Hotelverse is the pioneer in creating API-ified digital twins for hotels. Using this technology solves one of the main problems faced by the industry: the high intermediation of sales, which reduces hotel margins.
In 2019, when then Iberostar Group executives Fermín Carmona and Rafael Bover (currently CEO and COO of Hotelverse) began developing it as a cross-entrepreneurship project within the hotel chain. The goal was to solve a problem faced by Iberostar and the industry in general: the elevated level of intermediation, boosted by the deployment of the Internet and the growth of online comparison sites, reduces the volume of direct sales, and reduces the information available to the consumer during the purchasing process. To solve this problem, they redefine the customer experience and merge operational and commercial processes through technology.
The results in terms of conversion (with 30% growth) and average ticket exceeded the group’s own expectations. In addition, 92% of customers said they preferred the new booking experience. Following this success, the creators decided to take the idea to market. Hotelverse was founded as an independent startup in 2021.
In the conventional booking model, price is the main buying factor, and the hotel website acts simply as one of the sales channels available to the customer. Many users visit the hotel website to check the price offered by online travel agencies (OTAs), but much of this traffic does not convert. Hotelverse gives back the importance to the product variable, through an irreplaceable proposal by the OTAs. The experience is redesigned, API-fied and integrated with hotel web booking processes.
Apart from the room, Hotelverse allows the client to visit and book other services offered by the hotel, such as restaurants, solarium, spa or even space for events. This allows the hotel to monetize a period to which it did not have access before: the time between the room reservation and the guest’s arrival.
The digital twin developed by Hotelverse is integrated in a short time, through API technology into the hotels’ website. The hotels can customize their digital replica as much as they want, being able to have a 360º view of each hotel space, add information about additional services, booking options for services such as accommodation, spa or restaurants among others, and provide information about implemented sustainability measures.
This technology allows users to know in detail the hotel and the room to be booked thanks to the application of a multitude of filters to customize their purchase, such as bed size, views from the room or exact location within the hotel. Thus, hotels can attribute a specific price to each room, according to the specific characteristics of each one.
This democratizes the use of cutting-edge technologies in a sector that is not very digitized, allowing them to take advantage of the potential of cutting-edge developments:
- Software as a Service (SaaS): publication of the application in a cloud environment with automatic infrastructure configuration (IaaS).
- Robot process automation (RPA): automatic flows for PMS connections.
- AI & Machine Learning: identification of mapping correspondences between systems in a predictive way (Roadmap).
- VR: virtual reality for the visualization of the virtual hotel model (Roadmap).
- Big Data: revenue analysis by room number.
This 3D experience can also be integrated into virtual environments such as the metaverse, opening the door for hotels to have a presence in these new platforms. The user has the opportunity to start their journey from the sofa at home. In April 2022 Hotelverse raised a €1 million funding round to accelerate the deployment of its technology. Its investors include Grupo Iberostar, venture capital firm Archipelago Next, the family offices of Areyhold and Toni Nadal and Mexican entrepreneur Braulio Arsuaga.
Hotelverse’s business plans include internationalization in the short term. The company plans to reach the Caribbean in 2022-2023, the US and Asia between 2023-2024.
