Since the company’s foundation up until raising a Seed round we were a team of three – Jose Pedro Almeida, Magda Varao and former CTO Mauro Gama – with vast experience within Hospitality (+16 years working in several different international chains) and Software Development, covering the company main pillars: Management & Sales, Operations and Tech Development.
Attitude and flexibility were key to success until then and still are nowadays as we’re now a team of 8 competing against significantly bigger structures, with the onus of developing faster to get to the competitor’s level and assuring both quality and differentiation on delivery.
The remaining 5 people hired since then, bring expertise and complement our skillset in different areas, from sales & marketing to software development, where we may highlight Artificial Intelligence, counting with an internal member (Murilo Barbosa, Data Scientist) and a senior consultant (Nuno Antonio who’s PhD Computer Science / MS Hospitality Management).
With a markable revenue management DNA and solid background on prestigious Hotel chains and software development, we aim to strongly contribute to industry’s development and be renowned as a state-of-the-art solution for independent hotels and cluster revenue management structures.
Target: Hospitality
Fields of Interest: Improve Booking and Revenue Management
Provided Technologies: Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Cloud Computing, Data Analysis, Online Sales
Company Website: https://en.xlr8rms.com/
Name of Responsible Person: Jose Pedro Almeida
E-Mail: jose.almeida@xlr8rm.com
Address: Portugal
Country: Portugal
Problem Description
To get a better framework on the problem, we should start by emphasizing some the industry's key characteristics: • Seasonality throughout the year and weekdays • Distribution ecosystem is complex and it’s changing rapidly – from direct reservations (b2b) to online travel agents with different models and commissions (b2b2c) or corporate contracts (b2b), etc. • Perishable inventory • Guest motivations and price sensitivity can vary widely in just one single property and each product demand is affected accordingly • Load amount of data available to cover the large number of variables that impact demand are dispersed by different sources and can vary within hours • Dynamic pricing allows hoteliers to change prices to optimize revenue – however, on the other hand, this requires overwhelming data analysis processes We are trying to solve these challenges, by supporting Hotels on “Selling the right product to the right customer at the right time via the right channel for the right price”, acting in two pillars: 1) saving time while reducing manual processes; 2) increasing revenue, by processing big data and providing both analytics insights (business intelligence) and price recommendation plus future demand forecast (artificial intelligence);
Solution Description
Our solution is a web-based platform that supports Hoteliers detecting patterns and learning about AI predictions and recommendations to set the right pricing by processing data from different sources. XLR8 RMS brings efficiency on processes, allowing users to avoid manual processes on data extraction and invest their time on decision judgment. Our solution has a strong impact on the business approach as the time saving and seamless processes, as well as innovation on the features provided – new data sources, transparency, connectivity and elevating user experience through interaction and strategic focus – are key elements on hotel revenue management processes. What makes it unique is the way it was "designed from the scratch" to address the specific target needs. Most of our competitors are targeting major hotel structures, but both independent hotels and domestic groups are characterized by the lack of resources (and, consequently, lack of time and polyvalency) on Revenue Management. Having this in mind, we've built a tool to address the 20% of Revenue Management tasks that originate the 80%+ of results. On top of that, we add other unique selling points: 1) Transparency beyond Artificial Intelligence: more than outputs based on AI models, the RMS provides dashboard and management tools to allow users to complement their analysis while evaluating their strategic decisions 2) Complete toolkit, covering users needs – in addition to compiling yield management, business intelligence and competition analysis tools in only one platform, XLR8rms is the first incorporating also a project management tool to facilitate implementation on strategic decisions 3) Made by Revenue Managers to Revenue Managers and Hotel Managers
Maturity: 4
Impact: 5