We caught up with the CEO and Co-founder of HostHub to find out how Cledara helps cut out unnecessary costs and manual administration.
HostHub is the number-one rated channel manager and property management system for short-term rentals. It empowers vacation rental managers and owners to handle their operations and execute on daily tasks more efficiently. In particular, it enables them to automate listing management across multiple channels, making them more competitive and increasing their revenues.
When Alexander Caravitis launched HostHub (then SyncBnb) in 2017, he knew he wanted to build a platform for a worldwide market. Though HostHub is headquartered in Athens, Greece, its primary market is the USA, and it has customers in 87 countries around the world.Â
As the company grew, Alexander found there were a number of challenges to managing software spend remotely, and needed to streamline processes.
âWeâre a scaling business. The money saved with cash back, and the peace of mind that I will not be charged more than I was expecting, is why I chose Cledara.â
HostHubâs global staff uses around 40 different SaaS products. While the team is small enough that Alexander and his co-founder can be involved in and approve every purchase decision, some were still falling through the cracks.Â
âIn some cases we were forgetting the subscription for a service that we didnât need anymore, and we would realize that only two or three months later,â Alexander explains.
Alexander looked for a solution that would enable him to use one card for each individual subscription. That way, he would be able to keep track of â and crucially, cancel â subscriptions more easily.Â
âWhenever I get a chance I go through our bank transactions to make sure weâre not paying for stuff we shouldnât. Even so, some unnecessary charges might slip through the cracks every now and then.â
Even a couple of months of unnecessary renewals is money wasted, and that impacts scale. Now, Cledara notifies Alexander when a spend threshold is reached, so he can quickly identify and, if necessary, reverse charges. âIt gives me peace of mind that if something slips, we wonât lose money.â
Alexander also ran into problems when it came to paying for and managing SaaS subscriptions.Â
HostHub is a C-corp based in Delaware, and uses Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) as its primary bank. As SVB issues cards with a different Zip code than the companyâs registered address, this became problematic as some of the SaaS services Alexander was trying to pay for wouldnât allow him to use a payment card with a different zip code than the company. This included core software like Microsoft and Quickbooks.
With Cledara, Alexander is now able to create virtual cards for each subscription, bypassing the zip code issue.
Cledara also helps Alexander track payments and understand the cost and value of each subscription. Previously, he had been using another service which showed when top-up payments were debited from his bank account, but without any vendor information. This resulted in Alex spending valuable time breaking down each payment amount and matching transactions to specific services. Now Alex simply matches one transaction and Cledara does the rest, giving a better view of ROI and saving Alexanderâs time for more strategic work.
Zip codes werenât the only problem with Alexanderâs company card. His card was compromised. Alexander had to then cancel all his cards, order new ones, and then plan to update each subscription with the new card details. But his bank sent his new to the registered company address in Delaware, not to Alexander who was in Athens, Greece. Months passed.Â
âVirtual offices are notoriously slow to forward correspondence, and I knew we would be without cards for a few months,â he explains. âI needed an immediate solution so we could change all our cards everywhere, and make sure our services wouldnât be cut offâ.
Once again, the ability to create virtual cards proved critical. With Cledara, Alexander was able to instantly set up virtual cards for each SaaS subscription, and ensure the smooth continuation of the services HostHub relies on.
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The Cledara Group consists of Cledara Inc., a Delaware Corporation and Cledara Limited, registered in the UK (11455373). Cledara Limited is registered under the UK Data Protection Act (ZA466806). Cledara Limited is a distributor of Modulr FS Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 09897919, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution (Firm Reference Number: 900573) for the issuance of electronic money and payment services. Your account and related payment services are provided by Modulr FS Limited. Whilst Electronic Money products are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) your funds will be held in one or more segregated accounts and the full value safeguarded in line with the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. Your card is issued by Modulr FS Limited pursuant to a license by Visa Europe. Visa and the Visa brand mark are registered trademarks of Visa Europe.Cledara Limited is also registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority as an EMD Agent (reference no. 902831) of PayrNet Limited, an Electronic Money Institution authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (reference number: 900594). The Cledara Virtual Debit MastercardŸ is issued by PayrNet UK Limited pursuant to a license by Mastercard International. Cledara Limited is a partner of Modulr Finance B.V., a company registered in the Netherlands with company number 81852401, which is authorised and regulated by the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) as an Electronic Money Institution (Firm Reference Number: R182870) for the issuance of electronic money and payment services. Your account and related payment services are provided by Modulr Finance B.V. Your funds will be held in one or more segregated accounts and the full value safeguarded in line with the Financial Supervision Act. Your card is issued by Modulr Finance B.V. pursuant to a license by Visa Europe. Visa and the Visa brand mark are registered trademarks of Visa Europe.In the United States, the Cledara Virtual Credit MastercardŸ is issued by CBW Bank pursuant to a license by Mastercard International Incorporated. By using the virtual card, the cardholder agrees to all terms under which it was issued.