I am a believer in thought experiments. They are cheap to run and simply stopping for a moment, giving oneself time to think, can be hugely instructive and productive.
Beehive Hospitality was largely the result of such a thought experiment. If you visualise hotel processes and the guest journey, Beehive Hospitality is where all technology roads eventually lead. No matter what your tech stack is, at some point you will need humans to do what machines cannot.
UP2 came about the same way. When I was discussing post-reservation services with my partner, the product quickly became a no-brainer. The business model was very different to Beehive Hospitality. From a business perspective, the financial and commercial pressures were at completely different places. Designing, writing, testing and improving a platform before you have sold a single installation to anyone, means you have to be reasonably certain of what you are doing. Believing in the product is a solid necessity.
So UP2 was based on a different approach, and our discussions with various investors showed that clearly. In a way a that stage, it would have been easier to produce a ‘me too’ product. Talking to people who are used to look at statistical probabilities, and showing them something completely new, always scares the risk-averse investors. I have to recognise that when you try to come up with something properly innovative, when you break through brick walls that have been around for a while, you can expect a couple of bruises along the way, and not everybody wants to bet in that. For us, being prepared with an incredibly thorough plan, and having thought this through, was basically the factor that helped us survive COVID-19.
The pandemic threw a massive curveball to all companies in the service sector. Looking at it all today (as things start looking up in some countries at least), I can’t help thinking that launching a business in hospitality, and then keeping it going during COVID-19 was the biggest test imaginable. It is with humility and caution that I say ‘we did well’ because I know many companies and people who I also respect a lot, didn’t make it. For UP2 we planned for a three year pandemic - so pretty much worse case scenario - and we made our minds up early on. We would bite the bullet, and use the time to improve.
Today we get hoteliers to talk directly to bookers from Expedia, Bookings.com and Agoda, and we have set up our platform so it can easily, securely and quickly connect with pretty much anything out there that is able to handle reservation records and customer profiles (i.e. CRMs). COVID-19 was a catalyst. It forced us to move forward with our innovation early on!
Forgive the cliche as I say: ‘there is light at the end of the tunnel’. The industry is slowly finding its footing again. Although we still have to be thoughtful with how we plan to facilitate hoteliers who are in a position of going back to doing business, that is OK.
“Offering the hospitality industry an entirely new way to establish personalised relationships with each of their guests ... is a world of enormous opportunity”
I have to say I am really looking forward to the next few months. Not only because of the obvious hope vaccination brings to our industry, but also because the world of ancillary sales is fantastic. I look at the commercial and technical complexity it presented from the outset, and what I thought would be an interesting endeavour turned into something that I love. Offering an entire industry a new way to access a completely new relationship with its customers, and in the process unifying existing hotel technologies that never talked to each other before … to me, this carries enormous opportunities.
In terms of what drives incremental revenue and guest satisfaction (with all the downstream benefits for hoteliers), there is no doubt in my mind. Post reservation ancillary sales and personalisation after someone is already a Guest, is a discussion within a completely different context. If you are a hotelier, and you are interested in talking to us about how we can help you get it right, please just contact us here, and it will be my pleasure to assist.
Vladimir Martinov
CEO
Upgrade2
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