The founders of hotelbird, Juan A. Sanmiguel and Korbinian Hackl, have been pursuing the goal of digitizing the hotel industry since 2015. While the competition is fierce, the two still see themselves at a clear advantage with their startup — and are inundated with business. Find out more in our 7 questions.
1. Who are you and what do you do? Please briefly introduce yourself and your company!
We are Juan A. Sanmiguel (30), a marketing graduate, and Korbinian Hackl (30), a business informatics graduate, and together we founded hotelbird in 2015. hotelbird is not only our common baby, but also the reason why we know each other and are friends.
I (Juan) came up with the idea for hotelbird on a trip to Florida and, back in Munich, started looking for a co-founder – I found him in Korbinian. He was immediately enthusiastic, quit his old job as a managing partner at a software developer, and joined me in the entrepreneurial adventure.
Hotelbird develops innovative software solutions for the hotel industry with the goal of helping hoteliers ensure satisfied guests, generate more revenue, and reduce process costs. We digitize the entire communication process between reception and guests – transforming the smartphone into the hotel reception: Check-in, information service, room keys, as well as payment and check-out are all digitally mapped and automated. Queues at the reception desk are shortened, and staff are relieved of workload, giving them more time to attend to individual guest requests.
A retrofittable Bluetooth module in the door lock enables the use of digital smartphone keys to open the entrance door, room doors, etc. Digital keys and standard key cards can be used in parallel. This allows guests to choose between modern and traditional service at any time.
Hotelbird is technically ahead
2. But that's been around for a long time!
Yes, we now have some competitors, but we're ahead of them technologically. We already cooperate with leading hotel reservation and locking systems, so our software integrates easily with our customers' software and hardware via interfaces. The software runs fully automatically in the background and uses the latest technologies, such as the latest Bluetooth Low Energy standard.
The mobile payment process via the hotelbird app is also handled by a certified and PCI-compliant payment provider. Sensitive payment data is not stored in the hotelbird app or server. Guests can choose between the guest app, the guest web portal, the kiosk app, or the reception app.
Another advantage and the culmination of our hard work is, of course, our constantly growing customer base. We already count major hotel chains such as H-Hotels, Lindner Hotels, GSH Hotels, Intercity Hotels, Leonardo Hotels, Novum Hospitality, Azimut Hotels, Steigenberger Hotels, Amano Hotels, Rilano Hotels, and Super 8 Hotels among our hotel clients.
The team is most important
3. What are the three main ingredients for your recipe for success?
- Our team is the most important ingredient. We're fortunate to have motivated and experienced colleagues on our team who bring a lot of drive and enthusiasm. Additionally, we complement each other perfectly as a founding team: Korbinian is the tech guy, and Juan is the sales guy!
- Our proven business model is an equally important ingredient. Before we founded hotelbird, we contacted various hotels. It was particularly important to us to learn where their needs pinched and how hotelbird could address them. This allowed us to ensure that our product was needed.
- The hotel industry is a key ingredient. We're in a multi-billion dollar industry that, due to its traditions, still operates very conservatively. Digitalization is still in its infancy here, which gives us the opportunity to revolutionize the industry with our solution and drive digital advancement.
4. Let’s get down to business: How is business going?
We are almost overwhelmed with work, and that is definitely a good sign! A particularly big milestone was the completion of the Seed financing round of two million euros in first closingWe were able to attract BayBG and Hannover Finanz as investors. We are now using the capital for our market rollout and to expand our marketing and sales efforts.
“We definitely have unicorn potential”
5. What does Munich mean to you?
First and foremost, Munich is our home. Our families and friends are here. It also offers us excellent conditions. Many partners and hotels are located here, providing us with an ideal ecosystem for further advancing our company.
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
We definitely have unicorn potential, as our software solution is playing a key role in ushering in the digitalization of the entire booking and stay process in the hotel industry. We offer end users what they already know from their online flight check-in: simple and fast processes. Our expertise makes us not only software providers, but also experts when it comes to digitalization in the hotel industry. We want to set new standards in the industry, similar to what MyTaxi has done in the taxi industry.
7. Hiking and beer garden?
First hiking, then beer garden.
