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Hotelmize has proven that it really is a front runner in travel tech as the company has won the category of Hospitality for the Future at the recent Travel Forward Summit.
Hotelmize unlocks hidden profits in hotel bookings using technologies that track and analyze reservations in order to find the best rates on existing bookings. Hotelmize helps companies that liaise between the hotel and the traveller, such as OTAs, tour operators, travel agencies, bedbanks, and any other mediator that serves as a bridging agent between hotels and properties and the travellers in order to maximize their profits.
Speaking at this year’s World Travel Market, Dor Krubiner, CEO of Hotelmize, commented on the award: “We are proud of having been chosen by WTM and Travel Forward as the technology travel companies need to use for the recovery and future of the industry. We presented on stage our latest development and the solution that has made us the leading fintech-travel start-up that offers revenue-boosting and cutting-edge technology products to the travel industry. However, many other products are still to come in the next few months.”
While the company did not escape the wrath of the COVID pandemic, Hotelmize proved to be more than resilient as it managed to increase its client base by 350-400%. Moreover, the demand for profit optimization solutions has peaked during this pandemic.
TD sat down with Krubiner and talked about travel recovery and trends as well as the products they have in the pipeline.
Travel Daily (TD): Congratulations on your win at the recent Front Runners Competition under the category of Hospitality for the Future. What do you think is your competitive edge compared to other presenters this year?
Dor Krubiner (DK): We are doing something really innovative in the industry. We are utilizing advanced machine learning technologies to build fintech-based travel products and technologies that allow us to help travel companies leverage the travel market inefficiencies and anomalies. It is a new approach on how we bring advanced technologies to an industry where it is not common to use them in.
TD: You mentioned that Hotelmize uses capital trading techniques coupled with big data and machine learning algorithms to shop for the lowest possible rate. If we are applying the stock trading principle here, is there a possibility that the company will suffer a loss using your technology?
DK: With our main and most popular product, hotel repricing technology, what we do, basically, is we are shorting hotel bookings but without the risk of losing. In capital market language, the position is already covered as we are doing it in the post-booking stage where the booking is already sold to the client. If the price drops, we manage to create an extra profit, but if the price rises after, there is no risk. So, it is a win-win solution!
In one of the products that we are planning to release in the first quarter of 2022, if there is a risk in the product, we carry it. We are the tech provider, we are the ones building the models, we are the ones managing the data, and we are the ones carrying the risk as well. In our vision, travel companies will always have the opportunity to enjoy the benefit from the technology that we create, but they won’t carry any risk.
TD: You teased that you have new products in the pipeline for 2022. Do you have plans to apply the same technologies to other travel sectors?
DK: We are going to expand our market verticals. If we look back on the hospitality industry, during the past 4-5 years, we are now approaching the cruise and airline industries. The new product that we are going to launch will increase our serviceable market.
One of the main assets of the company is our proprietary rate prediction algorithm, which allows us to know how the price will fluctuate in the future. On top of that, we are analyzing booking behaviour, cancellation behaviour, booking patterns, future demand, and future supply. When you combine all those variables, you can produce very creative things and this is exactly what we are doing.
The foundation of it, there is always the price prediction, which will give companies the ability to know if the current offering is a good offer or will we have a better one in the future.
TD: There is no denying that the travel sector suffered a blow from the COVID pandemic and for more than a year, many companies have had very low revenues if any at all, how does Hotelmize help in the sector’s recovery?
DK: We currently have three main products that we are offering: hotel repricing technology, virtual contractor and room mapping technologies. The potential of those is to create billions of dollars in extra profit for travel companies.
With that being said, we don’t only want to provide more value to Hotelmize, we want to provide more value to travellers. Therefore, when we decided on which products we are going to provide to the market, our main goal is how to increase the value for our clients.
TD: It’s like we are entering a new era post-COVID. What are the travel trends you see in the upcoming year that you think your clients can capitalise on?
DK: Anyone who will provide more certainty of travel will have an edge over all the rest. For example, the difference between non-refundable and free cancellation has drastically changed.
