Bart Van Linden and Marcela Boturao, co-owners of Exclusive Algarve Villas, speak with Alexander Chetchikov, President of World Luxury Chamber of Commerce, about leadership, consistency, and the discipline required to run an independent brokerage recognized by Luxury Lifestyle Awards as Best Luxury Independent Real Estate Brokerage in the Algarve, Portugal.
In conversation with Chetchikov, Bart and Marcela frame independent brokerage leadership as an exercise in discipline: aligning decision-making, protecting standards, and maintaining clear communication in an environment shaped by complexity and shifting conditions. Their perspective reinforces the role of consistency, process, discretion, and accountability as the practical foundation for trust in luxury real estate.
Alexander Chetchikov: Congratulations on being recognized as Best Luxury Independent Real Estate Brokerage in the Algarve, Portugal. How do you divide responsibilities while keeping a single direction for the company?
Marcela: From the start, our responsibilities along with our roles have been naturally defined. We work independently but in a parallel form towards the company’s goals. While I focus on finding and listing the right product, public relations, and marketing, Bart’s direction is in sales management and strategic development. As one role feeds from the other, the results are achieved with teamwork and are gratifying to both of us.
AC: What does “quality” mean in your work when outcomes are influenced by factors outside anyone’s control?
M: In Portugal, the bureaucracy itself can be a daily challenge. Being able to predict the obstacles, searching for the solutions in advance and having access to the right assistance is one of the crucial steps to being able to provide quality service to our clients. As our clients are not familiar with the Portuguese system, they appreciate being able to rely on professionals to guide them through the process and create their experience as seamless as possible.
AC: In luxury property transactions, discretion is often discussed. How do you operationalize discretion without making the process opaque?
M: In luxury real estate, we often deal with celebrities and high-net-worth clients, and it is important to maintain their discretion. We maintain these transactions “hidden” from social media or any of our marketing methods, even though it would be beneficial for our company to demonstrate this achievement. On the other side, if the vendor is a celebrity and we are not able to visibly promote the property, we have a “secret portfolio” that we can present to qualified buyers. In addition, our vehicles are not branded and our client visits and meetings remain confidential.
AC: How do you set expectations with clients in a way that remains calm and realistic, especially when emotions are high?
Bart: Before clients visits, we’ll organize a (video) call and go through the clients ideal Wishlist, and budgets, sometime the budget doesn’t match up with the property prices, and we’ll need to readjust and organize alternative solutions. With many years of experience, we have a good understanding of the clients’ needs, but also what the market has to offer, so we can be relisting and calm when presenting property options
AC: What internal habits help a brokerage stay consistent as it grows, without losing the strengths of being independent?
B: We like to work with an international team, who speak a minimum of Portuguese and 1 other language, this helps to understand local laws, contracts, and local bank/lawyer and other contacts. One of our strengths versus larger franchises is that we have a smaller but stable team, all of us are available 7 days a week, and we have a very personal approach with our clients. Anyone working in our company must be available during any day of the week. We work with no stress, pressure and no-hassle approach with clients, furthermore our team is knowledgeable and per office they know all ins and outs of this area.
AC: Looking ahead, what do you want your organization to be known for in the Algarve market, beyond individual transactions?
B: We would like to grow our team to approximately 4 sales consultants per office, have a larger set up for admin/website and digital marketing, something with social media and videos is something we’ll need to grow into. We would like to be the name for when clients want to buy luxury properties in west and central Algarve. We already have a good name but would like to extend this further and also explore new markets where we can find buyers.
Discover more about Exclusive Algarve Villas: https://www.exclusivealgarvevillas.com/.
