This Month we get to know better HotelMap:
What was your motivation to join ICCA?
Hotel booking for Association events is both complicated and outdated, yet it is essential to the successful running of an Association congress that this complexity is managed effectively. We were introduced to the specific problems of the Association business by Congrex Switzerland, a leading Professional Congress Organiser (PCO). HotelMap is motivated to solve problems in the complex hotel booking sector of which Association events are an important category.
Tell us your story. How did HotelMap get started?
HotelMap was created initially when the world’s largest hotel company and the world’s largest event owner introduced us to the complexity and need for transformation and modernisation in the event and group hotel booking sector. Whilst most of our personal and work lives have been transformed by remarkable technology, the event hotel sector looked like the one that time forgot. Something had to be done and the sector represents $130 BN per year and for us this was a challenge worth accepting.
What sets HotelMap apart?
Everybody in this sector has been doing the best they could with what they had under very difficult circumstances. HotelMap does not wish to critique how things were done in the past. The only way we wish to set ourselves apart is that we are sharing our work with everybody in the sector. We choose to collaborate, not compete. The HotelMap platform and its numerous technologies are available for everyone to license.
What can we expect to see from HotelMap in the future?
HotelMap is trying to help events and event management companies all over the world. Our catchment area involves 123k events every year. If we are to work effectively at that scale and provide genuine value to the community that we are trying to serve we need to welcome a new type of team member of which we currently have four (Magellan, Magnus, Magnum and Maguire). These four robots are based out of our research centre in Switzerland. Expect these guys to be doing more of the work in the coming years.