How We Helped Playa Blanca Holiday Villas Replace Spreadsheets with AI and Automation and Reduce Administration Costs by 23%
Our Client
Playa Blanca Holiday Villas manages a portfolio of owner-direct holiday villas in Lanzarote, welcoming guests from the UK, Ireland, Spain and Germany.
Behind every guest stay is a significant operation.
A local team manages cleaning, maintenance, pool and hot tub servicing, guest support, purchasing and villa turnarounds between stays. The business also has to manage staff hours, suppliers, payments, invoices, bookings and the financial performance of individual properties.
As the business grew, so did the administration. The team needed a simpler, more reliable way to manage the operation while maintaining the personal service guests value.
With the help of Hunter Marshall, in the first 12 months Playa Blanca Holiday Villas reduced its administration costs by 23%.
That saving came while the business was improving its management information, financial controls and operational oversight; not simply cutting resources.
The impact on the business led to:
- 23% reduction in administration costs
- REX live within two months
- Remote administrator at 45% lower annual payroll cost
In this case study, we explain how Hunter Marshall focused on simplifying the processes behind each guest stay.
The Challenge
Like many growing businesses, Playa Blanca Holiday Villas had developed its processes over time to solve problems as they arose. Spreadsheets managed bookings, maintenance, staff hours, payments, suppliers and property costs. Invoices were processed manually. Files for the accountants were prepared by hand. Information moved between team members through messages, spreadsheets and conversations.
Individually, many of these processes worked. Together, they were becoming increasingly difficult to manage:
- Financial reconciliations were producing errors.
- Petty cash balances could conflict.
- Staff pay rates were not always applied consistently.
- Purchases shared across several villas were difficult to allocate.
- Scheduling depended heavily on manual communication.
- There was limited visibility into the true cost and turnaround time of individual villas.
Someone had to notice the unusual staff hours, the missing information, the incorrect invoice, the cash discrepancy or the operational conflict. As the number of bookings increased, management needed better control without simply adding more administration.
The business didn't just need another piece of software. It needed to understand where AI, automation, better processes and people could make the biggest difference.
It Started with a Free AI & Automation Opportunities Report
Hunter Marshall began with a discovery session with the management team as part of its complimentary AI & Automation Opportunities Report.
There was no predetermined technology or software being sold. This was AI automation consulting in its truest sense: understanding the business first, and recommending technology only where it genuinely helped.
The objective was to understand how the business actually operated.
Hunter Marshall reviewed the workflows, repetitive administration, data sources, management controls, recurring problems and areas where people were spending time checking, transferring or re-entering information.
We also asked a simple question:
If you could redesign how the business operates, what would you want to work differently?
The resulting report identified opportunities for AI, automation, improved processes and better management information.
One of those opportunities was significant enough to justify building something specifically around the business.
It became REX.
The Business Automation Solution: REX
REX is a purpose-built operations platform designed around how Playa Blanca Holiday Villas actually works.
Rather than asking the business to change how it operates to suit an off-the-shelf system, REX was designed around the team, properties and processes already in place.
It is used by the team on their phones and can operate in English or Spanish.
One sign-in gives each person access to the areas relevant to their role, while notifications and alerts bring issues to their attention instead of relying on people to continually check for them.
Most importantly, REX replaces multiple spreadsheets and disconnected records with a single operational record of what happened, who did it and what it cost.
Built to Evolve with the Business
REX wasn't designed as a finished piece of software that Playa Blanca Holiday Villas would eventually outgrow.
It is modular.
As the business evolves, REX evolves with it.
New modules, workflows, reports and automations can be added as new opportunities are identified. Existing processes can be refined as the team learns from using them.
The platform has already moved beyond its original scope, with further automation around bookings, calendars and travel information being developed to give the team earlier warning of potential problems.
The initial investment therefore created more than a solution to today's problems.
It created a foundation for continuous improvement.
The Approach
The Key priorities for the project were:
- Greater accountability
Clear separation between recording, checking and approving costs. - Better visibility
A clearer view of staff hours, property costs, purchases and villa turnaround times. - Consistent standards
More structured processes for maintenance, pool and hot tub checks and villa preparation. - Simpler day-to-day management
Processes designed around how the local team actually works in Lanzarote.
The project went through four structured testing rounds over three days. During approximately 3.5 hours of direct testing, the owner identified 28 improvement requests.
14 improvements - including two new modules - were delivered within one day.
Across the four testing rounds, no previously working feature broke.
Result and Impact
The operation was reviewed from end to end: from staff scheduling and villa preparation through to payments, maintenance, purchasing, and property checks.
The improved processes provide Playa Blanca Holiday Villas with greater visibility and control across its villa portfolio.
As discussed above, the business impact led to:
- 23% reduction in administration costs
- REX live within two months
- Remote administrator at 45% lower annual payroll cost
The business gained:
- Less management time spent checking routine administration.
- Reduced dependence on spreadsheets and manual reconciliation.
- Better visibility of costs by property and booking.
- Stronger controls around staff hours, payments and petty cash.
- Automated invoice checking, processing and filing.
- Earlier identification of errors, discrepancies and unusual activity.
- Clear accountability and better management information, without reports having to be manually assembled.
There was another financial discovery during the project.
When REX was tested against the company's historical records, it identified that applying a single assumed staff pay rate rather than the actual rate applicable when work was performed had overstated costs by several thousand Euros across just one quarter.
REX now maintains dated pay rates so that work is automatically costed using the correct rate. For management, however, one of the biggest benefits is visibility. The owners can see what is happening across the operation without needing to personally check every spreadsheet, timesheet, payment or operational process.
No Cost. No Obligation. See What We'd Find in Your BusinessYour free AI & Automation Opportunities Report shows exactly where time,
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Manage the Workforce
Cleaning teams can see their assigned work, record availability and log hours against the correct property and booking.
Unusually long or overlapping time entries are automatically flagged for review rather than being silently accepted.
Team leaders can see work that hasn't been assigned, review hours, approve or return entries and manage staff availability.
Changes to pay rates are controlled and dated so that changing someone's rate today doesn't retrospectively change the cost of work already completed.
Payment batches also follow a clear approval and authorisation process rather than relying on informal controls.
Better Financial Control
Petty cash became a live balance rather than something that had to be periodically reconstructed and reconciled.
Purchases can be assigned to the relevant property, with invoices or receipts attached directly to the transaction.
Cash discrepancies above agreed thresholds can be escalated automatically.
Payment batches retain a clear trail of who proposed, approved and authorised them.
Invoices can be validated, and problems flagged rather than incorrect information simply making its way through the accounting process.
Management can see payroll, outstanding invoices, petty cash, payment history, property costs and other financial information from the same operational system.
Maintenance and Property Operations
Anyone on site can raise a maintenance issue against a property, including its priority, description and photographs.
Tasks are assigned, given target dates and tracked from identification through to completion and verification.
Recurring issues become visible as patterns rather than appearing as a series of unrelated call-outs.
Pool and hot tub servicing was also converted into a structured process.
Visits records chemical tests, actions taken and photographs. Where follow-up is required, reminders can be generated automatically.
Problems identified during cleaning or property checks can be passed directly into the maintenance process rather than depending on somebody remembering to send another message later.
AI & Business Process Automation
REX wasn't simply about moving spreadsheets into an app.
Hunter Marshall also identified repetitive administration that could be automated through Business Process Automation.
Invoices can be read automatically, checked against the correct company and tax details and filed appropriately for the accountants. Incorrect invoices can be flagged for correction rather than processed and forgotten.
Booking information can trigger operational workflows and notifications without somebody manually sending individual messages. This workflow automation means that the platform reacts to live booking data instead of waiting on someone to update it.
Villa calendars can connect with the platform so scheduling works from live booking information rather than re-keyed data.
Business Process Automation and AI can increasingly look for exceptions (the things management actually needs to know about), rather than requiring people to manually review everything.
The objective is simple: by choosing to automate business processes wherever it made sense, Hunter Marshall could let technology deal with more of the routine work and let people concentrate on the exceptions, decisions and activities where they add value.
From Free Report to Live in Two Months
The entire process started with Hunter Marshall's complimentary AI & Automation Opportunities Report.
From that initial review, REX was designed, built, tested and put into operation with the Playa Blanca Holiday Villas team within two months.
That speed was important.
The objective wasn't to spend months producing specifications and presentations about what AI might eventually do.
It was to identify genuine opportunities and turn the right ones into working improvements for the business.
Automation Didn't Mean Removing People
The next stage of the project demonstrated another important part of Hunter Marshall's approach.
Once repetitive administration had been reduced and processes improved, it became much clearer which tasks still genuinely needed a person.
Playa Blanca Holiday Villas subsequently hired a dedicated India-based, Spanish-speaking remote administrator through Hunter Marshall's remote staffing model.
The annual payroll cost of the role was 45% lower than the equivalent local hire.
This wasn't about replacing every person with technology. It was about putting the right resource against the right work.
Automation handles repetitive processes.
AI helps identify, review and surface information.
The remote administrator takes ownership of work that requires human judgement, communication and responsibility.
The local team concentrates on guests, properties and work that genuinely needs to happen on the ground.
The result is a more efficient operating model that combines AI, automation, and people rather than treating them as separate solutions.
The Commercial Outcome
The project began at no cost with Hunter Marshall's complimentary AI & Automation Opportunities Report.
Within two months, the resulting operational platform was live.
Within its first 12 months, administration costs had reduced by 23%.
The business subsequently hired a dedicated remote administrator through Hunter Marshall at an annual payroll cost 45% below the equivalent local hire.
And because REX is modular, the solution continues to develop as the requirements of the business change.
The commercial outcome came from both sides of the Hunter Marshall model:
- Using AI and automation to reduce the amount of administration required.
- And using a more cost-effective remote staffing model for the work that still benefits from having a person.
Client Feedback
The owner's experience through delivery reflected the value of the approach. Across four intensive testing rounds, the owner was able to shape REX in real time; raising 28 improvement requests, 14 of which (including two new modules) were delivered within a day, with no existing functionality lost in the process.
For management, the single most valued outcome was visibility: the ability to see what is happening across the operation without personally checking every spreadsheet, timesheet, payment or process. The result was a more organised, more accountable operation: better run behind the scenes, and seamless for every guest.
Not Every Business Needs a REX
Playa Blanca Holiday Villas required a significant operational solution.
Your business may not.
A Hunter Marshall review might identify five straightforward automations capable of removing hours of repetitive administration every week.
- It might identify information that AI could review in seconds rather than somebody checking it manually.
- It might uncover duplicated work, errors or systems that aren't communicating with each other.
- It might identify administration currently being carried out by expensive senior employees that could be handled more efficiently by a dedicated remote team member.
- Or, like Playa Blanca Holiday Villas, the best solution might combine AI, automation, better systems and people.
You don't need to know what the answer is before speaking to us.
That's what the review is designed to find out.
Start with a Free AI & Automation Opportunities Report
Hunter Marshall offers businesses a complimentary AI & Automation Opportunities Report.
We start by understanding how your business actually operates — where your team's time goes, what is still being done manually, where errors occur, what information management lacks and which processes cause frustration.
We then identify practical opportunities across the following areas:
- AI
- Automation
- Systems and processes
- Management information
- Dedicated remote staffing
You receive a practical report setting out the opportunities we identify.
You decide what, if anything, is worth pursuing.
Where there is a strong business case, Hunter Marshall can implement individual projects, provide ongoing AI & automation support, supply dedicated remote staff, or combine technology and people into a managed solution.
Playa Blanca Holiday Villas started with a free report.
Two months later, its new operational platform was live.
In its first 12 months, administration costs were reduced by 23%.
It subsequently added a dedicated remote administrator at an annual payroll cost 45% lower than the equivalent local hire.
And as the business continues to evolve, so does the solution.
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