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Key takeaways
We spoke with Gaston Vejar, Group Product Manager at Limehome, to explore how his team uses AI-powered feedback analysis to turn vast amounts of customer data into faster, smarter product decisions - and how this approach is reshaping the way Limehome’s product team works.
- With thousands of weekly feedback touchpoints, Gaston and the Limehome product team use Chattermill to efficiently process large volumes of data, transforming it into actionable insights for targeted product improvements and proactive problem-solving.
- AI-driven analysis has reduced their feedback processing time from weeks to days, enabling faster and data-informed product decisions.
- Their product roadmap is now guided by clear, validated customer signals from AI insights, moving beyond gut feelings and limited interviews.
- Chattermill also improves collaboration across teams by providing a common, data-backed understanding to confidently prioritize features and address key customer needs.
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A conversation with Gaston Vejar, Group Product Manager at Limehome
Q: Limehome has been one of the most disruptive companies in hospitality recently, and with your 10+ years in product management, I know you’ve been deeply focused on understanding customer needs and turning them into product improvements.
You’ve also worked closely with engineering, CX, and design teams. I’d love to explore how collaboration and productivity play out in your work - and especially how AI is changing the way product teams operate.
Let’s talk about whether AI helps you move faster, make better decisions, and improve collaboration.
Q: Could you tell us a little bit more about your role at Limehome as a group product manager and your current objectives?
Gaston: My name is Gaston. I’ve been at Limehome for five and a half years. Before that, I worked at Accenture for a long time, so I bring experience from both large companies and startups. I lead product for the guest journey at Limehome, making sure our guests have a great experience every step of the way. We have five product teams, each focused on a different part of the guest journey. Right now, I’m focused on improving how we handle guest interactions - making them seamless, fast, and personalized.
Q: When you think about customer experience, why do you believe customer feedback matters to your team more than ever? How important is it to your team?
Gaston: I think it’s because customer expectations are higher than ever. Our guests give us clear insights into what’s working and what isn’t. Ignoring that feedback would be like overlooking a roadmap to success. Especially in hospitality, small issues can quickly become big problems, so staying proactive is essential.
Q: Can we maybe share with our audience the volume of feedback you’re dealing with on a monthly or annual basis? How big is the challenge?
Gaston: We’re talking about tens of thousands. It’s not just the reviews we get - every interaction with customer support counts as feedback, as well as any transactional communication. Even what happens within the product itself. With around 4,000 units live right now, we receive tens of thousands of touchpoints every week.
How Limehome turns customer insights into product wins with Chattermill
Q: Thinking about those large volumes of feedback, how did you manage it before adopting an AI tool like Chattermill?
Gaston: Mostly spreadsheets and manual tagging - it was a real nightmare. We had a dedicated Insights Manager, but she was basically trying to get water from stones. It was impossible to go through all the feedback, and we ended up spending more time categorizing it than actually acting on it. Definitely not scalable or enjoyable.
Q: What about customer interviews? I know product and UX teams rely on those to get insights for improving products.
Gaston: Customer interviews are gold, but they’re just snapshots. They provide depth, but we needed breadth - something that represents our entire customer base at scale. So, we still do interviews, but we needed a tool to give us insights from a much larger portion of our guests.
Q: Got it. So tell me, what made you realize it was time to look for a dedicated tool instead of handling the process manually?
Gaston: We realized we were drowning in data. Luckily, we have a dedicated Customer Insights Manager who really focused on this problem, and it just clicked - we couldn’t scale manual work, especially as our user base grew. It made sense to look for a tool like Chattermill that could help us extract insights from all that data.
Q: And then you started working with Chattermill. What were your first impressions of the platform?
Gaston: I was very happy. My first interaction was during the setup phase for the digital product - we had multiple sessions and got a tour of how to use it. My first reaction was, “This actually works.” It felt like someone flipped the lights on in a dark room.
Q: Can you share with our audience how you’re using Chattermill today? What does your day-to-day with the platform look like?
Gaston: I’m usually looking at the net sentiment of our digital journey. The platform frees us from manual work - rather than decoding comments, we jump straight into understanding what actions to take. It’s much more proactive and less reactive overall. I also love the highlights and phrases in Chattermill - they really help us identify pain points and prioritize them.
Q: Are there specific questions or business problems you’re trying to solve through customer feedback?
Gaston: Primarily, we want to understand how to make our guests happier and more loyal, while also catching friction points early and spotting new trends. With Chattermill, we were able to analyze which issues actually impact our ratings - most of them were around online check-in and digital access. By creating specific themes for these areas, we get really targeted insights. We can filter by theme, compare different properties, and see how they perform. The depth of analysis we get with Chattermill is impressive and has really helped us focus on what matters most.
Q: Can you share an example of an issue or opportunity you discovered with Chattermill that you might have missed otherwise?
Gaston: Definitely. This happened a while ago, but we kept getting recurring feedback about confusion around arrivals at certain locations. Working closely with the guest experience team, we realized the instructions in our digital products weren’t clear enough for guests to find the property easily.
This was something we wouldn’t have picked up from the digital product alone. At some locations, guests had to go through a different property to reach the right door, which wasn’t obvious. Thanks to Chattermill, we identified this issue and were able to address it.
Q: Do you have any favorite features or specific tools in Chattermill that you use a lot?
Gaston: Absolutely. The sentiment analysis and trending topics features are real lifesavers - they help us quickly spot what’s hot and what’s not. I also really appreciate the highlights of phrases, especially when it comes to prioritization. Being able to see how often a specific comment comes up helps us identify the bigger problems we need to tackle first.
The impact on product decisions and team productivity
Q: Let’s talk about the impact of AI on your team’s productivity. How has AI changed the speed of turning customer feedback into decisions?
Gaston: It’s transformed the process from taking weeks to just days - sometimes we can act on insights within a single day. Being able to catch feedback in near real-time makes us much more flexible and responsive.
Q: And what about the impact on your product roadmap?
Gaston: Before, our roadmap was mostly guided by gut feeling and insights from a few interviews, without validation from a larger sample. Now, with Chattermill, we have much clearer customer signals and greater confidence in our decisions.
Q: Does that also impact your collaboration with other teams?
Gaston: Absolutely. It’s much easier to speak the same language now. When we present features or problems to solve, we have solid data to back up why something is the top priority and why it matters.
Q: What kind of time savings have you seen since integrating AI or Chattermill into your feedback analysis?
Gaston: Honestly, it feels infinite. Before, we simply couldn’t do this at scale, and now we can. I’d say we save hours every week. But it’s not just about time saved - it’s also the confidence we gain from the insights we get.
Q: Looking back, what’s the most noticeable shift or benefit since you started using Chattermill?
Gaston: I’d say we’ve gone from mostly reactive firefighting to being proactive. Now, we’re ahead of issues instead of constantly chasing them. Of course, some issues still come up unexpectedly, but for the most part, we’re focused on proactive improvements.
Q: You've been working with Chattermill for a few years now, but everyone starts somewhere. What advice would you give to a product manager or UX team member just starting with Chattermill?
Gaston: First, don’t be afraid to jump in. Dive in quickly and don’t wait for perfection. You get a lot of value by using it and learning as you go. Use the insights right away, iterate fast, and you’ll see your impact grow.
Q: If someone was on the fence about using Chattermill, what would you tell them about the benefits they’d receive?
Gaston: I’d say picture your team with clarity instead of chaos - making decisions based on data, not just gut feeling. It’s a no-brainer if you value truly understanding your customers.
You need a tool like this to manage product effectively, convince stakeholders, and bring real context to your team when solving problems. Backing your decisions with data is essential - especially when you’re dealing with large volumes of feedback like we do at Limehome.
We were lucky to implement Chattermill a few years ago, and now we’re handling three times the feedback we had before.
Inside the mind of a product leader
Q: What's your secret superpower as a product leader?
Gaston: I’d say empathy paired with ruthless prioritization.
Q: What's the first thing you check in Chattermill each Monday?
Gaston: I check the trending issues from the weekend.
Q: Which feedback channels matter most to your team?
Gaston: The chatbot and the direct reviews.
Q: What's the most underrated feedback source?
Gaston: I’d say transactional emails.
Q: One metric you're obsessed with?
Gaston: Right now, the guest effort score.
Q: Biggest product myth you wish would disappear?
Gaston: That feedback slows down innovation.
Q: What's your go-to way to get buy-in from leadership?
Gaston: Quick wins, aligned with long-term strategy, backed by customer quotes.
Q: The most unexpected insight from customer feedback?
Gaston: This sounds obvious now, but guests engage way more when they think the communication isn’t automated.
Q: What's the best compliment a customer has given your team?
Gaston: “It felt like home but smarter.”
Q: Favorite Chattermill feature and why?
Gaston: I’d say voice analysis - it really made our feedback analysis whole. Before that, we were missing most of the info from phone calls. That was a game-changer.
Q: Any trends in product you’re paying close attention to in 2025?
Gaston: Hyper-personalization powered by AI.
Q: One thing product teams should stop doing immediately?
Gaston: Ignoring qualitative data for vanity metrics.
Q: What's the most rewarding part of your job?
Gaston: Seeing my team succeed by turning insights into value and learning big lessons.
Q: The best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?
Gaston: You are not your user. Listen more.
Q: If your team had a tagline, what would it be?
Gaston: This is gonna sound cheesy, but: Less friction, more magic.
Q: Gaston, it’s been a pleasure having you as a guest today. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with our community. I wish you exciting projects ahead, and I hope Chattermill will always be a part of them.
Gaston: For sure. It has grown with us as well, helping us incorporate more feedback, be more confident, and add more value.
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