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About Zodiak Management
Zodiak Management is a leading Airbnb property management specialist based in the heart of Auckland CBD, New Zealand. The company manages premium apartments for property investors, helping them maximize rental income through dynamic pricing tools, multi-platform listing exposure, and end-to-end management. Zodiak also maintains its booking website to encourage guest loyalty and repeat bookings.
Ema Abogado, Guest Experience Team Manager, oversees the offshore team based in the Philippines, handling guest communications and ensuring a smooth check-in and check-out process.
Challenges before Hiver: Overwhelming ticket volume and lack of visibility
Before implementing Hiver, Zodiak Management used Freshdesk primarily to manage guest queries sent via email and to track internal tickets, such as cleaning and maintenance issues, building notices, and other guest-related concerns. Guest inquiries coming through booking platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Expedia were managed using a separate system — Guesty.
Key pain points with Freshdesk:
1. Overwhelming interface and lack of ticket visibility: The Freshdesk interface displayed all tickets simultaneously, creating an overwhelming experience. Due to the lack of clear organization, team members struggled to identify priority items or unassigned tickets, making it difficult to monitor ticket status effectively.
2. Delayed responses due to the clunky notification system: Notifications for assigned tickets were unreliable and difficult to locate, causing team members to frequently miss important updates and send out delayed responses.
3. Significant backlog and delayed response times: The team regularly handled a substantial ticket backlog. Since team members were individually picking tickets to work on—without a structured assignment process—some tickets were overlooked, and workloads became uneven. This lack of systemized distribution led to delays in responding to guest inquiries.
4. Process inefficiencies: Without a dedicated admin managing the ticketing system, there was no consistent way to track or assign incoming tickets. Team members self-managed their workload, which often led to missed or delayed responses. Because Freshdesk operated as a standalone platform, separate from their primary tool—Gmail—team members had to switch back and forth between systems to manage communications, adding friction to daily operations.
“We were overwhelmed managing our tickets,” said Ema. “The Freshdesk interface made it hard to monitor things properly. We had so many tickets and no one was specifically monitoring them.”
How Hiver transformed Zodiak’s workflow
Zodiak Management’s CEO, Stefan Nikolic, began searching for an alternative that could improve their ticket management experience. The discovery of Hiver marked a turning point for the company, offering not just another ticketing tool but a fundamentally simpler approach to managing customer communication. The main reasons for making the switch included:
- Gmail integration: Hiver’s native integration with Gmail meant the team could manage tickets without switching platforms.
- Clear ticket views: Hiver organizes tickets into Views, such as Unassigned, Mine, and Pending, making ticket distribution more transparent and manageable.
- Hassle-free routing: Admins on shift can quickly assign incoming tickets based on team responsibilities (e.g., Guest Experience vs. Maintenance).
Implementation and daily workflow
What Zodiak’s day-to-day looks like with Hiver
Zodiak follows a shift-based ticket assignment process using Hiver’s Shared Inbox. At the start of each shift, admins review the “Unassigned” tab and manually route guest-related queries to the Guest Experience Team and maintenance issues to the Maintenance Team.
With clearly organized ticket views, the assignment process—previously time-consuming—is now handled in just minutes. Admins also use Tags to flag urgent issues and monitor workloads to ensure even distribution. As a result, the team maintains minimal backlogs and responds to guests more efficiently.
Smarter workload distribution
The implementation maintained the team’s preferred independent work style while improving oversight capabilities. Team members can focus on their assigned tickets, while administrators ensure a balanced workload distribution and prevent anything from falling through the cracks.
This comprehensive approach addressed immediate operational pain points while establishing a scalable foundation for Zodiak’s continued growth in property management services.
Multi-channel guest communication, managed via one unified inbox
Zodiak’s guest experience team handles guest interactions across email, chat, and phone, primarily for check-in and check-out coordination. While multiple channels are used for communication, all support-related tickets are consolidated and managed through a unified inbox, allowing the team to track and respond to inquiries efficiently within Hiver.
“Right now, we only have seven unassigned tickets—a big drop from what we had before,” said Ema. “The person on shift just picks the tickets related to their team and assigns the rest.”
Measurable impact and benefits:
Better ticket management leading to faster response times
Zodiak saw a 90% drop in unassigned ticket backlogs, going from 60–80 active tickets to just 7 unassigned tickets at any time. This improvement was driven by Hiver’s “Unassigned” ticket view in Gmail, which allows admins to easily monitor and allocate incoming tickets at the start of each shift.
Intuitive interface leading to faster resolution
The team reports an 90% improvement in ticket resolution rate, driven by faster response times across email, chat, and phone. Hiver’s ticket status tabs (Mine, Pending, Closed) helped team members focus on their queues, minimizing confusion and enabling quicker follow-through.
Faster routing and more control over workload distribution
Tickets are now routed to the appropriate team—Guest Experience or Maintenance—without delay. Hiver’s Shared Inbox and tagging features give admins real-time visibility into ticket ownership and urgency, allowing them to maintain control and distribute workload more effectively across all 136 properties.
Conclusion
Zodiak’s success story is proof that you don’t need a conventional ticketing system to deliver great support. Hiver provides a scalable solution that grows with the business while maintaining operational efficiency and team productivity.
“The backlog has dropped significantly. We’re responding to guests faster, our KPIs have improved, and the team finally has a clear, manageable system. Hiver has made a huge difference in how we work.”
Ema Abogado
Guest Experience Team Manager
