The Spanish market is incredibly diverse and independent hotels dominate the region with roughly two-thirds of the market. However, all hotels and serviced apartments are in constant need of better tools to improve the guest journey while increasing efficiency. Until now, large hotel chains led the change to adopt the most efficient and innovative solutions. With smaller budgets, Independents and small hotel chains depend on legacy PMS technology, which is a challenge when trying to upgrade their hotel stack. Now is the right time for Apaleo to resolve these challenges in Spain with its hospitality platform.
Joining as Managing Director for Spain, Carlo Alvarez Spagnolo is a seasoned hospitality executive that brings relevant experience to the mission of introducing disruptive technology to the market. He was the first hire of TripAdvisor in Spain with the goal to develop the market. Back in 2008, this mission required hoteliers to shift their mindset and turn online guest feedback from threat to opportunity. A similar challenge comes from Apaleo’s vision, which aims to transform hotelier’s mindset from depending on legacy PMSs to enjoying the freedom of having all their technology stack perfectly connected in a cloud platform.
Carlo also brings a rich understanding of the hospitality technology landscape from his most recent experience at TravelClick/Amadeus and Medallia. With more than 20 years in hospitality, his past experiences also include well-established Spanish brands like eDreams Odigeo, Atrapalo, and KeytelHotels. Carlo’s knowledge of the complexities of the Spanish market is a perfect fit for Apaleo’s plans for quick expansion.
“Having been around long enough, I understand how important is for hoteliers to choose their software wisely to be competitive. It’s incredibly frustrating not to be able to add a new piece of software or having to wait months for the PMS to integrate, only to end up paying for costly interface and recurrent fees.” Carlo continues, “I have witnessed many great deals that went live months or years after their first signature, due to waiting for API integrations, certifications, etc. Or even worse, deals that never happened because the cost of integrating was higher than the actual value of the deal. This is why I instantly fell in love with Apaleo’s vision. Rarely do such perfect product-market fits come along that will truly drive meaningful transformations, and I am thrilled to be part of this journey with Apaleo.”
“It’s no small task to shift an industry’s mindset to a cloud platform approach. Most hoteliers, especially independents and small groups, still depend on legacy PMSs and tend to see more risk than opportunity when changing such a core piece of their software stack. However, we can’t do it alone. We have already identified many industry players that are already asking for this shift in Spain: hoteliers are putting innovation at the center of their roadmap, software vendors are embracing API-first philosophy (many of them have already joined the Apaleo Store, with many more to come), and hotel experts and consultants are advocating for efficiency and modernization in hospitality forums. It takes a village, and we count on all of you to succeed in this task.”
“Apaleo is currently gaining traction in many countries in parallel with its platform approach. The reason is certainly that markets, hotels groups, and apps constantly realize that all-in-one PMS – regardless of whether on-premise or cloud – are not resolving the huge technology challenges of our industry,” states Uli Pillau, cofounder at Apaleo. “Apaleo is rapidly changing this and giving hotel groups the freedom to put their tech stacks together. Hoteliers can simply choose any existing app to connect quickly without fees or they can automate processes themselves, either with the help of developers or no-code tools like Make.com. Spain is one of our key markets in Europe, in particular for hotel groups, and we are very happy we can bring with Carlo a top specialist on board.”
apaleo is the open cloud platform to help build agile accommodation businesses. All types of properties – from serviced apartments to hotel chains – rely on apaleo’s APIs and community to create digital experiences for their guests and staff. Instantly connect the leading hospitality apps to the apaleo interface or use open APIs for unlimited customization possibilities.
Nicholas Johnson
View source
Hospitality Net membership explained
