Why I stopped watching independent hotels lose their revenue and built a way for them to grow it

I spent a decade working in the hospitality and tech industry in the booking domain space. I ran hotel operations, hosted my own guests, and even worked inside of Airbnb. From every single angle, I saw the exact same problem playing out.

Independent hotel owners, the people who actually care about the art of hospitality, are being squeezed out of their own profits.

They are forced to pay 15% to 25% in commissions to the massive OTAs just to get bookings. On top of that, they are stuck managing those bookings on fragmented legacy software that was built for giant corporate chains. It felt fundamentally broken that the hardest working people in the industry had the worst technology and the highest fees.

So I decided to stop complaining about it and start building.

For the past year, I have been heads down building Hotelia.io. It is an intelligent operating system designed exclusively to give independent hoteliers the technology advantage of a major brand.

At first, the goal was simple. We built a zero commission booking engine paired with a natural language AI back office assistant to stop the bleeding on fees. We then built a back office to manage reservations and streamline daily operations. But I quickly realized that saving money is only half the battle. Our true value needed to be revenue based.

So we integrated a customizable upsell builder directly into the booking widget. Now, independent hotels can offer tailored add ons right at the point of checkout. Whether a guest wants to secure a late checkout, book a remote work setup, or have a bottle of wine waiting in their room, hoteliers can instantly increase their total revenue per booking. It is a massive financial win for the operator and a highly personalized experience for the guest before they even arrive.

Today is a massive milestone for us. We are officially opening the doors for Early Access.