Ep. 30: Asymmetric Returns in Hospitality and Multifamily - Roman Pedan - Founder & CEO of Kasa
Feb 6, 2024
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Roman Pedan, Founder & CEO of Kasa Living, discusses bridging computer science and real estate, building Kasa, optimizing success with owners, trends in hospitality, regulatory challenges, and operating as both multifamily and hotels.
COSA Living revolutionizes property management for higher profits and improved guest experiences.
Utilizing AI technology like GPT-4 enhances guest interactions and operational efficiency at COSA Living.
Roman Pedon's entrepreneurial journey combines real estate and technology expertise to create innovative living solutions at COSA Living.
Deep dives
Operating CASA Living as a Tech-Powered Accommodations Brand
COSA Living, founded in 2016, partners with real estate owners to manage units at multifamily, single-family, and hospitality properties, offering a unique accommodations brand for modern travelers. With a focus on delivering reliable and digitally-driven stays, COSA differentiates itself by providing professional management, personalized customer service, and exceptional amenities to ensure a consistent and high-quality guest experience.
Value Proposition for Owners: Improving Profitability and Efficiency
By transforming the traditional apartment and hotel operating models, COSA Living significantly improves the gross operating profit margins of properties, often by 30% to over 100%. Through operational enhancements like centralizing systems, automating processes, and better revenue management, COSA Living maximizes profitability, making properties more resilient financially and ensuring owners achieve higher returns on investment.
Founding Story and Entrepreneurial Journey of Roman Pedon
Roman Pedon, the CEO of COSA Living, shares his journey as an entrepreneur, highlighting his early fascination with real estate and technology's impact. With a background in real estate investing and technology, Roman combined his expertise to create COSA Living, driven by a passion for innovative solutions that bridge the gap between traditional housing models and modern traveler expectations.
Application of AI and Personalization in Guest Experiences
Embracing AI technology, such as GPT-4, COSA Living enhances guest interactions by providing faster and more accurate responses to inquiries. By leveraging AI for personalization, COSA creates tailored experiences for guests based on their preferences and past interactions, improving overall guest satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Future Outlook and Expansion into Flexible Housing
Looking ahead, COSA Living aims to further optimize real estate operations through flexible living solutions that adapt to evolving consumer needs and enhance community experiences. Roman expresses excitement about upcoming innovative real estate opportunities, utilization of AI in guest services, and the potential expansion of membership-based living communities globally.
Roman Pedan is the Chief Executive Officer of Kasa Living, Inc., a flexible accommodations brand he founded in 2016.
Roman has over a decade of experience in real estate investing and technology entrepreneurship. He was an early team member at KKR's Real Estate Private Equity group where he worked on hotel transactions totaling $1.2 billion across the U.S. and was involved in every hotel transaction that KKR closed during his tenure. Roman was also an early team member at Juniper Square, a market-leading investment management platform, and was the founder of a startup called book.ly, a profitable, vertical e-commerce website that sold more than $15mm of textbooks.
