OpenTalk
A che punto è il vostro progetto e quali sono gli obiettivi per il futuro?
The qb-hotel project was born from an in-depth analysis of the current state of the hospitality industry—one of the most resilient pillars of the global economy. While the sector continues to expand, it still faces significant challenges, including staff shortages and high turnover, time-consuming repetitive tasks that drain employee productivity, a complete lack of personalization leaving guests as perfect strangers, and decision-making driven by intuition rather than objective data. In 2024, the global hospitality market reached $5.38 trillion and is projected to hit $5.72 trillion in 2025, growing at an annual rate of 6.2%. These figures confirm a vibrant, dynamic industry that remains open to innovation. (Source: ResearchAndMarkets / The Business Research Company) https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/hospitality-global-market-report To truly welcome guests today means understanding their needs deeply and offering experiences that exceed expectations. However, many hospitality providers are searching for new ways to deliver distinctive services, strengthen their brand identity, and remain competitive in an increasingly demanding market. Artificial intelligence offers a concrete opportunity to amplify the value of hospitality by enhancing the ability to listen, interpret, and personalize. In 2024, the AI segment applied to hospitality and tourism was valued at $15.7 billion and is expected to reach $20.5 billion by 2025, growing at an impressive 30.5% CAGR. The AI market specifically for tourism stands at $2.95 billion today, projected to grow to $13.4 billion by 2030 (+28.7% CAGR). Even broader estimates predict the AI market in travel and hospitality to expand from $16.3 billion in 2023 to over $70 billion by 2031. (Sources: MarketsandMarkets, Verified Market Research) https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/ai-in-tourism-market-114969018.html https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/product/ai-in-travel-and-hospitality-market/ The potential is extraordinary: automation and AI do not replace hospitality—they elevate it. They transform interaction into relationship, efficiency into perceived quality, and data into deep guest understanding. Italy itself remains a fertile ground for innovation: with over 32,000 hotels and 171,000 non-hotel accommodations, the country offers a broad and diverse ecosystem ready to embrace digital transformation. In 2024, 458 million overnight stays were recorded, over 250 million by international tourists (+6.8% compared to the previous year). (Source: ISTAT, 2024) https://www.istat.it/en/press-release/tourist-flows-fourth-quarter-2024 In this context, investing in innovation is no longer optional but a necessity to remain competitive. Artificial intelligence, when designed to enhance relationships rather than merely simplify presence, represents the key to establishing a new standard of hospitality: more intuitive, more human, and more effective.
Quando e come nasce l'idea?
The global hospitality market is expected to grow from $5.38 trillion in 2024 to $5.72 trillion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7% (source: MarketsandMarkets). In Italy, the market is growing at 5% annually, with a strong focus on SMEs in the hospitality sector.
Despite this ongoing growth, the industry continues to face significant challenges, including a shortage of staff and high employee turnover. Many hospitality businesses struggle to automate repetitive tasks and are unable to manage guest data effectively, leaving valuable customer insights untapped. This lack of personalized offerings leads to a clear loss of potential ancillary revenue.
Our team brings over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry and has faced these challenges firsthand. This led to the idea of leveraging our deep industry knowledge and expertise to develop a solution that offers the market an AI-based automation system designed to accelerate digital transformation.
The market landscape is highly fragmented, with numerous local operators and few international players offering integrated, customized solutions. This presents a significant opportunity to establish a leadership position in a highly specialized niche segment.
Qual è la caratteristica che vi distingue dai competitor e che potrà essere la chiave del vostro successo?
Our SaaS platform collects unconventional guest signals, behavioral patterns, spatial context, and runs them through swarm-agentic systems and automata to surface predictive guest intelligence that traditional systems miss. With the platform, hotels turn each guest interaction into an opportunity to drive upsells, loyalty, and personalized experiences , essentially unlocking guest data as a strategic revenue lever.
A che punto è il vostro progetto e quali sono gli obiettivi per il futuro?
Currently, our platform is in POC phase with one paying client. Additionally, we have secured agreements with 10 hotels that have expressed strong interest in participating in a paid pilot program once version 1 of the platform is developed. The project is also under evaluation for patent protection, highlighting its innovative potential. To support our planned market expansion starting next year, we have established already a new office in London. On the team front, we are in the process of hiring five technical professionals to join our existing team of five, with plans to further expand by adding four more members in 2026 to strengthen our marketing and sales capabilities.
Moreover, we have established agreements and ongoing relationships with several industry associations, which will support our market penetration and credibility.
Market Expansion Roadmap
– Year 1 Italy: launch and validate the product within Italy, focusing on tourist-intensive regions. establish a solid base of early adopters and continuously refine the platform based on user feedback and operational data.
– Year 2 Spain and UK: leverage the Italian market experience to enter Spain and the UK, two critical hospitality markets with comparable challenges and vibrant tourism sectors. This phase will involve forming local partnerships and adapting the platform to meet regional market requirements.
– Year 3 global scale-up: upon validating product-market fit and a sustainable revenue model, expand internationally into markets with strong independent hotel presence and seasonal demand, including France, Greece, Southeast Asia, and North America.
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