How can hotels make extra money while at the same time offering their guests a much better tourism experience? Irish firm Staypal has built a solution.
With higher expectations from tourists, social media and the threat from Airbnb, hotels are having to rethink their guest experience. Gerry Hanratty, CEO of Staypal, a travel technology company, wants to put the hotel “at the centre of the tourist’s experience.”
It all started with aeroplanes
The price of a flight from Milan to Paris was €400 in 1992; it is €25. A large contributor to falling airfares is due to ancillary fees such as baggage and allocated seats allowing basic fares to be reduced. Staypal is developing technology to open up new ancillary revenue opportunities to the hotel sector. “We are not suggesting that hotel staff roam the corridors selling scratch cards but rather connect guests with tours, activities, and services that generate revenue,” says Hanratty.
The old way of doing things is stale
When a guest needs to contact the front desk at a hotel they have two choices; they can go down to the front desk or call on the phone but is this the best experience for a guest? How hotels engage with their guests is changing; communicating with SMS or Facebook messenger will overtake the standard in-room phone when a guest needs something. Staypal is taking this trend and enhancing it by facilitating bookings for activities in and outside the hotel during these guest conversations.
“By focusing on the lasting guest experience, not just the transactional check in and out, you’re responding to the needs of today’s tourist.”
Making money from other things than rooms
Traditionally hotels are busy managing room rates and availability across multiple web channels such as Booking.com. While technology has enabled hotels to manage rooms rates, this has been to the detriment
