An interview with Marta Viana from Portugal

Marta Viana is a 43-year-old, Flight attendant, a Portuguese national, currently living in Lisbon. In today’s post of our interview series with Flatio’s tenants and landlords, Maria will talk about her passion for hosting and meeting new people and about her experience with Flatio.

Maria: Being born and raised in the Algarve, south area of Portugal with Kms of beach and the Oasis Vacation destination by the excellency of my Country, I was always familiar with the rental business, especially for short term, not from my family itself but friends, neighbours, etc., a lot of people had an extra room or house they could make extra income by renting in the Summer. While there is a risk with any investment, rental property is one of the most stable and flexible types of assets to have; you can rent long term, short term, for students, so there is a whole range of opportunities. I finally decided to buy in 2016 and begin my venture. I am happy to host guests from all over the world, and my properties are for rent all year round for the short and mid-term.

Maria: This unexpected crisis has brought short-term rental activity to a minimum but let the mid-term model gain popularity. Guests who book mid-term are usually not looking for vacation. They are individuals in need of a temporary place to stay, work, relocate, or have a change of scenery, primarily working from home already, in the technology business, the so-called Nomads. Families were looking for more extended stays in hideaways to isolate themselves while also being close to nature, especially when the schools closed by the government. In my case, I started to advertise rooms individually but then switched to offering only the whole apartment and relying on the platforms to do that. As I am still working full time and away from Portugal for long periods, I have no time to show the place, so I have to rely on the platforms, and the tenants also have the certainty that the property is exactly like the pictures show. My home has the advantage of being in a quiet area, close to the beach and train, all facilities next to it, so the tenants don’t even need to use a car if they don’t want to.

Maria: The challenge is there are not a lot of offer on trusted housing online platforms dedicated to mid-term; some are not in line with rules and regulations of the Countries, so there is a lot of parallel advertisement on websites that are not directed to housing but just for selling products and landlords or tenants can´t be sure that add it´s from a trusted source or fake. The type of customer you want to reach and how long they would like to stay are also important; whether they are students, Nomads or families, we need to familiarise ourselves with the terms and conditions of all websites before advertising our product.

Maria: The key is flexibility and not panic, adapt, follow the government regulations, so I started to check for reliable online platforms to advertise for mid-term, having a fixed monthly rate. Since I am a full-time worker, I had limited time to look for online platforms and only knew about Flatio when it merged with the Lisbon based NomadX platform where I initially advertised, so I immediately familiarised myself with the platform. This merge will establish them as market leaders with listings in dozens of cities and Countries and the opportunity to expand, so who doesn’t want to have their business advertised in Flatio and have the extended visibility of users, which will make the chances of having tenants higher?

Maria: Posting a property for rent is accessible on many rental sites and including Flatio. Flatio is also easy to use, hassle-free and intuitive, although it still needs to improve on the messages App and reservations, allowing changes and delaying rentals; for example, due to Covid-19, it can happen due to lockdowns. Since these types of rentals are becoming more popular, it is necessary to use photos and descriptions so that the property can stick out amongst the crowd. Offering full contractual agreements in native languages and English is also a benefit.

Maria: The Covid-19 crisis is far from over. The pandemic is driving many people out of cities, away from the crowds, so city tourism, in my opinion, will take longer to recover, people want to stay away from crowds, public transport and have less contact. Of course, in this model, you also have the students that need to relocate. Hence, the major cities have that increased business during the Winter season, and many landlords only dedicated themselves to short-term had put their houses and room available for Students. With tenants staying longer, the time spent managing guest communications, check-ins, and cleaning will take significantly less time. Still, we have to be careful of the increased utility bills and make a fair price, including the bills or not on the contract.