to give.
The problem was not willingness; it was structure. Stay Hosting wanted to be the kind of company that could say 'yes' to almost any reasonable guest request. In practice, the team was hitting the ceiling of what a small internal concierge effort could handle.
Localbird as Stay Hosting's concierge layer
Stay Hosting brought in Localbird to act as an external concierge infrastructure that could sit on top of their existing operation. Instead of trying to build a full concierge department themselves, they opted for a partner whose entire focus is hospitality services and local experiences.
The implementation was intentionally simple. Every time a reservation is confirmed, the guest receives a Localbird concierge link as part of the standard communication flow. The link goes out when the booking is secured and again closer to arrival, so it is always within reach as guests shift from planning to action. In Costa Rica, Stay Hosting also uses QR codes in properties, giving guests a quick way to open their personal concierge page from their phone while they are already on-site.
From the guest's point of view, this feels like an in-house concierge. They land on a branded page, connected to their stay, where they can browse airport transfers, shuttles, activities, tours and other experiences in the area. They can check details, see availability and book on their own time, without waiting for someone to reply.
Behind that page, Localbird's team is doing the work that used to land on Stay Hosting's desks. They source and vet local providers, maintain a live catalog of services, manage pricing and availability, and handle all the back-and-forth with vendors. When a guest books an experience, Localbird confirms it, aligns with the supplier, communicates updates and takes care of the operational side. If there is a last-minute change or issue, Localbird resolves it directly with the guest and the provider.
For Stay Hosting, the relationship is clear. They own the guest relationship, the brand and the overall quality of the stay. Localbird plugs in as the concierge engine that makes it possible to say 'yes' more often without burning out the team.
“Localbird is a team that is focused on giving hospitality services and finding local providers to offer authentic, unique experiences. That combination is a full-time job if you try to do it in-house.”
Results: less friction, more revenue, no negative feedback
Once Localbird was fully embedded in the guest journey, the changes were easy to see – in what guests were booking, in how the internal team felt and in the numbers behind the scenes.
On the guest side, the catalogue effectively expanded overnight. Because Localbird already had relationships and inventory in place, Stay Hosting could suddenly offer more than just the standard set of taxis and baseline tours. One story that stuck with the team was a group staying in a villa that booked an entire catamaran experience through the concierge link. It was a high-ticket, high-impact day for that group. Stay Hosting did not manage a single call or WhatsApp thread for it. They discovered it later in the Localbird report, along with the commission that came with it.
Instead of narrowing their offer to what the team could manually support, Stay Hosting used Localbird to open up more of what the destination has to offer, safely and consistently.
Internally, the reservation team's day-to-day changed in a way that is hard to miss. The continuous drip of coordination work eased. When guests asked about activities or services, the team could confidently point them to their concierge link rather than personally negotiating with every provider. They still offer guidance and answer questions, but they are no longer the bottleneck.
That satisfaction translates to capacity. Stay Hosting can run the same – or higher – volume of stays without hiring a dedicated concierge staff, and can repurpose time into owner relationships, new listings and process improvements.
Guest satisfaction was the non-negotiable test, and here the outcomes have been very clear. Stay Hosting is careful about anything that touches their brand. If third-party services disappoint guests, it reflects on them. With Localbird, there has been a notable absence of problems.
Then there is the financial layer. Every experience booked through Localbird generates commission income. Over time, as guests learn that the concierge link is the easiest path to what they want, those bookings add up. For Stay Hosting, it is a new, clean revenue stream attached directly to guest satisfaction.
“It's like a plug-and-play service that works. We didn't have to build a whole department, and that's why we keep working with Localbird.”
Stay Hosting's advice to other managers
When Maximo talks to other property managers and even to hotel concierges who are still running everything the old way, his message is consistent. Trying to handle experiences manually across a growing portfolio is not just 'good service,' it is slowly building an entire second business inside your company.
In his view, it makes more sense to let a specialist handle the piece that requires constant curation and hands-on work with local providers, as long as that specialist is aligned with your standards.
“We started selling experiences we didn't even know were available here in town. For one of the villas, they rented a whole catamaran for the group. We didn't have to deal with any of it – we just saw it later in the report.”
“What I know from the team that manages reservations is that they are happy. They are happy because before it used to be a burden to deal with providers and coordinate with the guests.”
“We have no negative feedback, so… That's most important for us, because we want to make sure the guests are having a good experience.”
“At this point it's good to have a solid provider that can help us create extra revenue and handle all that admin work… making sure the guests are happy as well with that service. That really helped us.”
“I keep telling friends who manage other properties, and even concierges still doing it the old way: Localbird is a team focused on hospitality services and local providers. That's their core. For us, it's a plug-and-play service that works.”
