Greek startup Exclusivi achieves consistent download rates of 60% in Kos resort thanks to Data Pitch.
Exclusivi, an upselling suite that leverages machine learning to reduce costs for resorts and improve customer experience, is logging impressive engagement rates at the Blue Lagoon Village in Kos. While hotel apps in Greece typically have download rates of about 5%, hotels and resorts working with Exclusivi report rates of 35% and above.
Founded by a group of university friends who began working on the idea two years ago, Exclusivi provide an end-to-end platform for hotels and resorts so that guests can book services, ask for help and provide feedback at the touch of a button. Focusing on resorts that lack technical capabilities in-house, Exclusivi run a marketing platform suite that guests can access after logging into their personal resort wifi portal and scanning a QR code to download the app.
The platform is also connected to the property management system of the resorts, which allows them to manage the relationship with the tour operators onsite (e.g. Thomas Cook customers will only get recommendations for excursions that are run by Thomas Cook).
Exclusivi is a former graduate of the Open Data Incubator for Europe (ODINE), a 6-month incubator for open data entrepreneurs, and its platform has been developed with funding and support from Data Pitch, a European innovation programme and accelerator, which supports startups to address important social and industry challenges with data.
With €100k equity free funding from Data Pitch, as well as business mentoring, Exclusivi has been able to create an AI chatbot for guests to speak directly to the hotel, in addition to perfecting a bespoke wine-selling service within the platform. This service provides personalised wine recommendations to guests after they fill in a short quiz which gets transmitted to the resort’s waiters, who can then provide the appropriate wines during subsequent meal.
Babis Kourtzis, CEO of Exclusivi, says:
“Since joining Data Pitch, we have secured contracts of €80,000 annual recurring revenue. In parallel to this, we got accepted into a Greek government funding scheme, with a €400,000 subsidy for salaries.
“We believe that our impressive results are due to the value offered to guests, from one-touch bookings to relevant rich content, with guests getting a wifi and app code on arrival linked with their hotel reservation. The whole process is seamless and integrated.”
As well as benefiting from the mentoring opportunities Data Pitch was able to provide, Exclusivi were able to delay going to investors because of the tranche funding offered. This financing enabled Exclusivi the opportunity to build their platform alongside hotels and resorts. This meant that members of staff were deployed on-site to help with the transition, providing immediate recommendations for the resorts.
