Hotels have a wide selection of software to choose from, whether a single provider or a full-spectrum solution from one vendor. Today's startup pitch comes from a new entrant to the market, Hotel Genius, which bills itself as an all-in-one solution for managing hotels online.
The product suite includes a proprietary website builder, booking engine and mobile app, among other features.
The team, based in Greece, consists of 25 people with founding leadership from Theodore Theodoropoulos and Spiros Loisios. Funding currently sits at Euro 450,000, which includes founder investment, and the next round of financing will be in the range of Euro 500,000 to 2 million.
Tell us how you founded the company, why and what made you decide to jump in and create the business.
My partner and I have been in the hospitality industry for almost 15 years now. Throughout our career, we faced all the difficulties of hoteliers and the hotel industry as a whole. Three years ago, we decided to move on our own, and started our own digital strategy agency in order to provide hotels with the best online branding and sales opportunities.
It was through this effort that we realized that something else was missing. The market was not just asking for an agency. It was asking for a product or a service that could help hoteliers organize and manage all their activities not only effectively but also quickly and at ease. After a lot of brainstorming and effort, we decided to move to a different kind of business that would be more of a hospitality technology one than an e-commerce one.
Therefore, we decided to work on a new project that would stand out not only for its usefulness in the hotel industry but also for its innovative nature in terms of technology. This way, we ended up with a unique, innovative cloud-based software that manages to combine all e-commerce and marketing activities in a single platform.
In fact, our cloud-based software, which we named Hotelgenius for obvious reasons, is a unique all-in-one management system for all sales and communication channels that will facilitate and optimize all online activities a hotel would perform, by combining three main tools – Website Builder, Booking Engine and Mobile Concierge App – together with a great list of other tools and features.
What is your estimation of market size?
As we speak, there are almost 700K hotels on the web. We would love to get an important share of that market that would be around 15K European hotels within the next 4 years, as our focus is on that continent now.
Please describe your competition.
Although the hospitality technology market thrives of companies that provide solutions competitive to the individual products that consist Hotelgenius, there is nothing else as unified and inclusive as our solution!
What is your revenue model and strategy for profitability?
Our revenue stream is based on the SAAS model. We charge our customers with monthly or yearly subscription fees for as long as they use our products. There is an additional charge for every new tool they add, but our pricing model is still competitive!
Our profitability is based on high volumes of end-users and increased average revenue per user since each user would use our total solution and not only certain products.
What problem does the business solve?
Primarily, the main problem solved with our solution is that of segmentation. Our software allows hoteliers and marketers to manage every single channel of sales and communication through one unified platform that is very easy to use, as it does not require any special skills or knowledge.
Secondly, it is a very cost-effective solution, not only because of its subscription-based model, but also because it eliminates all third party costs and outsourcing expenses.
Thirdly, it improves a hotel’s staff productivity as it reduces the workload, making the staff able to spend time and effort on other tasks, rather than on ones that can be managed in a matter of seconds through our tools.
Finally, yet most importantly, Hotelgenius software allows for reputation management through a number of channels that will result in a thoroughly positive brand image on the web.
How did the initial idea evolve and were there changes/any pivots along the way in the early stages?
During the early stages of our company, there were some minor changes on our software while we were going through our trial stage. From the moment we went live and we had our official release, the only changes we are going through are some improvements in terms of design and functionality of our platform, as we are always gathering feedback from our customers in order to improve our product. However, in general, the idea and the product is almost untouched from January until now.
Why should people or companies use the business?
According to existing customers and our company’s mission, Hotelgenius is the most cost-effective, quick and productive way to manage a hotel online. It reduces a hotel’s expenses and the staff’s effort and workload while at the same time increases profitability.
Moreover, because of its adjustability to each business’ type, our product allows hoteliers to add or remove tools and features according to their needs. In other words, it not only gives them an effective way to manage their hotel online, it also allows them to make the appropriate changes when needed. Finally yet importantly, it allows hoteliers to avoid once and for good, the costs of 3rd party companies (agencies, marketing experts and more).
What is the strategy for raising awareness and the customer/user acquisition (apart from PR)?
Our best means of developing our business is our existing customers. Then, we have an in-house marketing department that is working on advertising and promotion projects in major European media and, of course, social media.
We are going to participate in major relative exhibitions to increase brand awareness not only to potential customers but also to agencies and companies that would like to work closely with us.
Where do you see the company in three years time and what specific challenges do you anticipate having to overcome?
We hope that in three years’ time we will have at least 10K customers. In addition, we need to improve and add more features to our product in order to place ourselves one-step ahead of competition (we understand that, eventually, there will be other companies developing a software like ours).
Moreover, we want to educate hoteliers so that they understand the benefits of a strong online presence and the usefulness of our solution.
What is wrong with the travel, tourism and hospitality industry that it requires a startup like yours to help it out?
The main problem of the industry is the lack of effective e-commerce tools that would allow hoteliers to get rid of outsourcing costs and 3rd parties. Also, there is no unified solution to allow them to manage their individual sales channels in order to get a good position regarding OTAs and to confront competition.
Finally, it looks like the systems already available out there are not user-friendly, but most of all they lack the support (technical or not) we can provide to those who choose ours.
What other technology company (in or outside of travel) would you consider yourselves most closely aligned to in terms of culture and style... and why?
Since our solution is rather unique and specialized in the hotel market, I would not really see any other companies aligned in terms product and services. Nevertheless, we are trying to follow company ethics and culture that match those of Tech giants like Google! We need to have individuals working like one solid team! Inspiration and creativity is what our working environment feels like!
Which company would be the best fit to buy your startup?
OTAs would best fit to buy our start-up, as they will have the opportunity to control all e-commerce activities from one place.
Describe your startup in three words.
All-inclusive e-commerce.
Tnooz view:
Hotel technology is a competitive industry peppered with unsuccessful smaller players who were never able to gain traction against the incumbent behemoths. Nonetheless, there has been a growing appetite for unexpected consolidation in the space — such as Priceline snagged buuteeq — and Europe is an interesting proposition for a home-grown software.
Given the challenge of selecting software and training staff, there could be an inherent advantage for HotelGenius as they can quickly on-board different functions for a hotel. By focusing their sales efforts on hotels on the more basic side of a digital presence, the team can quickly become integral to a hotel's operation and truly help the be more effective in managing the various online channels.