Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Martin Reichenbach, the Founder & COO at apaleo:
Q: This is the first time we have spoken. Can you provide a brief overview of apaleo?
A: We founded apaleo in 2017 to give hoteliers access to the technology that they want as well as need; all to be well-prepared for the expectations of future guest and staff.
Our past experiences as company owners in the hospitality software industry has provided a clear picture: the gatekeepers for innovation are the property management systems of the past with their all-in-one mindset and their missing speed to get crucial developments out in time.
Hence, we decided to build a lightweight and scalable platform to provide a dependable standard in a highly fragmented industry.
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Q: What are your key features? Why should hotels choose your platform?
A: The apaleo platform is API-first, which is resulting in the highest degree of flexibility when building a tech stack. For disruptive hospitality companies – something we call platform-driven hospitality players – full API access is paramount to roll out fast and efficiently as well as building a unique tech-stack around guest-facing technologies and back-office automation.
For innovators without a distinct tech team, we offer a marketplace where hoteliers can pick and connect integrated apps with the apaleo platform – including both standard industry software as well as custom-build applications by developers on top of the apaleo platform.
Our staff-facing apaleo APP is replacing traditional the Property Management Systems. It’s an app which is running in any browser and device and allows to access all configuration as well as operational functionality. This includes setting up different types of physical entities such as hotel rooms or parking lots, handling rates and reservations, and capturing all the accounting requirements around invoicing, payments, and reporting.
apaleo PAY is providing all our customers with the ability to handle any sort of payment online as well as on-site. This way our customers can avoid manual payment processes from the past, which were resulting in countless errors and a lot of money that got lost.
Q: What can you tell us about your pricing plans?
A: We are all about transparency and this is reflected in our pricing as well. Right now, all our customers are on a simple subscription pricing plan to get access to the apaleo platform. This is 6 EUR per room and month without any one-off fees and it includes unlimited access to APIs and the staff-facing Applications, support, training, etc.
For apaleo PAY we are offering a transaction-based pricing model which is standard to the payment processing industry and allows for a transparent fee based on the payment method preferred by the hotel or apartment guest.
Q: You’ve recently raised your €4.5 Million in Series A funding; can you tell us something more?
A: Two years ago, no-one would have believed that you can close a funding round without meeting your investors in person before. With COVID-19 hitting in 2020 we learned about the grim outlook for a big part of the hospitality industry.
Rising to the occasion, we created an appealing story built upon our strong team, best-in-class technology, and high growth in market demand over the course of the pandemic.
This story has been convincing an exciting group of professional VC firms from the UK, Switzerland, and Germany, namely Force over Mass, Redalpine, and Bayern Kapital, which decided to invest 4.5m EUR a few weeks back.
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Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: Over the next 12-18 months, we will keep our lead in hospitality technology by bringing in new talent to our world-class tech team.
Also, we will be growing the platform based on our community around platform-driven hospitality players, hotel chains with a hunger for innovation, and innovative app developers from within the industry and outside. Not only does this require strong community builders, but also great marketing talent, which we are currently hiring.
With the pandemic becoming less severe in the foreseeable future, large parts of our industry need a technology reset going away from all-in-one systems alongside their weaknesses. We strongly believe in continuous innovation and there is only the API-first platform of apaleo, which can deliver to this promise.
Last Updated on June 13, 2021
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