VRWS Leadership Interview of the Day
In approaching the 9th edition of the Vacation Rental World Summit, we’re releasing a series of interviews to leaders, key players and highly motivated people in our industry whose companies make a deep impact in our space and will be present at VRWS.
The aim is to get you some insight into these leaders and the company they founded, manage or work for, as well as getting some behind the scenes on their thinking, their motivation and their drive.

SANDRA FERNANDES
How would you describe your career path and what brought you to Homeit?
“Before joining homeit, I was already a marketing director, namely in multinationals in areas such as Information Technologies, Energy Efficiency and Tourism, so it was a natural result to embrace this new challenge that ends up combining these three aspects.Ā
Homeit’s main challenge is to continue to grow, to invest in new products, new markets, new geographies and new partnerships and it was exactly this attitude that made me accept this role. I intend to sustain this growth through marketing and communication actions that reflect a healthy balance between the digital and the traditional, that is, holistic marketing focused on the integration between the different areas of the company, offering a unique experience to the customer that leads it to choose our solutions.”
“Responsibility to generate revenue by increasing sales through successful marketing actions for the entire organizationā, your LinkedIn experience says. What does it take to be a modern chief marketing officer in such a complex world?Ā
“In recent years we have seen a shift in the role played by a chief marketing officer. This change is nothing more than a response to the challenging environment resulting from rapidly evolving markets, but also from technological advances, customer behaviours and unpredictable trends. For marketing strategies to be effective and aligned with the company’s objectives, itās necessary to have a deep understanding of the market, customers and products in order to generate revenue.
In my opinion, a CMO has to remain relevant in the current scenario, it has to know how to inspire and influence the target audience: first, the internal target audience, the team, to later inspire and influence can be reflected in the external target audience, which is the customers.Ā
It should also combine a more traditional marketing component, brand building, with a digital component, based on data analysis, use of automation platforms and of course data that help to create useful insights for decision making. It should still have a humble attitude, in the sense that it should be open to learning, be able to implement new approaches and, of course, a factor that I still consider very important, continue to be creative.”
Letās say for the purpose of the interview that Homeit is exhibiting at an in-person event. A property manager approaches you to find out more. How would you describe the benefits Homeit provides?
“The main benefit of homeit access control solutions is the simplicity they bring to the property managerās daily operation. It’s possible to reduce travel, give guests more flexibility at the check-in and check-out times and, consequently, reduce operational costs quite significantly. Nuki smart locks, represented by homeit in Portugal, bring the highest level of intelligence to property access control, giving the users the liberty to choose local or remote door control.
In addition to these benefits, a Nuki smart lock does not require sharing keys with guests and avoids the risk of losing or copying them. With a smart lock, access is controlled through a web application on the smartphone, as in the case of Nuki, or by typing an access code at check-in, using a keyboard.
The convenience of installing such a system is for both the property manager and guest. The managers get much more control of their accommodation and on the other hand, the guest will be impressed by the experience. In both cases freedom and autonomy is enhanced without the limitations assigned to the use of traditional keys.Ā
Further to these benefits, homeit/Nuki solutions feature retrofittable products, easy to install and set up providing wireless technology. The installation of each product is very simple, takes just a few minutes without any drilling or screwing. Homeit/Nuki offers a consistent product portfolio, whether you rent out houses, apartments or buildings. Ā Guests will always have keyless access to the booked accommodations. With their end-to-end encryption, Nuki and homeit ensures the highest possible level of security, similar to those in online banking. Itās also possible to manage Nuki devices and also your access permissions from anywhere at any time.”
VRWS 22 is about to land in Porto. What do you expect from the overall experience?
“It is an event dedicated exclusively to the largest market share where we operate, the vacation rental market and in which we are leaders in Portugal.Ā
Homeit/Nuki’s participation aims to attract new customers, through the demonstration of our products, including the new generation of smart locks Nuki 3.0, attend the roundtables to present the homeit/Nuki solutions and also to obtain new ideas and new ways to approach the challenges that we have to face in post-pandemic.Ā
We also intend to meet our customers, some of them have been with us since the beginning of homeit. We also hope to obtain new qualified leads that can be translated into a new business, in a short period of time.”
Youāll have the opportunity to meet Sandra and Homeit at VRWS on Sept. 15th-16th
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