Skift Take
Instead of selling their platform to hotels, Conichi is now relying on corporate partners to help push through their technology from the other end. This can only be good news for business travelers as more efficient check-in processes and simpler expensing move into the mainstream.
The hotel experience for business travelers has long been a headache.
Conichi, which was one of the first companies to experiment with beacon technology at hotel properties, has in recent years focused on the more knotty issues that add complexity to corporate travel. While the company now has more than 400 partner hotels using its system to enable keyless hotel room entry and express check-in and check-out services.
Now, according to Conichi CEO Max Waldmann, the company is working to push deeper into corporate travel by fixing some of the backend technological inefficiencies that stymie travel managers and their travelers alike.
"The entire technological set up within corporate travel is still in the early stages," said Waldmann. "It's a bit like back in the AOL days. Everything is still disconnected. It takes a lot of time, it's complex, and only some people use it. It's not where it should be and it's definitely not at a B2C stage yet. But it will absolutely grow."
Skif