Beonprice offers a Revenue Management cloud-solution for hotels
Please introduce yourself and your startup Beonprice to our readers!
Founded in 2013, Beonprice is one of Europe’s fastest-growing B2B hospitality travel technology companies. Committed to the leadership and future of revenue management, Beonprice offers a Revenue Management cloud-solution for hotels, based on Artificial Intelligence optimising price and distribution based on consumer intent and buying habits.
Beonprice has developed HQI™, the only hotel market index that measures the overall quality of a hotel to understand the competitive position and price elasticity of demand in the market. Agility, innovation and organisation are the engines of the brand, with the aim of offering a cost-effective solution and being part of the DNA of each of its clients.
How did you get the idea of Beonprice?
Ruben’s [Sanchez, co-founder and CEO] sister worked in hotel chains and told us about the great opportunity that existed in the tourism sector for technological disruption, where the conditions of selling hotel rooms were changing. At that time there were not many tools on the market to help hoteliers sell at the right price and pace. The existing ones were mainly American and provided a lot of data, but in practice it was very difficult to make decisions based on that information.
Ruben and I wanted to start a new project. In previous years we had worked in technology companies and we were determined to create a new company where we could develop a product to be sold globally. With the business idea, we began to analyse the business model at the Founder Institute (a Silicon Valley accelerator that had landed in Spain). For four months we were modeling the idea, developing the business plan and creating a company with the mission of transforming the hotel sector, especially distribution, providing high-value solutions, very simple to use in all areas of the hotel: from the presidency, partners, revenue managers or receptionists.
Why did you decide to start making Beonprice a reality?
We can still see that 84% of hotels do not use revenue management technology but its adoption is growing. There is a big chance it will become a key feature of the hotel tech stack, with the ever-changing online landscape, and with technology becoming more affordable.
Agility, innovation and organization are the engines of our brand, with the aim of offering profitable innovation and being part of the DNA of each of our customers. We developed the HQI™, the only index in the hotel market that measures the overall quality of a hotel in order to understand its competitive positioning and price elasticity. It takes into account more than 350 objective quality features, such as location, hotel services and facilities, catering, hotel room size, as well as online reputation. HQI™ also monitors customer booking behaviour, while bearing in mind the quality expectation of the establishment before and after booking.
What is the vision of Beonprice?
We have democratised Revenue Management and allow hoteliers to focus on what really is their business: customer service. We want to help hotels, taking into account that intermediaries become stronger and stronger, increase commissions and the hotelier feels helpless. Our vision is to provide innovative technology based on artificial intelligence to help the hotel sell the maximum number of rooms with the highest possible margin taking into account the very competitive ecosystem.
Our main clients are hotel chains, although we also have independent hotels and apartment managers in our portfolio, who are concerned about getting the most out of their marketing. All this through an easy and intuitive solution that gives them the information they need to make strategic decisions for their business and increase profitability.
How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?
One of the biggest challenges in terms of product evolution is to be able to satisfy the constant needs of our customers who are accompanied by the change that the hotel distribution is constantly undergoing. The advantage is that our customer-centric vision allows us to think as a strategic partner who goes along with its customers and anticipates the needs of the hotelier.
Who is your target audience?
As a Revenue Management Systems company, our target audience at Beonprice is predominantly people who work within hotels. This can include General Managers, Director of Rooms, Revenue, Sales and Marketing professionals, as well as IT Directors – anyone who engages with the revenue and sales channels. We provide them with more than just software – in 2019, we launched the Beonprice Academy which provides all hotel staff with online training of revenue strategies.
Currently, we have over 2,000 clients in more than 30 countries ranging from independent hotels to growing hotel chains such as Hotelatelier, HM Resorts, Iberostar, RIU, Paradores, Dreamplace, Hospes, Palafox, Grupo Velas, Viaggio and many more.
What is the USP of your startup?
We wanted to be disruptive and recommend pricing which takes into account the behaviour of people who book a hotel on the Internet and the services hotels have. We have developed a cloud-based hotel revenue management system (RMS) based on big data and machine learning technologies. Beonprice combs public market intelligence like competitors’ pricing, customer demand, and a hotel’s online reputation on sites like Booking.com and Trivago to recommend the optimal price for each type of room.
Beonprice has further perfected its algorithm with the first-of-its-kind quality index (HQI™), which takes into consideration the quality of a hotel from a guest’s perspective in order to generate the price elasticity of demand and predict consumer behaviour. Our solution offers a dynamic pricing system that evaluates and generates a new optimal price for a room several times a day, allowing hotels to stay on top of dynamic market conditions and maximize their revenue per available room (RevPAR).
Can you describe your typical workday ?
There’s no such thing as a typical day; I have three different hats to wear – co-founder, a technical manager, and responsibility for service and product. But I love the variety! Each involves different levels of operational, strategic and managerial work, and every day brings something new and a new split of my time. As Beonprice continues to evolve and our team grows, I’m focusing more on the overall management and strategy, with our fabulous team of department managers handling the operations.
Where do you see yourself and your startup Beonprice in five years?
We have a strong five-year plan to see Beonprice as a global leader in Revenue Management, with teams working from offices on five continents and C-level managers to support the operational and strategic management of the company. My vision is to help Beonprice democratise Revenue Management and transform the hospitality industry. We want to give hoteliers the tools to focus on what drives their business: customer service. By providing innovative technology, driven by artificial intelligence, we help hotels sell the maximum number of rooms at the best possible price, helping them navigate an increasingly competitive marketplace.
The next five years offer so much opportunity for technology in the hospitality industry, and I’m excited to help businesses through their use of technological tools. We may touch other verticals, but I can see hospitality remaining at the core of what we do.
What 3 tips would you give to founders?
1. Choose a problem that is worth solving and one that you are passionate about
2. Surround yourself with the best team; look for people you can learn from and who share your desire to grow and improve
3. Do as much as possible to achieve your vision. You’ll likely face hurdles along the way but think of them as speed bumps and keep going!
More information you will find here
Thank you Emilio Galan for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
