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It’s strange to think that, not so long ago, booking a palatial home or villa instead of a hotel was a novel idea. In 2013, after experiencing multiple disappointments searching for villas for their holiday, Alastair Loxton and his wife Sara launched Ministry of Villas.
He describes the business as “the quintessential service for travellers planning a villa holiday in Asia-Pacific and beyond.”
When a prelaunch Facebook campaign attracted over 300,000 global subscribers, Alastair was thankful to have implemented PayPal as their payments solution. “PayPal allowed our customers to transact in the world’s major currencies, so we could scale internationally from day one.”
What sets Ministry of Villas apart from other online booking services, Sara explains, is the concierge service that puts their customers’ needs above all else.
Alastair says the perfect holiday includes a seamless booking and checkout experience. “Often we’re talking about quite a large sum of money. It’s important for our customers to be able to transact in their native currency.”
There are plenty of challenges that come with taking bookings from more than 50 countries. “Understanding and adapting to different cultural norms and behaviours in various countries can be challenging. Each market has its own preferences, which may require adjustments in strategies, contracts, and communication styles.“
Having a payments platform that helps remove many of the complications in cross-border finance—taking payments in native currencies is a game-changer. “I remember inquiring with our bank about setting up multiple currency accounts so that we could receive payments in different currencies, and it was going to be quite expensive to do that. So with PayPal holding all of these different currencies for us , we saved a lot of money.”
When asked why they prefer PayPal over other payment platforms, Alastair says it was a no- brainer. “PayPal is essential to Ministry of Villas as they offer a secure, efficient, and reliable platform for processing payments across multiple currencies and regions.”
And while they do offer other payment options, he says the Seller Protection2 really sets PayPal apart. “With Seller Protection, we can confidently expand into new markets, knowing we may be safeguarded against fraud. In my experience, no other platform provides this level of support to small and medium businesses like Ministry of Villas.”
To further improve their customers’ user experience, the team reduced their checkout process from three steps to one with an embedded payment gateway plugin. Alastair says the improvement in conversion was instant.
“When PayPal rolled out the integrated checkout functionality that allowed our customers to book very easily on one page, we saw a lift of 20%3 conversion overnight. It was like flicking on a light switch.”
Sara adds, “And that’s without increasing our traffic to our website.”
Looking ahead, the two globe-trotters say they plan to continue leveraging PayPal to streamline their global payment processes, particularly as they expand into new markets with different currencies.
“You know, for a small business entrepreneur who wants to grow rapidly globally, you need a payments platform that will enable you to do that. And PayPal is that platform.”
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