How tech is Reinvigorating the Hotel Industry with Revinate CEO Marc Heyneker

The hotel industry has existed since the beginning of the 19th century, and like many centuries-old industries, getting up to speed with modern tech can be challenging. That’s why companies like Revinate have sprung up to help hoteliers identify their best customers and transform guest data into revenue. For Revinate CEO Marc Heyneker, the need for a company that connects hoteliers to tech was an obvious one. “There is so much old and antiquated technology and siloed data everywhere that there’s gotta be an opportunity to bring modern software as a service that’s super specialized and easy to use.”

“Hoteliers generally got into the business not because they liked technology, but because they really liked people,” says Chief Product Officer Dan Hang. “On the flip side, the technology that they’re working with is really challenging, so they generally have a really tricky tech stack, many different systems, none of which integrate well with each other.” Take the issue of guest profiles, for example. According to Hang, “The problem with that is that a guest may stay multiple times throughout the hotel, but that may not get merged all into the same profile.” Just by providing a way for hoteliers to merge profiles, Revinate has made it easier for those in the hotel industry to identify their most loyal guests. “If you have somebody that loves you, that comes back all the time, well, guess what? That’s also your very best salesperson for a hotel,” Heyneker says.

In addition to profile synthesis, Revinate also lets clients manage and analyze online reviews, not just for themselves, but for nearby competition. As more and more people rely on reviews from sites like TripAdvisor and Hotels.com, seeing how you fare against competitors on these online forums can really give a hotel a leg up on the competition. “Instead of thinking about managing a hotel with 300 rooms, you’re actually really managing 100,000 potential guests,” Heyneker explains. “Who are they? What do I know about them? How do I stack rank them? How do I segment them? How do I create audiences and how do I speak to them in a way that you and I, as travelers, want to be spoken to?” With these questions in mind, Revinate has been able bring hotels, hoteliers, and their guests into the 21st century, making the hotel experience more comfortable and manageable for everyone involved.