When Cecil McCarthy acquired Casa Rooms along with other investors in late 2021, he didn’t just take over one of Malta’s most established property management brands – he redefined its future. With more than 15 years of experience in the space, Mr McCarthy brought a strategic, tech-driven approach to an already trusted brand.

Today, Casa Rooms stands as a leading multi-territory hospitality group operating across Malta, Gozo, and Sicily, combining operational excellence with innovative design and technology. Under Mr McCarthy’s leadership as company director, the firm continues to deliver on its core mission: giving property owners genuine peace of mind while maximising the long-term value and performance of their assets.

“In this day and age, people want to travel and enjoy their life, they don’t want to manage their properties themselves,” Mr McCarthy asserts. “They want someone to do the legwork for them. We deliver peace of mind by serving as a single, accountable point of contact.”

Mr McCarthy, who has a background in IT himself, has ensured that technology is not an afterthought when it comes to boosting revenue for clients. Casa Rooms operates on a fully integrated, cloud-based platform that manages everything from bookings to accounting and maintenance. It is this in-house software that forms the core of the operation, ensuring integration, security, and automations that the director claims are “unmatched” by others in the property market.

The company isn’t stopping there either. AI is the buzzword on everyone’s lips, and Casa Rooms is far from ignorant to the benefits this could provide its users. Mr McCarthy says his firm intends to implement AI tools within its core business operations in the coming months. “There is a lot that can be done with the technology,” he states. “It will ensure we remain at the cutting-edge of asset management.”

It isn’t just about tech though. It has never been more important for properties to stand out on the three islands, particularly in the short-term rental space. During Casa Rooms’ first full year of operations in 2022, long-term rentals accounted for only six of 60 new properties listed by the company. Now, market saturation is swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction, with long-term rental revenue approximately equalling that of short-term.

As Mr McCarthy explains, saturation makes property appeal crucial. “Unless your short-term rental stands out, there is a lot of competition,” the director states. And that’s exactly where Casa Rooms’ Art and Design offering comes in. The firm’s in-house team of experts will facilitate property refurbishment and transformations for value enhancement. “The owner provides the budget, and we deliver the fully-managed, final product,” he explains.

In one recent example, Casa Rooms revamped a Sliema townhouse furnished with items from the 1960s. “The owner was raised in the house,” Mr McCarthy explains. “Her heart is attached to it, so we didn’t want to just throw the furniture away. We gave it some TLC and modernised it to give it a fresh look.” This remodelling, carried out by an in-house Italian artist, transformed the owner’s short-term rental offering, positioning it above others in the area at the same price point.

While there might be an abundance of properties to let, tourism is booming across Malta and Gozo, growing year-on-year in 2024. Gozo visitors increased around nine per cent last year, Sicily tourism grew by four per cent, and Malta visitors spiked a staggering 19 per cent from 2023 figures. That progress looks set to continue in 2025, and Casa Rooms is confident it can optimise properties to turn that growth into tangible returns.

This Art and Design option is particularly useful in the rural areas of Gozo and Sicily, where amenities are not readily available for those hoping to revamp properties themselves. Mr McCarthy confesses that this created challenges for the company as it sought to expand into the new territories, sometimes necessitating a desperate search for an ironmongers or a 45-minute trip to a key-cutters. But now the company has the network in place to get the job done, meaning clients can rest easy.

Despite the inherent challenges, the expansion to Gozo and Sicily has been a positive one for Casa Rooms, and it is only the beginning of the company’s broader Mediterranean story. Mr McCarthy claims both are “yet to fully realise their market potential” with “reasonable” property prices in key areas compared to Malta. This, he says, means there is a higher potential for “capital appreciation and rental yield growth.”

Casa Rooms has shown that when technology, design, and trust align, the results speak for themselves. From a meticulous approach to property redesign to a relentless pursuit of operational innovation, the company has redefined what property management can look like in Malta and beyond.

For more information, visit: www.casarooms.com