The hospitality sector is not an easy one to create startup in as it’s not only fragmented and diverse but also getting more competitive, Yet, there are many brave entrepreneurs out there who are willing to take a shot at it.
Three of these startups took to the stage at WIT Bootcamp in Singapore to relate their stories on why they are entering this industry with products that are making a difference in hotel bookings and stays.
The panel’s moderator Timothy Hughes, vice president, business development for Agoda, perhaps put it best on the challenge they have undertaken with the opening question: “How do you convince people to leave their days jobs to work for you on this crazy journey?”
Tripstease’s Charlie Osmond telling Agoda’s Timothy Hughes how he gets people to join his ‘crazy journey”
Inroads made by their companies, a chance to make a difference and persistence seem to have worked for Triptease, Bespoke and Softinn Solutions in attracting staff.
Triptease, founded in 2013, to help hotels deliver a better digital experience and increase direct bookings has 120 staff, up from 40. Its Chief Tease Charlie Osmond said briefing potential candidates and taking them for drinks helps too.
For Akemi Tsunagawa, founder & CEO of Bespoke, it’s sheer persistence. “For the CTO post it took me six months to convince him to join me, same too for the product manager. I have to reach out to them and not give up.”
Persistence wins for Bespoke’s Akemi Tsunagawa
She founded Bespoke in 2015 to create a new digital experience for travelers. Its AI concierge, Bebot, is Japan’s first and most used multilingual chatbot, and is currently servicing a wide range of clients from heritage hotels to international hotel chains such as Holiday Inn.
Jee Shen (Jason) Lee, founder of Softinn Solutions had a harder time, as it had to “struggle to make the payroll story”. Being based in Malacca, a small state in Malaysia, also made it harder for this travel tech start, which provides cloud-based reservation system for boutique hotels and vacation rentals, to find talent. (Softinn is WIT Japan & North Asia Startup of the Year 2017)
When asked, if given US$100 to spend on tech how much they would divide to plumbing, room enhancement and brand (blue sky) here’s how they answered:
Triptease’s Osmond: “All on advertising and targeting as it helps me to understand the customers”.
Bespoke’s Akemi: 10|10|80: “Blue Sky the highest as it’ll be a return on investment and on chatbot, which is widely used In Japan.”
Softinn Solutions’ Jee Shen (Jason) Lee: Chatbots more suitable for hiring right now.
Softinn Solutions’ Lee: “85|10|5. Highest on plumbing as the average hotel doesn’t do plumbing well.”
As to the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the panellists were not in a hurry to use it. “Not everyone is into AI. 30% of the time people still need human help. We’re not there yet,” said Akemi.
Lee thinks even chatbot is not for hotels yet. “It’s more suitable for potential hire such as Q&A or for job openings at the backend.”
Challenged on how they would prioritise spending for product development, the answers were Virtual Reality, Voice and Messaging, although all agree not right now but perhaps in two to three years.
Asked if they looked to China for what tech they would adopt, they answered: “Hotels already adopting the IoT retail.”
In parting, the panel gave some sound advice on how to grow the hospitality business: Get out of the office, travel more and have fun!”
