Samui Luxury Villa Launch: How long does it take? by FAMEsolutely

Find below the case study of our last luxury villa launch - the stunning Kerem Villas, which we will use as an example to explain the launch process. Discover how we get from a brand concept to a connection to OTAs and full transfer to the villa team.

What is a villa launch, and when should you start getting your property on the Market?

A villa launch is - setting up the villa brand, as well as a system with multiple flows of guest requests, from social media, and brand marketing to agencies, and OTAs. In other words, create a ready-to-use Holiday villa business structure with your property and your service team.

We joined some of our villas during the construction works, some others after a few years as personal property before selling the villa. Today we want to see the example of a Beachfront Luxury Villa, which was newly built and decorated, Villa Manager was hired with the team, and Photoshootings have been done before we joined the project.

PRO TIP: Earlier you start the launching, the faster your property will get on the Market!

The best way is to start as soon as the building is done and the interior design is on the way. In this way, you will save a month or two, as many steps at the beginning will not need a totally decorated villa or a full team of staff.

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In the example of Kerem Villas, we were working in blocks each of which consisted of a few steps. The owner confirmed each of the two first blocks when all the steps were done, and the third block - was followed with a weekly update. All the launching took about 6 months, with few reviews during the work prosses, and a transfer to the villa team.

Kerem villas is a beautiful example of a newly built Luxury villa launching. The complex was designed by the famous architect Gary Fell, and consists of 4 modern beachfront villas, located in the prime location of Plai Laem Area of Koh Samui.

Photo of the amazing Kerem Villas www.keremvillas.com

The Blocks for Luxury villa launch

It's important to divide the launch into smaller parts with a special order, which ensures the fastest way of work. We work with villas on Koh Samui since 2014 and have our proper structure for villa launching.

The 1st block is about creating the main structure and brand rules.

The 2nd block is about applying the brand rules and unifying the new structure, with photos, specialized information, and booking engines into a website - the "face" of the property.

The 3rd block is about setting up the connection and then sharing information about the villa across all future sources of guests, such as Agencies, Social Media, OTAs.

And Finally, after everything is set up, transfer all the information to the villa team with instructions.

Block I

Logo design
Brand book and guidelines creation
Writing and creation of Contracts with Agencies
Writing of Terms and conditions for bookings and villa rules
Creation of invoices with formulas in Excel
Nightly rates structure set up, Discounts setup, and rules

This part is the most creative and important in terms of structure. In the first block, we set the direction of the Brand from the visual part to the term and conditions, and most importantly the rates. It's important to set the rules at this moment, as any future change will take 2-3 times more time to change than to set it right from the beginning.

PRO TIP: A villa launching is different from a working villa with a name and reviews. We highly recommend starting with launching discounts and operating with different rates for the first year or two, as without it you'll lose time and many booking opportunities.

The villa's discounts and rates should have a fixed structure, which includes complimentary services and discounts. We can help to set up a structure, which will give your team room for discounts, and rate changes, but still keep a structure, to make your business successful and always under control.

The Agency Agreement and the Term and conditions on the website should reflect the same information, part of this information will go into the OTAs. It's important to take the right direction from the beginning, as all the information is located across many sources, from agencies to the website, and each change will take time and a possibility of mistakes.

Block II

Implementing the Logo and Brand guidelines in the villa design (Branded items, such as towels, staff uniforms etc)
Website set up, from a Figma draft to a full-functioning website powered by WordPress
Texts review, re-writing from a draft provided by the owner
Photos adjusting to the website
Writing of new content for specific pages, like FAQ, Page for Agencies, Rate page, Web pages as Privacy policy etc
Connection of the website with Cloud beds (get a Cloudbeds -50$ discount: Here)

This block is the first step to getting online and opening the bookings. In the case of Kerem villas, the booking calendar was powered by Cloud beds.

PRO TIP: Your website needs to highlight the best of your property. Your Social media will need different photos from your website. By the way, don't forget about the OTAs with sometimes some special requests about photos. Don't save on a photographer. See our article Why not all the Photographers deserve to be named photographers.

For Instagram, we used images and reels to gain visibility

This video edit was specially done for Kerem Villas. Our in-house editing is created from drone footage edited and our own video. YouTube is a great way to show your property.

Block III

Collaboration set up with Agencies, Agreements, info, the structure of workflow
Connection of Cloud beds and OTAs
OTA set up
Social Media Launch: Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok
PR research, creating a list of contacts for future promotions in Luxury Travel magazines

The last block is about getting to be known and checking how the structure is working and adjusting it. At this step, we create the first free traffic to the website. As well as concluding agreements with agencies, and creating the first social media presence.

Additionally at this moment can be used Social Media ADs, like Facebook Ads, or Google ADs.

PRO TIP: Treat the agencies in a special way, by creating the perfect conditions for their work. Many guests who come from Agencies, will like to come back and work directly with the villa. During the launch, it's important to sign and work with a maximum of guest sources. Especially a maximum of agencies, and with the time to make the selection.

PRO TIP (bonus): To easier select the right agencies, we recommend using 1-year agreements. In the agreement keep a possibility of changing the % commission after one year of work. Normally in 1-2 years, you will see who brings you more bookings. The same goes for social media, after 1-2 years, some Social media will bring you traffic or bookings.

Final Step

Transfer of all information, such as Login information, agency responsible contacts etc
Training on Cloud beds, OTAs, website use, newsletter, all the structure, and way of work.

This step is very important, we provide the villa team member with all the necessary information. Everything to continue the workflow, and support the created concept. (Or in case of a sold villa to the new villa owner - See Why all our clients' villas got sold.) During the transfer, we explain everything and show how everything works. You just need a minimum PC use knowledge.

After all the information is transferred, we stay available for one more month. Just in case of any questions, help, or support is needed.

Conclusion: How long does it take?

Perhaps with the example of Kerem Villas, it's possible to launch a Luxury holiday villa in 6 months. This is a beautiful case that illustrates the average time of a villa launch. Sometimes, during the launch, we receive 1-3 reviews which influence the total time.

Note: Photoshooting can be time-consuming. Despite a very low number of rainy days, it's not always easy to catch the "Blue Samui sky". Usually, professional photographers will work in the most favourable weather, and you will need to wait. Indeed during this time, you can start with lower-quality photos from a basic photographer.