It is no secret that the hotel industry is saturated with competition across the globe.
From hostels to five-star suites, every city can cater for its visitors, guaranteeing either a perfect business trip or holiday. To add to that, with the likes of Airbnb or maybe even Couchsurfing,you are greeted with a plethora of options where ‘spoilt for choice’ might just be an understatement. The reality is that the industry is booming and travel has never been easier.
Turning this idea on its head, however, independent hotels, suites and B&Bs are faced with the tough challenge of making themselves stand out amongst the rest, which can prove increasingly tricky when listed on comparison sites against all of their competitors. This is certainly no easy feat, especially as more accommodation booking websites continue to crop up alongside apps.
The entire process, naturally, is geared at making the process as easy as possible for guests, but how much thought has been put into making this set up easy for the hosts?
Enter Getabed, Mexico’s leading startup that helps their clients sell services, such as hotel rooms and suites, without having to use independent booking platforms. Based in Guadalajara, arguably one of Mexico’s leading tech cities, Getabed is an online platform that was also one of the exciting Latin American finalists that recently took part alongside the other countries in the LATAM Seedstars Summit.
‘‘Our robust platform not only will help in having all your properties ready to be booked online, you will also be able to manage each and every single one of them in a very easy manner,’’ the Mexican startup explained.
What the technology allows hostels and accomodation services to do is increase direct reservations through one, easy to use online platform, saving hotel managers time and more importantly saving on the costs of using a third party sales service.
The startup was invited to Peru earlier this month in order to take part in an abundance of tech innovation events, as the community across Latin America celebrated the pioneering technologies taking the world by storm. The event welcomed over 300 participants including startups, investors and tech leaders to look at how Latin America can contribute to the future changes in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As a result, the Getabed tech specialists brushed shoulders with key contenders from across the continent, as well as eyeing up workshops in Edtech, Healthtech and Innovation ecosystems.
A further exciting development which recently came from the Lima summit was the announcement of the opening of a Seedspace Coworking space in the South American capital of Lima.
“These spaces are not just co-working,’’ said Juliane Butty, Seedstars LATAM Regional Manager. ‘‘They cultivate productivity, connections, and become a place where people can collaborate within the ecosystem. That’s why we’re so excited to bring a Seedspace to Peru.”
What Mauricio Madigral, Getabed’s CEO and Co-founder, explains above, is that they are changing the way that the tourist sector works. It’s a pivotal industry that has the potential to fund vast developments and improvements across cities in Latin America.
