S-World Villa Secrets

Operations Manual & Business Plan

By Nick Ray Ball 2004 to 26^th April 2017

Chapter 2: Mandate Marketing

Sole Mandates & Marketing, Concierge & Property Management

One Page Summary

Influenced by: Stefan Antoni – Pam Golding – Denise Dogon – Seeff – Sotheby’s Realty – Christie’s Real Estate
Tags # Sole Mandates / Marketing / Estate Agents / Villa Rentals / Property Managers / Onwers / Concierge / PR /

A sole mandate is when a property owner trusts one company to exclusively market and manage or sell their property. However, as we see in this chapter, there is a lot of systems that ripple from this action.

In terms of marketing we will directly market each villa that signs a mandate with us. Based on a sliding scale, where a suitable villa that costs $4,000,000 would see a $50,000 three-year marketing commitment designed to increase rentals, and the prestige and value of the home.

This commitment is afforded from the villa’s bookings, but here’s the clever bit… profit is then made from the overflow, as at peak season a villa may have 25 good requests, but can only be booked once. And so, we make money from the overflow, using the other 24 enquiries to make bookings for other villas.

The acquisition of property mandates is the biggest nontechnical profit centre a Villa Secrets company can create. In our 2016 forecasting scenarios, third year income from rental mandates is between 39% and 74% of gross profit. And in addition, due to the ‘estate agent’­­­s marketing pack’ most villa owners will sell their property via our affiliated real estate company or companies.

In this chapter we present: 4 pillars for maximizing rental income, 4 pillars for maximizing a villa’s prestige & value, 18 reasons to sign a sole mandate and a massive package aimed at maximizing villa owner or property manager income. We follow with a look at the specifics of mandate marketing including due diligence, the S-Web villa websites, and the Villa Secrets magazine.

Then we look at the estate agent’s marketing pack and prestige marketing, designed to increase the prestige and value of each villa, and encourage all owners to first attempt to sell via a Villa Secrets affiliated realtor, and present the page Sole Mandates (for sale).

Moving into ‘Part 2. Concierge and Commission’ we look at essential guest services, Villa Secrets concierge, concierge, PR, film and marketing before looking at a review of Airbnb commission vs Villa Secrets commission, off peak discounts, property manager vs concierge, property manager strategy and opportunities including the initiative for Villa Secrets companies to pay for property managers fees from their commission. Before concluding with 19 ways to attracts sole mandates which collectively provides Villa Secrets licensors with many mandate winning opportunities.

Go 2 Index

The 4 Villa Secrets Pillars for Maximizing a Villa’s Rental Income

Influenced by: Cape Villas – Google – S-Web – Luxury Retreats – Airbnb – Homeaway – Condé Nast Traveller – Vogue
Tags # Google Footprint / Mandate Marketing / S-Web CMS / Affiliate Marketing / Distribution Channels / Advertorial

Welcome to Villa Secrets and our 4 Pillars for maximizing rental income: massive agency Google Ads campaigns, your own website and marketing of it, affiliate marketing, and clever usage of distribution channels.

The 4 Villa Secrets Booking Methods: Trusting your property to a Villa Secrets company for bookings, service and management makes a lot of sense as we have not one but four booking methods:

1. Massive Google Ads Footprint: Odd but true, Cape Town is the world’s most expensive location to advertise a villa on Google. Another fact is that a company may only advertise once on Google AdWords. However, as Villa Secrets is a network, we are allowed, and do advertise in three out of the top four Google positions for over 200 keywords.
2. Mandate Marketing and your own Villa Website: At our cost, up to $50,000 will be spent creating and mega-marketing a dedicated S-Web website for each villa we represent. Including content marketing campaigns that spill over to print media, the Villa Secrets magazine and editorial in magazines such as Condé Nast Traveller and VOGUE.
3. Affiliate Marketing: Many bookings for high-end villas are created by international villas agencies and small or large exclusive tour operators. Our affiliate program for such companies is unique and designed to maximize bookings for the most prestigious homes.
4. Distribution Channels: For villas who are agreeable to ourselves promoting their villas via distribution channels such as Airbnb and Homeaway, we shall do so. But our ‘ace’ is that our primary reason for doing so is to push clients from the distribution channels to our clients villas website, as they Google the name and find the villas website directly.

Go 2 Index

The 4 Villa Secrets Pillars for Maximizing a Villa’s Prestige & Value

Influenced by: S-Web – Stefan Antoni – Sotheby’s Realty – Christie’s Real Estate – Condé Nast Traveller – Vogue
Tags # Sole Mandates / Estate Agents’ Marketing Packs / S-Web / SEM / Content Marketing / Prestige Marketing / PR

In addition to the 4 Villa Secrets pillars for maximizing a villa’s rental income, Villa Secrets also provides 4 pillars for maximizing a villa’s prestige & value, increasing one’s ‘for sale’ price and attracting ‘Love Buys.’

A Love Buy is when an individual is on holiday, falls in love with the location, and buys a villa. I am familiar with this concept as I did this myself in Cape Town in 1999 and again in Camps Bay in 2000. And I have also seen it happen many times, and from time to time it sets a record for the most money spent on a villa in a specified location. For this reason, some villas are ‘for sale at the right price,’ so let’s see how Villa Secrets increases the prestige and value of a home.

1. The Estate Agent’s Pack: Many top end villas are featured in magazines and TV shows. And as many again allow photoshoots and TV ads to be filmed within, however, no one keeps a good record and opportunity is lost. Enter the Villa Secrets ‘estate agent’s pack,’ a physical pack showcasing a villa for estate agents to give or send to clients, and initiates to offer prestige brands big discounts on shoots, if they provide us with the media.
2. A Dedicated Website and Marketing Campaign for Each Villa: Many villas have their own websites, but few match our design and none match our CMS. To make matters worse, other than a little SEO, 99% of villa websites are not marketed in any way. In stark contrast Villa Secrets websites are extensively marketed and see all media collated within. Plus, admin systems and booking history, useful tools for any potential buyer.
3. Print Media: As our Villa Secrets website is special, we have been offered greatly reduced rates for producing advertorial in various Condé Nast publications. We shall be producing 2 and 4 page ‘Best of Africa’ editorial spreads, featuring our best villas. And purchasing about 50 magazines for inclusion in ‘the estate agent’s pack.’
4. Prestige Marketing: A villa’s prestige can be boosted in several ways, for instance a 4 to 8 page spread in a Villa Secrets magazine (and note the last magazine we published was distributed with Condé Nast and saw Bulgari asking to advertise). In addition, awards and placement on top villas website’s homepages is an indication to any buyer that the villa is held in great esteem. But for many, partially in Africa, the cherry on top is that the villa bookings and its sale contribute to conservation and the protection of Elephants, Rhinos, and Cheetahs.

Go 2 Index

18 Reasons to give Villa Secrets a Sole Mandate – Part 1 (2017)

Influenced by: Google – Cape Villas – S-Web – Condé Nast Traveller – Sotheby’s Realty – Christie’s Real Estate
Tags # Marketing / SEM / Experience / VS Magazine / Condé Nast Advertorial / Networking / Owners & Managers CMS

Presenting 18 reasons for villa owners to sign a sole mandate with Villa Secrets…

1. The Marketing Mandate: For most villa owners, this key idea trumps all others; an allocation of up to 25% of our gross profit spent on marketing individual villas. So, for instance a $4million villa will receive $50,000 over 3 years in direct marketing and web development.

2. Champions of Google and Bing: Collectively Villa Secrets Cape Town agency websites have a greater Google footprint than any competitor.

3. 18 Years’ Experience: Founder Nick Ray Ball made his first villa booking in 1999, and after buying www.CapeVillas.com lead it to become the market leader for over a decade.

4. Low Commission Rate: Our 2.5% commission on rentals plus service fee is lower than Airbnb.

5. Dedicated Villa Websites: Another key part of the marketing mandate is to create each mandated villa a standout website, content marketed, Google optimised and advertised.

6. Villa Secrets Publishing & Condé Nast Magazine Editorial: Another part of the marketing mandate is Villas Secrets Publishing, creating local villa magazines, international luxury travel magazines and art books. In addition, Villa Secrets has been approved by a number of Condé Nast magazines for prime placement advertorial, due to the quality of our portfolio & content.

7. The Estate Agent’s Pack: A key part of the marketing mandate is the creation of the ‘estate agent’s marketing pack,’ to assist the sale of the property, including the magazine reviews, and other prestige items, which can be distributed to qualified buyers.

9. Best Rental Returns: Due to the direct marketing, clever use of booking channels and the other points mentioned, clients should expect an impressive rental return.

10. Villa Secrets Network: Strength in numbers… villa owners will be impressed with the collection of Villa Secrets companies, with many websites which can prioritise their property.

11. Villa Owners and Property Managers CMS: Keeps owners up to date with all bookings, property management tasks and provides a host of useful systems.

12. Villa Secrets Property Managers: Clients can choose from vetted property managers, and property managers can join Villa Secrets to increase their portfolio and booking income.

18 Reasons to give Villa Secrets a Sole Mandate – Part 2 (2018)

Influenced by: World Travel Awards – CN Traveller Awards – Ulusaba – Singita – Angel Theory – Experience Africa
Tags # Awards / Big Spender Firepower / Network Affiliate Marketing / Booking Systems / Philanthropy / Conservation


Continues the 18 reasons for a villa owner or property manager to mandate with Villa Secrets… (Points 13 to 16 will only be available in later 2017 or 2018).

13. Awards and Top 10 companies/organizations: S-World & Villa Secrets are creating various awards platforms including ArchitectAwards.org, SafariAwards.org, WorldVillaAwards.org, AfricanVillaAwards.com, Top10CapeTownVillas.com and others.

14. Big Spender Fire Power: Villa Secrets is creating partnerships with international villa agencies, luxury tour operators, and safari specialist websites. These companies have access to clients with big budgets; a villas company used to renting in the Caribbean, or a high-end safari company used to booking luxury safaris such as Ulusaba or Singita, will see the $5,000 a night bar broken regularly. By making such partnerships we will attract more AAA clients to Cape Town villas.

15. Individual 7-star Venue Firepower: As well as looking to collaborate with leading top end travel companies, we will also collaborate with individual venues, from high-end villas to safaris and private islands.

16. Villas Cloud Booking System: We have significant plans for our ‘Version 2’ booking system (Version 1 was created in 2005) which shall be a dedicated product called ‘The Villas Cloud,’ including connections to many distribution systems and booking channels.

17. Angel Theory Philanthropy: Whilst in business one’s charity or philanthropic activities are usually one’s own concern. With all else being even, or weighing on the side of Villa Secrets, it’s nice for villa owners to know that the Villa Secrets network plan has a strong philanthropic backbone, as is being described on AngelTheory.org.

18. Experience Africa Conservation: The first AngelTheory.org special project is Experience Africa. The sister brand to Villa Secrets, creating safari agency websites and an adaptation the TFBMS software for individual safaris to use. But in this case, more than 50% of the gross profit is allocated to the protection of Elephants, Rhinos, Cheetahs, and other endangered animals. Each mandate created enables this cause… villa owners will receive thank you letters from the charities we support, and Villa Secrets will gain a gigantic boost if and when Silicon Valley foundations offer technical assistance to Experience Africa, and so Villa Secrets as it’s mostly the same software.

Mandate Marketing Introduction

Influenced by: Original Villa Secrets Network Concept – S-Web CMS – Total Business Systems – TBS AI
Tags # Mandate Marketing / Forecasts & Scenarios / S-Web CMS / Rental Mandates / Marketing / Advertising /


Alongside our technology, the second pillar of S-World Villa Secrets is ‘Mandate Marketing,’ where we assign up to 25% of gross profit to the marketing of villas mandated to us. And ride the ripple effects toward greater and significant profitability.

By dedicating up to 25% of gross profit in directly marketing the villas exclusively mandated to us, the villas we mandate will be booked, owners happy, our reputation will be increased, and we have a better pitch for new mandates.

In the various forecasts and scenarios created in 2016, we see the strategy played out..
network.villasecrets.com/forecasts-and-scenarios/Cape-Town-3
network.villasecrets.com/forecasts-and-scenarios/Cape-Town-4
network.villasecrets.com/forecasts-and-scenarios/Cape-Town-5
network.villasecrets.com/forecasts-and-scenarios/Cape-Town-6

Each scenario differs but affords up to 25% of gross profit to marketing its mandates, and as a result all scenarios make considerable profit from renting its mandated villas. In year three, the scenarios forecast is between 39% to 74% of income coming from mandated properties. In addition, revenues can be further boosted by a bonus made from the sale of the property.

As far as we know this degree of direct marketing has never been done in real estate or vacation rentals. We do know that leading real estate agents create brochures, add villas to their magazines, and create videos. But (again, as far as I know) no realtor on the planet comes close to dedicating the same resources as Villa Secrets intends, where a villa worth over $4,000,000 can see a three-year marketing budget of $50,000.

Each villa will see an S-Web website and a lot of great content, which will be marketed using the following methods: Google ads, Google and Bing organic, content marketing, spreads in Villa Secrets magazines, advertorial in magazines such as Conde Nast Traveller, Vogue, Tatler, GQ and House and Garden. And in tandem, we market via social networks, booking systems, distribution channels, video marketing, email marketing, affiliate marketing, advertising & brand association. All of which are enhanced by more than 100% in year 3 via our TFBMS AI software and systems.

Mandate Marketing 1.01: Bookings Overflow and Sales Mandates

Influenced by: Original Villa Secrets Network Concept – S-Web CMS – Total Business Systems – TBS AI
Tags # Mandate Marketing 101/ Sole Mandates / The Overflow / Prestige Marketing / Estate Agents’ Marketing Packs


A quality villa will have as many as 25 booking requests during peak times but can only be rented once. We use the other 24 booking requests to make bookings for other villas. That’s mandate marketing 1.01.

Due to our marketing commitment, each single villa becomes a significant source of enquiries, which makes a great return for the villa owners. But here’s the thing… more than 50% of the enquiries (in some cases more than 90%) cannot be used for the villa, as its already booked or otherwise unsuitable, and we use these enquires to book other villas. So, we make about half the profit we would normally make on the mandated villa, but more than half again from the overflow. This figure increasing over time, as compound content marketing and SEO increases visitors to the villas individual website.

To achieve the marketing mandate initiative, we ask that when the property owner wishes to sell, that our affiliated estate agent be given the first option at selling the property. In return we create a dedicated ‘estate agent’s marketing pack’ and in general use a strategy that increases the prestige of villas we represent and so increasing their sale value.

It has long been a primary objective for Villa Secrets to work with Real Estate agents. And the lure of sales mandates born from Villa Secrets rental mandates is important for the sales department.

We hope this idea… “that we can provide mandates to realtors, and spend far more on marketing than would make sense for a realtor alone, as the reason why estate agents all over the world will see merit in working with us.”

To encourage owners, alongside the ‘real estate agent’s pack’ and prestige marketing we provide, we can simply have a rule that a marketing budget is halved if we do not have the first sales option. Or alternatively, if a client is really against the idea of the sales mandate we could choose to market at full capacity, working under the common sense that if the owner did wish to sell suddenly, it would make sense to work with whatever estate agent had access to the real estate agent’s marketing pack… specifically the Villa Secrets realtor in that location.

Marketing Mandate Due Diligence

Influenced by: Original Villa Secrets Network Concept – S-Web CMS – Total Business Systems – TBS AI
Tags # Mandate Marketing / Due Diligence / Software Development / S-Web CMS /


Since creating the marketing mandate due diligence last year as seen below, we have simplified this intuitive by including the marketing fee as a separate contribution within the commission structure of 10%. See ‘Commission and Service Fees,’ Not all clients have to opt for this, but if they do not, the base commission rate rises from 9.5% to 14.5%.

One will find the following presentations on Network.VillaSecrets.com

1. Network.villasecrets.com/Villa-Secrets-Magic-Mandates (view page)
2. Network.villasecrets.com/1000000-Reasons-to-sign-a-Villa-Secrets-Mandate (view page)
3. Network.villasecrets.com/ZAR-1000000-Marketing-Budget-due-diligence (view page)
4. Network.villasecrets.com/19-ways-Villa-Secrets-will-attract-Sole-Mandates (view page)

Since the creation in 2016 of the pages above, due to technical advances in our CMSs, we have reduced the marketing mandate from ZAR $78,500 (ZAR 1 million) to $50,000 for a qualifying $4,000,000 villa. In terms of due diligence, and “can we afford this level of commitment and still make profit?” The answer is a definite yes, it could be afforded at ZAR $78,500 and it can be more easily afforded at $50,000. However, again as motioned at the top we are now including a dedicated charge within the commission structure.

The history of the marketing mandate idea was not to think that a $50,000 marketing budget was a good carrot for signing new mandates. This expense was a good sustainable marketing opportunity for Villa Secrets in general, which in our forecasting scenarios and in particular forecasting scenario 4, made $750,000 in shareholder profit in year 3 (before sales opportunities).

The idea to wrap this expenditure up as a financial incentive for villa owners joining Villa Secrets was an afterthought. We were already planning on spending this income on marketing individual villas, so it made a lot of sense to put a figure to it and include it as a reason for villa owners to sign a mandate with us.

On a qualifying $4,000,000 villa, a marketing budget of $50,000 will typically be spent $20,000 in year 1 and $15,000 in years 2 and 3 and continuing at that figure in following years. We estimate such a villa will generate at least $27,000 in year one, $37,000 in year two and $51,000 in year three, working from a 9.5% commission and service fee. After the 10% marketing fee has been levied.

Villa Websites for Mandated Villas

Influenced by: WordPress – JQuery-Mobile – Contently – S-Web CMS – S-Web CMS Framework – TBS AI
Tags # S-Web CMS / S-Web CMS Framework / Beautiful Magazine Layout Website Builder / TBS AI / Content Marketing

Due to our S-Web Framework, Villa Secrets creates websites that are beautiful, detailed, responsive, and extremely intelligent.

It is well known in both the vacation rentals and luxury villa rental industries, that clients will often see a villa on an agency website, or Airbnb, Homeaway or Booking.com. Then Google the name of the villa to see if they can book the villa directly via the owner or property manager’s website.

This being so, as we know how to get individual villa’s websites in specific locations to the top of Google, it makes a lot of sense to make a great website for the villa, then add the villa to our agency websites and booking channels under its given name, and wait for the clients to start knocking at the door of the villa’s own website. Then rely on the gulf of quality of representation between S-Web websites and others to shepherd the client through the door.

A website would use an adapted version of the Villa Secrets HomePage, article and other pages. As we have created the S-Web framework, the cost to us to create a new website is very small.

There is of course a cost to creating the content, articles, various photoshoots, videos etc. However, once the initial content is created, the website can expand with minimal effort by creating online magazine pages, using the ‘S-Web Articles CMS,’ which allows one to add content from Villa Secrets database. In this way, once one has a short description of their villa, a very detailed and beautiful magazine page like this: www.villasecrets.com/Magazine/My-10-majestic-African-villas-safaris-and-private-Islands/6810 can be made in under 2 minutes. (See Video)

Add a few pages a week and one has more than enough content to create a quarterly online magazine, which can also be used in email marketing, and will in general impress both villa booking clients, prospective buyers, and the villa owner. One can only get this kind of technology from S-Web, which makes the addition of quality content easy. Use a quality web development company and a company such as Contently for one’s content and one would pay tens of thousands of dollars.

Lastly S-Web websites are ‘extremely intelligent’ as the CMS allows visitors to create their own web pages and organise their holiday. And whilst this at first may sound like a gimmick, it’s not as by encouraging clients to use our S-Web CMS holiday planning tools, they are far more likely to book their travel arrangements from us.

Mandate Marketing – Website and Marketing Costs Breakdown

Influenced by: Original Villa Secrets Network Concept – S-Web CMS – S-Web CMS Framework – Condé Nast Publishing
Tags # S-Web BWB (Beautiful Website Builder) / S-Web CMS Framework / Content Marketing / SEO / Costs Analysis


S-Web individual villa website, content marketing, and other costs breakdown…

Looking specifically at the costs for a villa’s own website, SEO and content marketing, on the 16th September 2016 I estimated an ‘all the bells and whistles’ job at $27,000 (for 1260 hours work) and that a quality web and content company would charge about $49,000 when including profit, VAT and the creation of links, that would occur naturally via the S-Web system.

On the 18^th March 2017, I revisited the estimate and was pleased to discover our CMS advances created a 60% time and cost saving, lowering the cost from $27,000 to $10,500.

Here is a breakdown: The S-Web framework is free. Articles about the villa will take 11 days, photography and photoshop 6 days. Local SEO 3 days, online blog/magazine is now automatic, guest blogging 6 days, and social network auto posting will be automatic. 18 magazine pages will only take 4 days, photos for online magazine 3 days, photos admin 3 days, and layer sliders 1 day. Web master 3 days, SEO 3 days, luxury brands coordinator 9 days, and a contingency of 10 days.

This buys us the sort of website that will generate bookings, quite simply: Villas presented in this way will appear to be more luxurious than villas not presented in this way.

True, most villa owners would not spend $10,500 on a website, but to get a $49,000 website for $10,500, and then not have to even pay the $10,500 is a very good deal indeed.

In addition to the websites, the Conde Nast article will come in the second year, at a cost of about $5000 each. Our short run magazine will cost about the same, our big run magazines will be an additional cost, and the rest we spend on Google ads, other advertising, PR & subscriptions.

(Note that now on the 26^th April 2017, we have now cut the ‘18 magazine pages will only take 4 days’ down to a day, due to further S-Web CMS developments.) (See Video)

S-World Publishing: The Villa Secrets Magazine

Influenced by: – Condé Nast Traveller – The Cape Villas Magazine – Bulgari – Experience Africa – Vogue – Condé Nast
Tags # Print Media / Publishing / Coffee Table Magazines / Product Placement / Hardback Art Books / Video


The Villa Secrets magazine follows on from our last coffee table magazine ‘Cape Villas’ distributed by Condé Nast Traveller, which saw (amongst other salutations) Bulgari Jewellers asking to advertise in our follow up saying…

“We did not know you had such luxuries in Africa!”

Unlike most magazines Villa Secrets will show few ads, rather product place companies we feel are likely to excite our clients in the villas we show, from fashion companies to jewellery, watches, Jets, yachts and prestige cars. Everything about this magazine will convey a sense of exclusivity and style.

Magazine marketing assists Villa Secrets network in 4 different ways:

1. Mandates
   1. It’s a great incentive for recruiting mandates, as companies can hand deliver it to all the villas they like.
   2. Once there is interest in signing an exclusive mandate, the offer of placement in the magazine is a significant carrot for the property owner or manager.
2. Bookings
   1. Each enquiry received will see a magazine posted to the client, this assists to convert the booking for our agencies, as the clients have a tangible thing that they can look at when they discuss their villa options.
   2. The magazine also creates direct enquiries.
3. Sales
   1. An essential part of the ‘estate agent’s marketing pack’ is the Villa Secrets magazine. We know from our previous magazine properties were sold to international clients, who did not even visit the villa they purchased.
4. Network
   1. The magazine will greatly assist to expand the network internationally.
      Due to S-Web systems, the cost of producing the magazines artwork can be very low, saving more than 50% of the cost that media companies quote to create similar publications.

The Estate Agent’s Marketing Pack

Influenced by: Pam Golding – Denise Dogon – Seeff – Sotheby’s Realty – Christie’s Real Estate – Ulusaba – Cousine Island
Tags # / Sole Mandates / Estate Agents’ Marketing Packs / Advertorial / Content Marketing / Prestige Marketing


The estate agent’s pack is a physical package including magazines and a DVD, which estate agents can give to interested clients. In this regard, Villa Secrets becomes the marketing company for the property owner and their realtor.

We shall create about 80 such packs per villa, half for use for rentals and half saved for the realtor.

As we have heard, for the right $4 million villa, Villa Secrets will commit to a $50,000 three-year marketing campaign. Which will be geared towards both bookings, but also increasing the prestige and value of the home. Given we have three years to produce this pack, each pack will include the villa seen gloriously in the Villa Secrets magazine, advertorial in one or more Condé Nast publications, other magazines the villa was featured in, and on CD a video that presents big brand photo shoots and videos shot at the villa, videos we create, TV appearances, awards and other accolades.

As our Villa Secrets websites is impressive and its focus is Africa, we found Condé Nast and other magazines appreciate that our content is qualified for lower rate advertorial in a prime position, where we would typically make a three leg presentation of Africa’s most luxurious experiences… a safari villa, a beach villa, and a Cape Town villa. This single article in a magazine like Traveller, Tattler, or House and Garden adds to the prestige of the villas and will impress any buyer.

The article will infer that the properties presented are the standout properties on the continent.

This inference will also be passive, due to brand association, by displaying the villa with venues such as Sir Ricard Branson’s game reserve Ulusaba and a private Island such as Cousine Island, wrapped up in a three leg holiday of a lifetime experience.

Of course a presentation of the Villas own website will be a part of the pack, presented as a short booklet, emphasising the admin tools, and the ‘Buyers CMS’ which has the potential to become the tool that the client uses to organise his or her properties, and to see a great many stats from items like schools, hospitals, golf courses to the price of properties sold in the same location.

Real Estate Prestige Marketing

Influenced by: Vogue – Villa Secrets – Steve Jobs – Stefan Antoni – Bulgari – Aston Martin – Christie’s Real Estate
Tags # Real Estate Prestige Marketing / Villa Hotels / Luxury Brands Photoshoots & Ads / Celebrity Stays & Promotions


Real Estate Prestige Marketing is the notion to market a villa specifically to increase its sale price over time, by raising its local and international prestige. This initiative works hand in hand with marketing mandates and the estate agent’s marketing pack.

We will of course discuss the exact nature of the villa’s prestige marketing with our partner estate agents. But as a starting position we suggest the following exercises:

1. Villa Hotels: For outstanding properties, we recommend and will help implement the services required to create a Villa Hotel, which is exclusive-use but provides a higher service level including concierge, valet, chef, and other staff, complimentary drinks, and other enticements.
2. Proactive Luxury Brand Photoshoots and Adverts: Where we lower the daily rental rate for luxury brands that will by association raise the prestige of a home, and catalogue the shoot or advert including a video, seen online, and presented on the disk within the marketing pack.
3. Celebrity Stays: Product placement works, be it the late Steve Jobs getting Apple computers appearing in just about every film and TV series to come out of Hollywood, to James Bond driving an Aston Martin. In this presentation, we have discussed the idea to give luxury brands special deals to advertise their products at the villa, but in addition it is in the owner’s interest to offer special deals for the types of celebrities and public figures who impress renters & buyers.

   Typically when a celebrity stays at a villa, their stay is at best known only via word of mouth as it is not appropriate to use their stay as a PR exercise. However, if a villa or other accommodation is bartered at half price in exchange for limited publicity, such as a simple photoshoot, one may capitalize from the client’s celebrity status, and use such photographs for advertising purposes.

4. Don’t advertise, or be seen on lower prestige websites.

Sole Mandates (for sale)

Influenced by: Pam Golding – Denise Dogon – Seeff – Sotheby’s Realty – Christie’s Real Estate – Berkshire Hathaway
Tags # Sales Mandates / Sole Mandates / Real Estate Prestige Marketing / The Estate Agent’s Pack


The companies with the most to gain from a collaboration with Villa Secrets are Real Estate Agents, because all Villa Secrets partners including rental agencies & property managers recruit sales mandates, which only the realtors can sell.

And as we have seen in the technology summary via game theory and ‘The Real Estate Agent’s Game,’ Villa Secrets cautiously predicts a 6% market share of villas that sell for over $1,000,000 in Cape Town by 2020. Which for one of the top three companies in the market results in a 27% net gain.

The Villa Secrets commission for non-real estate companies who recruited the rental mandate is a 25% referral, which is not paid for an introduction, but rather in light of the marketing commitment as Villa Secrets essentially becomes the marketing companies for the property owner and the estate agent.

In addition Villa Secrets is creating products specifically for realtors, which can be used to directly recruit sales mandates, and sell properties regardless of the rental. This can create a bump of as much as 50% in the real estate companies mandate market share.

Moving back to sales mandates, created as a part of a deal for a rental mandate, Villa Secrets companies will offer a direct marketing budget of say $50,000 for a $4million villa for the rights to rent and have the first option to sell a property. Which can be presented at $25,000 in marketing for a rental mandate and another $25,000 if the first option to sell is granted. And from this budget an estate agent’s marketing pack will be produced and Villa Secrets companies will engage in prestige marketing, seeking to increase the prestige and value of a property. Even if the original rental mandate does not include the option for the first sales mandate, due to the marketing pack and prestige marketing, it makes complete sense for any owner to work with the real estate company who has access to this material, regardless of enforcement.

Lastly, a significant factor is the quality and strength of the estate agents Villa Secrets is affiliated with. If the realtor or realtors Villa Secrets recommends are the same estate agents that an owner was already thinking of using, then getting the option for the sales mandate in the first instance is more likely.

Villa Secrets – Essential Guest Services

Influenced by: Cape Villas – Sir Richard Branson – Tourism Grading SA – ASTA American Society of Travel Agents
Tags # Property Grading / Property Vetting / Construction Watch / Constriction Alerts / Hospitality / Service


Presenting 3 essential services that can only be provided by companies that have directors and staff in the location where a property is situated, which owner direct websites such as Airbnb, Homeaway and Booking.com cannot provide.

1. Villa Grading: Once at the official tourism grading of 5 star, for hotels and villas there is stark contrast between a just qualified 5-star property and a super villa (or hotel). For this reason, since 2002 we have developed a grading system that has 5 degrees of luxury above a ‘just qualified’ 5-star villa. Being gold plus, platinum, platinum plus, diamond and diamond plus, which we present as 5 to 7 plus stars.

   Whilst one can often tell a lot from photographs, it’s far from an exact science. Villas are often better or worse than they look. So, to better inform our clients, Villa Secrets gives a grade to all villas. Note that a certified grade has been personally visited, and a provisional grade is a good indication and will be personally visited and graded upon request.

2. Personality Match: Using the advanced search options, the villa grade and personal experience, a villa agent also provides the service of matching a guest to the personality of the villa, for instance a family villa, a private villa, a Wow villa, a ‘must walk onto the sand’ beach house etc. In addition, agents provide advice on essentials such as is the villa child-friendly, and when applicable provide the exact distance to the beach or other attractions.
3. Essential Hospitality Duties: Providing baby and children’s equipment and services, babysitting, stocking the fridge before arrival, choosing Christmas trees and dressing them to our clients liking and to fulfil any request a client may ask, prior to and after arrival.
4. Construction Watch and Alerts: Construction is a thorn in the side of many a property in up and coming neighbourhoods. Villa Secrets agents know that if they put a guest in a villa that has either a blighted view due to construction, or is interrupted by noise, or worse that agent is in for a rough time, as it likely the MD and the CEO. For this reason, as well as because it’s their responsibility, agents use their personal knowledge or go visit the villa to check on new construction before concluding the booking.

Villa Secrets Concierge – More than a set of keys.

Influenced by: Quintessentially – Cape Villas – Sir Richard Branson – Execujet – Singita Safaris – Yachts – Luxury Cars
Tags # Concierge / Hospitality / More than a set of keys / Everything is possible / Experiences / Events / Services


In addition to the 4 essential services, which can only be provided by companies with a strong representation in the location they present, Villa Secrets Concierge and Hospitality provide services which are well beyond “a set of keys.”

Villa Secrets founding company Cape Villas.com has enjoyed an official partnership with the world’s leading concierge company Quintessentially since 2007. Villa Secrets & Cape Villas CEO Nick Ray Ball has shared the stage on TV with the directors of Quintessentially SA. And in 2009 the ‘Cape Villas Coffee Table Magazine,’ distributed with Condé Nast Traveller, featured only one advert placed on its inside cover from Quintessentially who are…

“Dedicated to the proposition that everything is possible, and unparalleled guest access to experiences limited only by our client’s imagination.”

Villa Secrets aspires to bring guests a comparable service, and we’ll be looking to create a substantial partnership with Quintessentially and staffing our concierge department appropriately. Here are some of the experiences, events, and services we can provide.

Experiences.

Private Yacht & Villa Parties
Cape Winelands day and overnight experiences
Safari day and overnight experiences
Paragliding

Restaurants Recommendations/Reservations
Mountain Climbing and Hikes
Yacht Hire and Helicopter flips
Two Oceans Aquarium

Events.

The J&B Met (Music | Horse Racing | Fashion)
Concerts at Kirstenbosch (Beautiful Setting)
The Cape Town Cycling Tour
The Cape Town Opera & Theatre

Rocking the Daisies (Music Festival)
Big Concerts (Big performers in Cape Town)
Comrades Marathon
Conventions (Events and Shows at the CTICC)

Services.

Property Services
Personal Shopping
Legal and Professional Services

Travel Services, Car and Limousine Hire
Private Jets and Yachts
Emigration Services

Concierge, PR, Film & Marketing

Influenced by: Quintessentially – Catch Me if You Can – Brian Tracy – Trigger Street Production – Contently
Tags # Glamourous Concierge / Confident Hospitality / Marketing / PR / Video & Film / Photography / Portfolio / CRM


To recruit a world class concierge team, full of the types of hip, fit, confident, and worldly wise people who know where it’s at; one needs to have an edge and foster a glamorous environment, comparable to our glamorous services.

In ‘The Psychology of Selling’ by ‘Brian Tracy,’ straight off the bat, Tracy tells how confidence is key to creating a good relationship. And whilst he’s being specific to sales, it’s equally a quality we wish our concierge team to own. Certainly in Cape Town and assuredly in LA, there is no better recruiting ground for the confident than the stills and film industries.

However, people who work in the film industry mostly do so for the love of it, and would not wish to take a concierge/hospitality position.

Fortunately, we have two big aces:

1. As will be presented in the ‘Network Strategy’ chapter, the ‘concierge department’ is not a department at all, like all operations and services it will be created as its own business. And whilst some would not take a concierge position, they would not be against owning a concierge company, especially one with such a strong online and glamorous presence.

2. The Villa Secrets concierge and hospitality department is designed to also be our PR, Film and Marketing Company. The primary Villa Secrets SEO strategy is content marketing, and in S-Web we have created a tool that really gets the best out of any content we create.

But we are weak on video, this said since 2015 a strong initiative has sat at the base of our content marketing ambitions. I want nothing short of a luxury travel series, that gets on national TV, and or is aired internationally. Plus, we need many shoots for different websites and magazines, and shoots and programs of events and things to do, plus an ongoing reality TV show. This is all great constant marketing.

So, what better way for someone in the film industry to build up or add to their portfolio, than joining the S-World Concierge, PR, Film and Marketing Team?

Airbnb Commission and Service Fees

Influenced by: David McAdams – Game Theory – Airbnb – Homeaway
Tags # Vacation Rental by Owner / Commission / Service Fee’s / Game Theory / Business Science / Disruptive Strategy

In David McAdam’s 2014 book ‘Game Changer: Game Theory and the Art of Transforming Strategic Situations,’ McAdams tells us of a new company who were on the heels of industry leader Homeaway called Airbnb.

McAdams explains that their model was superior to Homeaway as they had considered the weakest part of the Homeaway strategy, which was scammers, as guests arrived to find properties not as presented. To combat this Airbnb changed the game by making it so that guests only had to pay one day after arrival. Which reduced the payoff for scammers?

Now in 2017, everyone has heard of Airbnb and some have good things to say and some have bad, but for sure its a winning strategy. But was there something else in play? Was there another factor that lay beneath the surface?

Well yes, I’d say there was…

Airbnb have disrupted the global market by relabelling most its commission a service fee, then adding that to the cost of booking a Villa, so enabling them to say they only charge a 3% commission.

There is a popular rumour going around and I have heard it repeatedly as villa owners and property managers say one reason they prefer Airbnb is because they only charge a 3% commission. And it seems that all are blissfully unaware that when a client books their villa, on top of the commission is a 6% to 12% (and sometimes more) service fee. So, when an owner adds their property to Airbnb for say $1,000 a day, they think they will pay 3% being $30.00, but a client pays as much as $1120. Which including the 3% commission is an effective mark up of over 15%.

This tactic leads many owners into thinking they are only paying 3%, in addition technically as Airbnb only offers booking services, the correct term should be ‘booking fee’ not ‘service fee.’ In response to this tactic we have followed suit, by splitting our charges into a commission of 2.5%, with a service fee of between 6% to 12%. So, beating Airbnb on best commission rates for owners.

Commission & Service Fees

Influenced by: Cape Villas – David McAdams – Game Theory – Nash Equilibrium – Airbnb – Quintessentially
Tags # Commission Structure / Concierge & Service Fees / Marketing Contribution / Marketing Mandates


In creating our commission structure, we desire a better return for villa owners than they would receive elsewhere, with mandate owners and booking companies well compensated. Plus, income for marketing and the cost of the concierge.

To keep up with commission trends set by Airbnb and others, the Villa Secrets commission rate shall be 2.5% which is lower than Airbnb, FlipKey and Homeaway.

Following in the footsteps of Airbnb, we will charge a service fee of between 6% to 12%. However, unlike Airbnb and all vacation rental by owner websites, Villa Secrets provides 4 essential services: villa competitive grading, personality, essential hospitality duties, suitability match, construction watch and concierge and ongoing local services during the stay.

For villas participating in the ‘marketing mandate’ initiative, a contribution of 10% is advised, as this allows us to: First, show the villa in the very best possible light, so increasing the perceived value of the property, relative to properties not marketed. Second, direct marketing gets a property seen a lot more times, and basic economics says one is more likely to get bookings all year round if 1000 clients see a property in detail on its own website, than 100 clients seeing it on a website that show many properties, such as Airbnb or other villa rental companies websites. Plus, it creates prestige marketing and the estate agent’s pack so increasing the investment value of each villa we market.

Getting to specifics…

If a villa is booked by its mandated company, the company will receive the 2.5% commission, and a 7% service fee for a total cost of 9.5% (less than Airbnb), plus the 10% marketing contribution. Due to this contribution, we expect such bookings to account for over 50% of the value of all bookings.

If the same villa is booked without the marketing fee the service fee rises to 12% for a total fee of 14.5% (about the same as Airbnb).

If the villa Is booked by a Villa Secrets partner company or affiliate, the mandate agent receives 8.5% (plus 5% marketing contribution) and the affiliate receives 15% in total. A total for the villa owner of 23.5% (plus 5% marketing contribution). Which is a tad higher than Airbnb, but including lots of direct and prestige marketing, concierge, many layers of service and a watchful eye over the villa owner’s property avoiding such situations as are sighted on www.AirbnbHell.com.

Booking Economics – Low Season and Long Stay Discounts

Influenced by: Sir Richard Branson – David McAdams – Game Theory – Peter Schiff – Brian Tracy
Tags # Booking Economics / Low Season Discounts / Long Stay Discounts / Affiliate Marketing / Network Marketing


In Cape Town and other areas, the peak season ‘Christmas & New Year’ booking is usually at a price double the rest of the season and four times the low season rate. And most villas rent for a minimum of 14 nights.

As we presented in Mandate Marketing – 1 Page Summary at peak season a villa may have 25 good requests, but can only be booked once. This peak booking is so consistent that a quick way to estimate the yearly income of a villa is to multiply the New Year booking by 3 or 4 times.

However, and now especially with the rise of Airbnb, bookings in low and shoulder season are hard to find as supply outstrips demand by a factor of 10. This is where a company that is focused on service, which greatly outspends its competitors in marketing and is plastered all over Google, can make a big difference. A solid low and shoulder season performance can increase an owner’s rental yield by 25%, as can long stay bookings in mid-season.

To boost low season performance and also so as to avoid having to present low off season prices that can be off putting for peak season clients (who don’t like to pay 4 times the price that others paid at different times) we run a discounts system.

So instead of lowering the price by 75% for low season compared to peak season, we follow the path of prestige villas and safaris across the world and lessen the shift. So, for example if peak is $5000 a day, then off peak will be $2,500 (where as typically it would be $1,250). But then to entice guest we offer discounts.

10% for over 4 nights, 20% for over 8 and 30% for over 12 nights. And an additional 10% if the booking is over $40,000. So, a 12-night booking for $60,000 sees a 40% discount, of which at least 50% needs to be passed onto the client.

Let’s look at the math, if the price were $2,500 for 12 nights one makes $30,00, but a $60,000 booking with a 40% discount nets the owner £36,000, which is 20% higher than would have been made without the discount. At a higher commission, and with the discount instinctive for guest, agents will push longer stay bookings to Villa Secrets. Plus of course Villa Secrets can present offers directly from the website and via email and other marketing.

Property Management Duties vs Concierge Duties

Influenced by: David McAdams – Albert Tucker – William Spaniel – John Nash – Nash Equilibrium
Tags # Property Management / Concierge & Hospitality / Domestic Management / Property Maintenance / Security


Do you need a property management company and a concierge company? Can’t the property manager do the concierge?

In general, the best response to this question is to say that typically the property manager is representing the owner’s interests and is paid by the owner, and the concierge (or hospitality) team is representing and is remunerated by the guest, via commission.

However for both parties, there is always the common ground of happy guests, as often the property manager and there staff will get a nice big tip and the guests may return. So, in ‘game theory’ terms, this is a Nash equilibrium, both the property manager and the concierge have the same dominant strategy to make the guest happy.

The key qualifications, duties, and responsibilities of a property manager follow. (Note that different managers have different levels of expertise in different duties.)

1. Property upkeep and maintenance, contracting for maintenance services, supervising repairs, inspect and arrange maintenance to meet standards.
2. Domestic recruitment, training, and monitoring; including subtle guest monitoring and reporting of incidents. (Our domestics are our first line of defence as well as our ambassadors.)
3. Guest liaison; maintain a positive, productive relationship with tenants, foster repeat booking opportunities and encourage positive client reviews.
4. Enforcing rules of occupancy & confronting violators.
5. Negotiate contracts with contractors in a timely and reliable manner.
6. Preparing budgets, paying bills, scheduling expenditures, keeping owners up to date.
7. Investigating and resolving tenant complaints & responding to emergencies.
8. Inspecting properties when vacant.
9. Maintains properties by contracting for maintena

nce services in a timely and reliable manner and supervising repairs.

10. Secures the property by contracting with security patrol service; maintaining security devices, establishing, and enforcing precautionary policies and procedures.

Property Management Strategy

Influenced by: Cape Villas – Sea Sky Villas – S-Web CMS – S-Web CMS Framework – TBS AI – Total Business Systems
Tags # Property Management / Hospitality / Property Managers Network / Software Development / S-Web Systems


“Choosing the right property manager is one of the most important decisions a property owner can make, in our experience, the best property managers are small teams with a hands-on company owner within their makeup.’

In my experience from 2002 to 2010 with Cape Villas.com running a complimentary property management service was the most taxing of pursuits. No matter how much money we spent on hiring managers and staff or how big the team there were always problems. Indeed, this and the equally inefficient financial department were the reason in 2011 I started the business plan that lead to Villa Secrets, which demanded a financial system that was automated and the idea that we would create a network of the best property managers, where in all cases the owner of the company was hands on.

For a property owner, particularly one that does not live locally, small hands on management teams are hard to find. And even if one does find one, how can the owner be sure that they are honest and up to the task?

This is where Villa Secrets comes to the recuse, as it will provide access to vetted and monitored property managers & small property management companies, without asking for any referral fee. The managers receive their fee in its entirety and Villa Secrets manages the bookings. Or alternatively…

Villa Secrets will pay the manager’s fee and lessen its direct marketing, in exchange for booking rights.

Or in most cases a more profitable option for the property manager is to become the mandate owner and join Villa Secrets as a partner, and enjoy all the S-Web and TBS frills including an outstanding website, superior systems, and marketing.

Property Management Mandates and Opportunities

Influenced by: Villa Secrets Network – S-Web CMS – S-Web CMS Framework – TBS AI – Total Business Systems
Tags # Property Manager Opportunities / Networking Technology / Sole Mandates / Futureproofing / Rentals & Sales


Villa Secrets is strategically creating a package for property managers that increases their clientele, management fees or commissions, and safeguards against owners selling their homes and property managers losing their businesses.

In the next section of this chapter, ‘19 Ways Villa Secrets attracts Sole Mandates,’ we present a great many ways to attract new mandates, and for each mandate we need a property manager.

There are different types of property managers that can be divided into 3 sets:

1. A property manager who only manage the property and is paid a fee. If a manager is looking to increase their portfolio, Villa Secrets can help do that, and at no charge, no referral commission or introduction fee, so long as Villa Secrets manages the booking calendar. And in some cases, we can pay the 2.5% commission to the property manager. Or pay the property manager’s fees directly.
2. A property manager who manages the property and the booking calendar paid mostly via commission. This type of property manager is often also paid a fee, but the bulk of their income is made from commission of between 2.5% to 10% of each booking. Or higher figures on less expensive properties, or if there is no fee paid.

   Such managers can enjoy all the benefits Villa Secrets creates for villa agencies, ‘a dedicated website for them and each villa they manage, content marketing tools, S-Web, the TFBMS,’ which are all designed at increasing income, not just for the villa but also its overflow. The manager would effectively be a Villa Secrets rental agency and would receive the 9.5% commission for the villa they manage and receive 15% from bookings made from the overflow. Which when including the TFBMS and more villas to manage, can lead to quadrupling of their income and at the same time safeguard against owners selling their villas, as new opportunities will arise via the ‘19 ways Villa Secret attracts Sole Mandates.’

3. Any cross between the two method above, will see a bespoke partnership with Villa Secrets an improvement on the status quo.

Nineteen Ways Villa Secrets attracts Sole Mandates. Part 1

Influenced by: Villa Secrets – Pam Golding – Dogon Group – Seeff – Sotheby’s Realty – Cape Villas – Sea Sky Villas
Tags # Open Mandates / Marketing Mandate / Real Estate Companies / Property Managers / Agency Websites


Sometimes it takes just one great idea to make the difference, that idea is the ‘marketing mandate’ and all that it entails, but first we need to contact villa owners. This section presents 19 ways in which Villa Secrets will contact or be contacted by villa owners and managers.

1. Open Mandates: In any one location, there will be many properties that are on open mandates, where the villa owner or manager has not seen fit to work with one or another agency, and instead works with many. However, armed with the marketing mandate, offering $50,000 (on a $4million villa) in web development and marketing, and a better plan to increase their properties prestige and value; we can see some open mandates fall our way.

2. Villa Secrets Real Estate Agents: For many, it is the primary job for real estate agents and agencies to collect mandates, but mostly for sale not rental. Realtors have the contacts and are incentivised by the creation of the estate agent’s marketing pack, which essentially ties the sale of the property to the realtor, as they are the only company who can access it. In addition to their contacts, a rental mandate opportunity is created by every house sold by the realtor, if the owners wish to let.

3. Villa Secrets Property Managers: An important part of the Villa Secrets network strategy is creating partnerships/companies with property managers, or people who would wish to become property managers. We desire many different property managers in each prime location, some bringing mandates to the collective and all recruiting more mandates over time.

Note for realtors… whilst there may be many companies recruited as Villa Secrets agents and property managers, only the realtor will have the rights to sell the property. As such the more Villa Secrets companies, the more for sale mandates a realtor will acquire.

4. Villa Secrets Rental & Sales Agency Websites. In our experience since 2002 agency websites attract property management and marketing enquires, and some very good ones. The more agency websites, the more enquires about mandates will be received.

Nineteen Ways Villa Secrets attracts Sole Mandates. Part 2

Influenced by: Denise Dogon – Google – Bing – Villa Secrets Publishing – Stuart Chait – Stefan Antoni – SAOTA
Tags # Rental & Sale Mandates / Networkers / Google & Bing / Publishing / Passive Income / Apartments


5. A Dedicated Networker / Mandate Recruiter is a requirement of the Villa Secrets real estate company, tasked with coordinating all mandate opportunities.

6. Google & Bing: Once up and running and we have the correct networking personnel, we shall advertise different Villa Secrets companies in positions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in Goggle and Bing for property management keywords, attracting about 65% of all enquires. In addition, we shall work hard on the SEO and Google maps, further increasing enquiries until almost all Google and Bing property management enquires are bound to one or another Villa Secrets company.

7. The Villa Secrets Magazine. Villa Secrets publishing will create many magazines, some short runs specifically to assist in mandate recruitment. The magazines have two effects. First, the mandate recruiter can barter a sole mandate for a prominent position in the magazine. And second, once the magazine is published the mandate recruiter & an informal domestic manager can go door to door posting the magazine and asking domestics for owners’ contacts.

8. The Villa Secrets Magazine Buzz. In addition, the magazines we create end up reaching many people and create a buzz, so increasing direct mandate opportunities as owners come to Villa Secrets, and importantly gaining respect from other companies/competitors in the industry, some of whom we would desire to work with on a partner basis.

9. Passive Income Recruiters. Some people, due to their occupation, wealth, celebrity, or networking skills can make owner introductions to Villa Secrets in exchange for a passive income, where they receive a share of the commission. It is not out of the ball park for passive income recruiters to be generating sums over $25,000 a year from their introductions.

10. Passive Income Companies. The same point as made above applies to CEOs and Companies, from real estate developers to architects.

11. Apartment Development Contracts. Taking the above idea and building upon it, both property developers and architects build apartments or villa complexes, such companies will be excited by our marketing and development plans.

Nineteen Ways Villa Secrets attracts Sole Mandates. Part 3

Influenced by: Cape Villas – S-Web CMS – MyBookingPal – WTA – American Butterfly – Experience Africa – Angel Theory
Tags # Photography / Prospecting / Advertorial / Awards / Safaris / Theory of Every Business / Virtual Networks


11. Villa Secrets Property Database: The Villa Secrets property database was started in 2002 with www.CapeVillas.com and contains the contact details of a number of property owners, on open mandates.

12. Photoshoots, Blogs & Articles. In each location, Villa Secrets will hire a quality photographer and copywriter who will use the S-Web CMS framework to create great looking villa web pages including an online magazine and newsletters created from articles. Each new villa presentation creates the perfect platform for a mandate recruiter to launch a bid for a sole mandate.

13. Prospecting. Airbnb, Homeaway, Booking.com, FlipKey, and Gum Tree are some of the biggest names in owner direct rentals. Each new villa added is a mandate opportunity.

14. Villas Cloud: The Villas Cloud booking system (expected by end 2017 or 2018) is designed to connect to all distribution channels and provide a very simple and transparent booking platform. We have seen many examples of booking systems directly attracting properties.

15. Adds and advertorial in Condé Nast and other Magazines. CN Traveller and other Condé Nast publications are a proven method for mandate recruitment. We are obliged to advertise our properties in such magazines as a part of our mandate marketing agreement, one payoff for this comes from readers approaching us for their own property management and marketing.

16. Awards. Villa Secrets and S-World are creating various award websites with SafariAwards.org and ArchitectAwards.org being just two examples, both will attract opportunities.

17. Safari Sales & Private Islands. With over 4000 safari lodges in Africa the safari sales market must be strong, but there is no company that offers a good variety of safaris for sale and only one that offers and private islands globally. Villa Secrets and Experience Africa will champion sales in these markets.

18. M-System 6 – The Theory of Every Business. A big plan for a series of real estate resort developments, which shall be exclusive to Villa Secrets companies.

19. M-System 7. S-World Virtual Network. Seeks to create an online virtual network in which we can create superior renderings of our client’s properties.