The Problem
Running a luxury vacation rental business is not for the faint-hearted — especially when your properties are spread across one of the most beautiful (and long) coastlines on the planet. Richard Marshall, owner and founder of Nox Cape Town, knows this all too well. With around 200 villas under management, all in the four or five-star range, Richard faced a series of challenges that made maintaining consistent high quality a daily challenge.
The spread-out nature of the vacation rental business
Managing a portfolio with properties scattered up the coast made it difficult to maintain on-site presence, monitor quality of communications, and ensure smooth operations in real time.
Hospitality tools, not business intelligence tools
Most property management tools are great for managing properties, but Nox needed a solution to zoom out and get a bird’s eye view of the whole business. Richard wanted insights into staff performance, team efficiency, and operational metrics — without having to piece it together from lots of individual property reports.
Fragmented guest communication
High-end clients expect flawless service, but the Nox team struggled with maintaining five-star guest communications — especially over WhatsApp. With guests arriving from all over the world and staff working in shifts, communication was often disjointed, unmonitored and inconsistent.
The Solution
Centralized operations
With Boom’s AI-driven communication tools, including seamless WhatsApp integration, Richard and the team can now roll out 24/7 guest support. No more wondering if a message was lost in translation or time zones. The centralized system also allows Richard’s team to oversee all guest interactions, keeping their five-star clients happy and engaged, no matter the time of day.
“We knew there was a vacation happening, but we had no oversight, no way to look at the quality of the guest experience. We would ask our team to fill us in but it was completely inefficient. With Boom, it's been an enormous benefit for us to have this communication all centralized and automated in our CRM. This fixed a huge pain point in my business, which was something that had been causing gray hairs in the business for the best part of a couple of years.” — Richard Marshall
Advanced business management tools
Boom’s AI-driven dashboards give Richard a high-level view of his business, making it a total mission control for luxury villas. With instant access to data on staff performance, team efficiency, and operational metrics, Richard can finally see which teams are performing best and which need a little more attention. This newfound visibility allows Nox to make smarter, data-driven decisions that directly impact the bottom line, as well as dedicating staff time to the most important areas. That means more time on the strategic work that’s proven to grow the business, rather than stuck in the weeds working on manual tasks.
“I looked at the amount of time that we were spending pulling reports and manipulating data. This was instantly solved by Boom, giving my team time back to work on more important tasks. As an added bonus, these are the tasks they enjoy more, so staff satisfaction has also improved.” — Richard Marshall
AI-driven luxury service
Richard was initially skeptical about letting AI take the reins, but the results quickly spoke for themselves. Boom’s AI-powered customer service feature started off in co-pilot mode, just suggesting responses for human approval. But in just three months, the AI’s accuracy soared to a 99% acceptance rate, meaning it was fully capable of handling routine inquiries autonomously. This shift meant faster response times and happier guests, all while freeing up Nox’s team to focus on more strategic, value-adding tasks.
“I was very skeptical about the AI in the beginning. To be honest, I was very concerned about giving it any type of autonomy. Our clients are very demanding clients, we deal in the premium end of the market, and we provide a very premium product. So, I was nervous to give it free rein. We started with a very gradual approach, where initially, everything was just done on a copilot basis, but the AI has improved incredibly quickly, to the point now where we now allow it to handle our customer service inquiries on an autopilot basis. It’s had an incredible impact on our team’s morale and their work. I’ve been incredibly impressed with the value that Boom has brought to our business.”— Richard Marshall
Why Nox Cape Town recommends Boom
For Nox Cape Town, Boom was the missing piece of the puzzle Richard needed to master the art of luxury hospitality management at scale. With AI taking care of the mundane, Richard and the team can now focus on what truly matters — creating unforgettable experiences for their guests in one of the world’s most beautiful locations. The future of luxury vacation rentals is here, and it’s smarter, faster, and powered by Boom.
