As the hotel industry continues to evolve, it's becoming increasingly important for hotels to partner with technology providers that offer a variety of solutions to help streamline their operations. This is where Profitroom comes in, providing a range of services such as a booking engine, marketing automation, channel manager, web design, and more.

In this interview with Edyta Walczak, Chief Customer Officer at Profitroom, we'll delve deeper into how the company's approach can benefit hotels in today's market.

‍Can you provide an overview of Profitroom's positioning, including the solutions offered, its market penetration, and target customer base?

Profitroom is a hospitality software company that offers a range of solutions for hotels. Our main product is a highly converting booking engine that helps hotels to maximize total revenue per room, reduce operational efforts, and improve the customer journey. Our main focus is to drive profitability for outstanding hotels using technology and to increase direct sales. We prioritize delivering a guest-centric experience and driving top revenue for our hotel partners. Our target customers include independent hotels, as well as leisure hotels, hotel chains, and collections across the globe. We have a significant market share in the hospitality industry, and operate in around 47 countries, especially in European markets such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, and others. Our solutions have also received several industry awards and recognitions.

The growth of travel technology has resulted in two main strategic approaches: "All-in-One" solutions and open API-based standalone solutions. Could you elaborate on why you believe the All-in-One approach, as exemplified by Profitroom, is the preferred direction?

We believe that the all in one solution is the way forward.From the hotel's perspective, hotels are looking for a provider that can cater to many needs. Profitroom's offering includes a booking engine, marketing automation, a channel manager, and outstanding website design. This allows hotels to consolidate their operations and streamline their processes. Our dedicated customer success team works with our key partners to optimize and implement these solutions.

From the customer's perspective, they are looking for a bespoke booking experience and are focused more on experiences, add-ons, and extras. Our booking engine has an extensive and advanced module that allows guests to add extras and personalize their stays. Additionally, our packages module within the booking engine allows hotels to create unique and bespoke packages to cater to customer needs. We believe that the all-in-one solution supports the hotel's strategy and also allows guests to build memorable experiences and stays.

What do you see as the major challenges facing the hotel industry in 2023 and beyond?

There are several challenges that the hotel industry may face in 2023 and beyond. One of the main challenges is the shift in customer behavior that we have seen post-Covid. Customers are now looking for exceptional and unique stays, and hotels need to adapt their technology and operations to meet these expectations. They need to look at different distribution options and create unique experiences for their guests.

Another challenge that hotels are facing is the shortage of staff. Profitroom's focus is to help our hotel partners address this challenge. We offer several functionalities within our booking engine that help hotels streamline their operations and reduce administration costs within the reservations front office teams. For example, our "state opportunity" functionality allows hotels to send state offers to guests via email, reducing the number of calls and emails required for bookings.

Overall, the hotel industry needs to adapt to changing customer demands and staffing shortages, and Profitroom is committed to providing solutions to help our hotel partners address these challenges.

Could you provide some insights into upcoming developments or releases from Profitroom?

Yes, as mentioned earlier, at Profitroom, we focus on the guest journey and the operational challenges that our hotel partners face. Our plans for the future are centered on streamlining hotel operations by developing new tools that reduce costs, save time on reservation administration, and improve efficiency. For example, we are working on automated upsell solutions and booking modifications. We are also enhancing personalization to directly benefit hotel guests by allowing them to customize their bookings with add-ons, extras, and packages that cater to their specific needs, especially for special occasions. We believe that listening to our customers and guests helps us to develop our roadmap and drive product development to cater to their needs.

Can you discuss your decision to integrate Profitroom with HyperGuest and the benefits this provides to hotels in terms of distribution of their inventory?

Profitroom's decision to integrate with HyperGuest was driven by a shared goal of streamlining and innovating hotel distribution. The current hotel technology market can be quite fragmented, making it difficult for hotels to effectively distribute their inventory. By integrating with HyperGuest, we are able to offer our hotel partners streamlined and effective distribution, driving better bookings and profitability. Our vision, as well as HyperGuest's, is to give hotels full control of their distribution and make it more profitable for them. This integration allows our hotel partners to reach new audiences and expand their distribution channels, ultimately resulting in increased revenue and profitability.

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