Otium is a $3.5M+ hospitality company that has grown fast. When it started with Topkey, Otium managed about 23 units with about 10 people. Today it has 50 people and manages 120+ units in Puerto Rico. The company runs on Guesty and QuickBooks Online, and it expects to double or triple over the next year.

Julio Clavijo, Otium's Chief Financial Officer, oversees Otium's financials, payments, compliance, and invoicing from Ecuador, while a 40-person field team handles cleaning and property management on the ground. Back then, Otium's finances lived in Google Sheets, Hostfully, and a stack of credit cards. Today, Julio lives in Topkey "most of the time," in his words, and it's where Otium's expenses, approvals, and payments come together.

The Challenge: Growth Without a System Behind It

A Company About to Grow Fast

Otium wanted to grow, but no one knew how fast it would happen. In just a few years, it would go from about 23 units and 10 people to 127 units and 50 people. At the time, in Julio's words, the finance setup was "Hostfully, and Google Sheets. That was it. And credit cards." Vendor payments went out as "ACH transfers directly from the bank."

That setup could hold together at 23 units, but it wasn't built for where Otium was headed. Julio explained that a five- or ten-unit operation can still be managed by hand. Once the portfolio grows, the transactions multiply, and classifying all of them becomes the problem. Without structure, there was no clear way to know whether Otium could grow profitably.

No Way to Tell Which Units Made Money

Otium had no reliable way to track expenses by property, and every new unit made the gap bigger. Spending was tracked in Google Sheets and spread across a mix of cards, including American Express and Amazon Business, which Julio described as "a really big expense." Nothing pulled the spending from every property into one place.

That left the most basic question unanswered. "We didn't have a way to properly track the expenses of the different units we were managing, and we didn't have clarity on whether we were profitable," he said. For a company planning to add properties, not knowing which ones made money made every growth decision harder.

Money Slipping Out Unnoticed

Without spending controls, cash leakage went unchecked. Some of what went out on cards did nothing for the property it was charged to. Cleaning fees were being overpaid, and some contractors' hours weren't being properly tracked.

The process had no checkpoint where someone could catch a bad charge before it hit the books. With more people on the ground spending every month, that risk was only going to grow.

Bill Pay and Month-End Close by Hand

Then the team had to download the bank statements, convert them to CSV files, and pull the transactions out one by one. Every payment had to be rebuilt by hand before it could be recorded, and every new property meant more of them.

Owner statements didn't go out until the 9th. Getting there took 100 to 120 hours of month-end close work. Every month was a race to the next deadline.

No Time to Advise Owners or the Board

The hours spent rebuilding the month left nothing for the work Julio considered most valuable. Otium's owners want different things: some are real estate developers, some invest on behalf of their families, and some plan to run a hotel for a few years before converting it into apartments. Each of them needs a different kind of analysis.

At the time, that analysis was out of reach. Julio said proactive analysis for owners and the board was "impossible" back then. With rapid growth ahead, Otium needed a system that could scale before the next wave of units came on.

The Solution: One Hub for Every Property

Topkey gave Otium one system to run its finances through. For Julio, the point was structure: one pipeline to oversee expenses and keep people accountable, so no one overspends on a property or buys more than they need.

Field Teams That Document Their Own Spend

Today, Otium's field staff use Ramp cards connected to Topkey. Ramp provides the cards, and Topkey adds the property management layer on top: every Ramp transaction runs through the same receipt, property, and approval workflow as the rest of Otium's spending, so it's ready for month-end and owner statements. With Topkey's Ramp integration, teams can even issue and manage virtual Ramp cards without leaving Topkey. Keeping it all in one system was the point for Julio. "Topkey is the main hub where things happen, and I don't want to be doing double work," he said.

Most of Otium's roughly 40 people on the ground carry those cards. They oversee cleaning and property management at each property.

When someone in the field buys home supplies or pays for work at a property, the charge lands in Topkey. The person who made the purchase uploads the invoice or receipt and assigns the property in expense management. From there, the transaction moves to Julio for approval with the receipt and property attached.

Coding happens at the point of purchase, by the person who knows what the purchase was for, so finance isn't left to clean it up at month-end.

Guesty as the Property Backbone

Topkey syncs Otium's property list from Guesty, so expenses are tagged to real units. That unit-level data is part of what Julio now builds his owner and board reporting on.

Otium started on Topkey with Hostfully and moved to Guesty in 2025. Topkey already integrated with Guesty, so the switch was just a matter of connecting it. Julio said the switch required no reformatting or rework. It worked like a plugin.

Approvals That Keep Spending Accountable

Each year, Julio builds a budget by P&L line, covering categories like cleaning, home supplies, and repairs and maintenance. Topkey's approvals are where he checks spending against it.

Approval workflows route card transactions to him once the required details are filled in. For each one, he checks whether it is one-time or recurring, whether the receipt is attached, and whether the property is assigned. When someone overspends, he sees it right away and pings them in Slack asking why they overspent.

Bill Pay and Owner Payouts in One Place

A dedicated team member processes payments throughout the day, and payments route to Julio for approval before they're paid. US vendors are paid through bill pay by ACH, with no more rebuilding bank exports.

Owner payouts follow the same path. At month-end, once owners have reviewed their reports, Julio pays each one from Topkey with a memo by ACH, and every payment is logged. "It's a lot easier than going into your bank account. I just type the first two letters of the property or the owner's name," Julio explained.

A Strategic Partner, Not a Support Queue

Julio works directly with his financial technology consultant at Topkey and reaches him on WhatsApp with whatever comes up: "Hey, do you think we can try this? Hey, do you think you can help me? How do I sort this problem out?" Lately, that has included how to improve the flow of information between Ramp, Topkey, and QuickBooks Online. "I am really happy with [him] because he's really responsive and he has a good warmth," Julio said. That access makes him more active and engaged with the platform.

What Topkey Replaced

Before Topkey, Otium's finances ran on tools and steps that didn't connect. Here's what changed:

• Tracking expenses in Google Sheets.
• Downloading bank statements, converting them to CSV files, and pulling out transactions one by one.
• Sending vendor payments by ACH straight from the bank.
• Paying owners by searching for each one in the bank account.

In their place, spending, approvals, and payments all run through one system, with spending tied to the property it was for.

The Results: Control That Stops Cash Leakage

With every purchase documented, approved, and paid from one place, the payoff shows up in three places Julio tracks closely: his team's hours, the speed of owner statements, and the money that no longer slips away. It also changed what Julio spends his time on, and it gave Otium the structure to keep growing.

100+ Hours Back Every Month

Before Topkey, the bulk of finance work was manual: rebuilding bank exports, chasing transactions, and recording payments one at a time. That work added up across expense management and bill pay.

Today, Julio estimates Otium saves at least 40 hours a month on expense management and at least 60 hours a month on bill pay and owner payouts. His role has shifted from rebuilding the books to approving and reviewing what his team has already coded.

That's how the finance team keeps up across 120+ units. The time Julio got back now goes into the proactive analysis for owners and the board that used to be impossible.

Owner Statements a Week Sooner

That month-end crunch has eased. Before, every receipt, property tag, and payment had to be pieced together after the month was already over, which is why statements slipped to the 9th.

Now, receipts, property tags, and approvals happen at the time of spend, and regular reviews catch issues before the month closes. Month-end has become a review instead of a rebuild, with clean, property-tagged data ready for Otium's books in QuickBooks Online. The month closes on the 31st, and owner statements are ready within two days.

Owners get their statements a week sooner, and they see what was spent, what was invested, and photos of the work done on their property. That level of transparency is a big part of how Otium earns their trust.

$90K+ in Cash Leakage Stopped

In 2025, Otium stopped $90K+ in cash leakage. The leakage showed up in the areas Julio watches most closely: cleaning fees that were being overpaid, contractor hours that weren't properly tracked, and the budget lines he monitors for home supplies, repairs, and maintenance. Approvals, receipts on every transaction, and his reviews are what caught it.

The visibility also exposed where mistakes were being made. Records from before the controls were in place had inconsistencies and human errors. "[Topkey] gave us more clarity over the transactions: what was being spent and where the money was going," Julio said.

With clean data in hand, Otium went further and built new workflows and SOPs around it. The controls that stopped the leakage are now part of how the company operates every day.

From 23 Units to 120+ Units

When Otium started with Topkey, it was a 23-unit operation with about 10 people. Its finances ran on spreadsheets, card statements, and bank exports that weren't built to grow.

Since then, Otium has grown to 120 units in Puerto Rico and 50 people. Along the way it switched PMS platforms, moving from Hostfully to Guesty, without disrupting its finance process. Today the team handles 500 to 800 transactions a month, and Julio manages all of it from Ecuador with 40 people spending on the ground.

Under the old setup, every new unit would have meant more bank exports to rebuild, more receipts to chase, and more hours at month-end. With Topkey, every new property, card, and team member plugs into the same workflow for receipts, approvals, and payments, so growth adds volume without adding the same manual work.

That's how Julio can oversee finance for 127 units with a small back-office team and still have time left for owner and board analysis. That structure is what makes Otium's next stage possible.

From Closing Books to Advising Owners

Before Topkey, Julio couldn't tell which units made money, and he had no time to give owners or the board the analysis they needed. Both problems came down to missing data and missing hours.

Now he has both. Julio gives the board and CEO results, numbers, and profitability analysis whenever they ask. He built a property "thermometer" that shows which units to let go, which to target, and what drives a unit's average daily rate. Julio builds each report to fit the property: smaller units get an owner payout and operational performance summary, while larger properties get a fuller analysis covering seasonality, net income, and outlook. He tailors his analysis to each type of owner, and he gives Otium's revenue manager the fixed and variable costs for every unit, so pricing starts from what each unit actually costs to run.

That analysis has become part of what Otium sells, and owners value Otium for the insight they get. "We're not only managing your property. We're providing operational insights and financial insights," he said. The same data that stopped the leakage now helps Otium stand out with owners.

Why Topkey

Julio sees much of Topkey's value in structure: clear oversight of how people use their cards, spend on properties, and pay owners. The product matters, but so does the team behind it. Julio reaches his consultant over WhatsApp, not through a ticket system. Other platforms promise to get back to him within 24 hours. Julio said the difference shows Topkey "cares about us."

"It makes me trust that if I write him on WhatsApp, he'll get back to me quickly. It's not, 'Get your ticket number,'" Julio said. That closer relationship has made him more active with the platform. He brings new ideas and problems to the table because he knows they'll get worked on, and that keeps Otium moving faster.

A Foundation Built to Double

Otium isn't slowing down. More properties are already under discussion, and Julio is confident the system will scale with whatever comes next.

His advice to other property managers is simple. "If you want a real financial operating system that gives you clarity to actually manage your operations, Topkey would be the best thing you can get," he said. For Otium, that clarity is now the foundation for everything that comes next.

See how Topkey can work for your team.