​​Nico Barawid, Casai: Providing Consistently High-Quality Hospitality in Mexico, Ep 147

<p><span style="font-weight: 400; font-size: 24pt;">​​Nico Barawid, Casai: Providing Consistently High-Quality Hospitality in Mexico, Ep 147</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In Mexico, the hospitality industry is the third-highest contributor to GDP. Therefore, when COVID-19 initially shut tourists out of the country and forced many hotels to close down, the Mexican economy was hit relatively hard. By the second half of 2020, travel to Mexico was picking up, and the hospitality industry is ready to make a comeback, with some Mexico destinations on pace for more travel than in 2019!</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Casai, a luxury hospitality startup, aims to be the high end Airbnb for digital nomads, high end business travelers and families. In this episode of</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Crossing Borders</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">I sat down with Casai’s founder and CEO Nico Barawid to learn more about his story.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Starting with his first job at a startup in San Francisco and his background in consulting, Nico explains how these experiences prepared him to run Casai efficiently. We also discuss the difficulties Casai faced during the pandemic and Nico explains the ways in which Casai managed to bounce back and the lessons learned along the way.</span></p> <h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Learning on someone else’s dime</span></h3> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nico explains that his most valuable learning experience came from working for a startup in San Francisco before starting Casai. As the third hire, Nico worked closely with the founders from the very beginning, allowing him to get the full founder experience without having to take founder risk.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To learn some more of Nico’s tips and lessons learned, listen to this episode of</span> <e