By: Eric Feltron
CEO Fernando Pereira Shares Insights on Growth, Technology, and the Future
When you think of the Brazilian hospitality industry, images of sprawling beach resorts, vibrant city hotels, and the unmistakable warmth of local culture come to mind. But beneath this traditional facade, a quiet revolution is taking place—one that’s blending technology with a deep understanding of real estate, and it’s led by Fernando Pereira, the CEO of Seazone.
Fernando Pereira is not your typical tech entrepreneur. Before founding Seazone, he wasn’t dreaming up code in a Silicon Valley garage or navigating the startup scene in São Paulo. Instead, he was halfway across the world, working in the oil fields of Chad, Africa. It was a grueling job, with a rotation that kept him away from home for half the year. But it was here, in this unlikely setting, that the seeds of Seazone were planted.
“I was traveling a lot, using Airbnb and other platforms to book my stays, and I got to experience the world of short-term rentals firsthand,” Pereira recalls. It wasn’t just about finding a place to sleep; it was about maximizing every experience—getting value for the money spent, and enjoying the comforts of home even when miles away from it.
Fast forward a few years, and Pereira found himself back in Brazil, ready to channel his international experiences into something new. The result? Seazone—a startup that’s part property management, part real estate investment, and entirely focused on the short-term rental market. But what sets Seazone apart isn’t just its innovative business model; it’s the way it uses technology to solve age-old problems in real estate.
Pereira’s vision was clear from the start: to create a platform that wasn’t just about listing properties, but about optimizing every aspect of the rental process. “My vision has always been to help optimize real estate investments.” he says. And with Seazone, he’s doing just that, blending the precision of tech with the flexibility of short-term rentals to offer something truly unique in the Brazilian market.
In the following interview, Pereira shares more about his journey, Seazone’s unique approach to hospitality, and what’s next for the company as it eyes expansion in Latin America.
Interviewer: Fernando, can you share the story behind the founding of Seazone and what inspired you to venture into the hospitality industry?
Fernando Pereira: Yes, of course. Before Seazone, I worked outside Brazil, in Africa, in a country called Chad. I worked on a rotational basis—one month there, one month here—so I was away for six months of the year, traveling a lot. I think the inspiration started there because I began using platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com frequently. I had the entire experience as a customer, and it was very interesting. A few years later, in 2014, I started investing in real estate in Brazil, specifically in short-term rentals. Essentially, it was like managing a hotel in Jurerê, a beach here in Florianopolis. That’s how I started investing in Brazil. On the other side, I was looking to be an owner who rents out properties to visitors. I believe the combination of these two experiences led to the creation of Seazone. My vision has always been to maximize the return on real estate investments. When I started renting my apartment through Airbnb, I was constantly concerned about pricing and getting the ideal return on investment. That vision is what I tried to implement in Seazone. That’s why today we are both a short-term rental platform and a construction company, developing properties specifically for the short-term rental market, which we call ‘Spots.’
Interviewer: Seazone is often described as a tech-driven startup. Can you explain how technology plays a role in your business model and operations?
Fernando Pereira: For sure. I think technology has three main fronts in Seazone. The first is data. We have a system like a crawler that captures data from the market, giving us market intelligence and insight into the real estate business in Brazil. We know exactly how much income an apartment in Rio de Janeiro or any other neighborhood can generate. This information helps us decide whether to start short-term rental operations in a particular area or even build a new ‘Spot’ there. The second front is our website, which is similar to Airbnb. We have our own platform, using our own technology, which provides an additional revenue stream when reservations are made through the website. The third front is what we call SAPRON, a system that allows our franchisees to manage and monitor all reservations in one place. It doesn’t matter where the reservation is made; it goes into SAPRON, and the franchisee, who is our host, can see it, organize the check-ins, and manage the status of the guests. SAPRON also has a dashboard for property owners, where they can track their earnings, check the status of their property, and even block dates if they want to use the property themselves. We believe that SAPRON is just the beginning of a larger platform or ecosystem that Seazone aims to create in Brazil, integrating property owners, hosts, and guests all within one system.
Interviewer: The hospitality market in Brazil has a strong presence of global hotel chains and local players. How does Seazone differentiate itself in such a competitive market?
Fernando Pereira: I think the main value we bring, which differentiates us from hotels, is offering our customers the feeling of being at home. They have all the amenities that a home offers, which attracts a different profile of people and customers to Seazone’s platform. When we talk about competition, our primary differentiator is technology, which allows us to provide a consistent experience across all our properties. Another advantage we have is our extensive portfolio of apartments across Brazil. Our strategy is to offer our guests a unique experience with well-located, cost-effective properties that still feel like home. The concept of ‘Spots,’ our custom-developed buildings, is key to this. ‘Spots’ are designed specifically for short-term rentals, with features like compact apartments since we know tourists spends their time outside. The location is crucial, as well as offering something unique, like a rooftop or a view that makes the property Instagrammable, which helps sell the experience. The combination of all these factors has made ‘Spots’ successful both in terms of guest satisfaction and investor returns.
Interviewer: Seazone operates in a market with fluctuating economic conditions. How do you navigate these challenges to maintain business stability and growth?
Fernando Pereira: That’s a good question. I think the key is our ability to adapt quickly. I can give you an example: the Covid-19 pandemic. We had to adapt to survive, and we managed to do so. As everyone knows, the hospitality sector was heavily impacted. For us, it meant no bookings for two months, yet we still had significant payments to make at the end of the month with no income. We pivoted our business model, shifting towards a franchise model to ensure survival. We also changed our approach to bookings, extending stays and offering different experiences to our guests. We managed to navigate that wave successfully. In Brazil, we face seasonality as well, so we mitigate risks by operating in different types of cities and regions. Some areas have high season during winter, others during summer, and some are more stable year-round. By operating in diverse locations, we can spread the risk. This adaptability is crucial to our strategy.
Interviewer: Looking ahead, what are Seazone’s plans for expansion, both within Brazil and internationally?
Fernando Pereira: We’re not just looking at expansion; we’re actively expanding now. In Brazil, we’re focusing on the northeast and winter tourist areas. The idea is to balance revenue streams and minimize risk. A significant area we’re growing rapidly is the southern part of Bahia, in the northeast, particularly places like Trancoso and Ilhéus, which are well-known and have high demand for short-term rentals. We’re also targeting winter destinations like Gramado and Campos do Jordão. The third pillar of our expansion is large cities, where we’re already operating in places like Goiânia and São Paulo. These three different types of markets offer potential for year-round activity. We view Brazil as a market with significant opportunities for growth, which is why our focus for the next three to four years is on domestic expansion. Once we’ve consolidated our position here, we’ll look at international expansion, with neighboring countries like Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile as the next logical steps. These countries have stable tourism markets and opportunities, and we already have some investors and clients from these regions. That’s our vision for the future of Seazone.
Interviewer: Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in the hospitality industry. How does Seazone approach sustainable practices?
Fernando Pereira: I think the main focus is on finding new technologies that allow us to offer sustainability to both our investors and our guests. An example of this is a project we’re developing called Vistas Denita, where we’re using modular construction. This is a very interesting and sustainable way of developing real estate. Additionally, in all the buildings we’re constructing, as well as for the property owners who work with us, we’re offering solar energy. We do this by installing solar panels on all the buildings and partnering with a company that provides this type of energy to the homes and properties we manage. This is how we’re trying to increase our participation in the sustainable market.
Interviewer: What advice would you give to entrepreneurs looking to start a business in the Latin American tech sector?
Fernando Pereira: Well, as everyone knows, Latin America is a very bureaucratic region, and the government doesn’t support us as much as it does in countries like the United States. So, I think the main advice is to never give up.
Interviewer: Finally, what excites you most about the future of Seazone and the role it will play in the Latin American accommodation industry?
Fernando Pereira: I think, first of all, it’s the size of our market—it’s very large, and no one else is really there yet. That excites me a lot; there’s a huge field to explore. Secondly, the vision we have to go beyond just short-term rentals. Seazone aims to be a platform that simplifies the process of real estate investment and helps users work towards achieving favorable returns. Today, investing in real estate in Brazil is very challenging—complex, critical, and difficult. We want to simplify that, making it easy for anyone to join our platform, buy an apartment, and start earning a return through short-term rentals. The challenge of achieving this is what excites me as an entrepreneur and as a Brazilian, working in this complex market we have in Brazil.
Published by: Khy Talara
