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power2Cloud28/07/218 min

After Covid? We need to focus on tourism 4.0. Here are Manet's solutions.

The Manet Solutions

While the debate over green passes and new ordinances is still raging, tourism is trying to restart. Because while it is true that Covid has put a strain on the industry, the desire to travel is back more overpowering than before, and so is the desire to balance the losses of this past year and a half.

Since we will continue to talk about social distancing and new services, we would like to tell you about the opportunities of Manet Mobile Solutions (MMS) -- we also talked about it here -- related to the digitization of some aspects related to travel and tourism.

Manet is a customizable digital concierge, usable from App or mobile device, created to accompany guests before, during and after their stay experience. 

The project was conceived in 2015 in Rome and implemented by five young entrepreneurs, Antonio Calia, Marco Barbato, Luca Liparulo, Marco Maisto and Andrea Proietti. Today it can say that it has achieved acclaim and membership not only in Europe, but also in Asia and the United States.

Beginning with the prototype, after receiving interest from private investors thanks to the LUISS EnLabs Acceleration Program, one of Europe's leading startup accelerators, born out of a joint venture between LVenture Group (LVG), a holding company listed on the MTA of Borsa Italia that invests in digital startups, and LUISS Guido Carli University, Antonio, Marco, Luca, and Andrea, have transformed the idea into a product to be commercialized, with the goal of improving the guest experience and increasing the revenue of facilities related to the hospitality world.

The first contract signed came from a prestigious 5-star hotel in Rome, Palazzo Montemartini, which was followed by many others. Suffice it to say that in just three years Manet managed to distribute -- just before the pandemic --in 9 countries some 6,500 devices, also targeting other sectors of tourism, such as Car Rental. 

With the slow but gradual recovery of the tourism market, Manet continued to work hard. It first extended the use of its service in the Car Rental world to Greece as well, in partnership with Avis Budget Group (a leading car rental brand) and, at the end of June this year, launched a new project, wannaticket, a portal for comparing and buying tickets for events, museums and attractions worldwide

Here's what Luca and Andrea told us.


Luca Liparolo and Andrea Proietti

What services does Manet offer today?

"Manet," begins Luke, "is a customizable digital concierge, accessible through the App or a physical device, offered to guests by hotels and B&Bs, to make their stay experience even safer, more complete and unforgettable. 

The Manet App, unveiled last year during the first lockdown, allows guests to access all information about the accommodation, such as direct booking of ancillary services, directly from their mobile phones. Tourist guides, food and wine suggestions, travel tools and other useful tips are included. Another important aspect is related to digital check-in and remote check-out, which minimizes physical interaction with staff at the front desk and speeds up document sharing procedures.

Next we come to the Manet device, with which we began our activity. A Mobile device that has additional functionality and expands the possibilities offered by the App. Guests, for example, can make unlimited and free calls, have unlimited and free internet connectivity, hotspot for personal devices, audioguides with the main points of interest of the destination, and much more." 


The Manet Mobile App

Due to the pandemic, have you revised your business plan?

"In the early 2020s," Andrea continues, "we were experiencing a strong territorial expansion, Manet devices were in high demand especially abroad. The pandemic of course reshaped our growth expectations as well. If we want to take a positive aspect, this moment allowed us to slow down and improve our services, reconsidering the new needs of travelers and our customers, in fact we expanded our offer."  

"Anticipating the qualms of those guests who are disinclined to use sanitized, but not personal devices," Luca concludes, "we also added to our services a mobile App that you can download to your mobile phone. We behaved as any startup should: we adapted our digital product to keep up with the changes."

How does the Manet App work?

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"The application offers so many opportunities," Andrea enthusiastically explains. "As far as we are concerned, it has reduced the costs related to logistics, think about SIM cards, but also the devices we buy and have to distribute; but it has also been strategic for the accommodation facilities that have increased their revenue, proposing services to their guests before they reach the facility. Sharing a QR code by email or onsite, customers download the App for free, logging in with a code dedicated to the facility. Navigation is smart and fast, registration is only required when booking an experience, service or guided tour."


Many functions available for the hospitality industry

What are the main features of your services useful to those in the tourism industry?

"Among the main features," Andrea tries to summarize, "is to have a digital medium to better convey one's business offerings, services, information about the facility. Added to this are theremote check in and check out, the management of the contingent breakfast room for the most structured realities, the booking of all ancillary services, the continuous communication with the staff, the possibility of integrating smart keys and voice assistants, up to the use of the Manet device, which can also go to replace the fixed telephone in the room very well."

The ecological aspect is also not to be underestimated...

"We know that no one uses paper directories," Luca confirmed, "guests at most consult the website. The Manet project is useful to reduce the printed paper, menus, plasticized information that are inserted a little bit everywhere, but also the service orders that the reception areas are full of. Let's digitize all these aspects, eliminating costs for the facility and offering an extra service!" 

What are the users who use your services in Italy?

"Users from18 to 55 years old, but it is a range that is bound to widen over time. Using our services is a slice of local tourists, some from Europe, the rest from USA and Canada, with an important slice of Americans and Germans. In contrast, it is more difficult to propose our devices in Asia; China, for example, is used to working with its own applications. We are curious to see what will happen next year, what types of users will download and use our App more; we have to wait, we don't have a reference history in this regard yet."

Are there any recently born services in the hospitality world that you particularly appreciate?

"One aspect that hoteliers are dwelling on," says Luke, is the cost associated with room makeover, which is still very high. If you travel for work, you are away all day, and you ask not to clean, you can receive offers: a coupon for the restaurant, a drink, along with many other initiatives, which we are also including and conveying on Manet Apps and devices."

Do you have any new projects in the pipeline?

"We recently introduced to the market a completely new product, an experience comparator aimed at end users, wannaticket. The first platform that through a comprehensive filtering system allows users to compare prices and features of tickets for experiences, tours and attractions from leading providers and take advantage of exclusive offers.

There are currently only metamotors that list experiences and refer for purchases to the relevant sites, plus navigation by filters or specific requests is very limited. Thanks to wannaticket, it is possible to buy a ticket to the Colosseum, for example, and choose between the most luxurious or the most romantic offer, depending on your needs."

Work with technology solutions in the field of hospitality. There is a lot of talk about home automation, what do you think?

"It's interesting to talk about home automation, but it's still not very useful for revenue - Luca sums up. The business user who travels for work is in the room only to sleep or work, the leisure user is interested in information and services that can improve the stay outside the hotel. The issue of opening doors is different, there is actually operational and logistical optimization there."

How can technology be used without losing sight of the human aspect?

"The pandemic has accelerated the digitization of processes, facilitating many aspects. This morning, for example, at the Internal Revenue Service," Andrea says, "I showed up with an appointment at 9:20 a.m., by 9:35 a.m. I was already out. A few years ago I waited the whole morning.... Tourism has also begun to digitize its offerings. Over the past year and a half I have been closely following the initiatives of the Cultural Heritage. Museums have organized themselves with digital tours and events, not to do business, but to spread idea of culture and participation. Contact with places and people, especially during a visit or a vacation, cannot be replaced, but if I can book a visit to a monument by skipping the line and making the purchase even from home three months in advance, who will be able to say no?".

Reception for restart in addition to services?

"In the hotel business those who had more cash fund managed to hold out, but it is also true that some were forced to close their doors. For those who made it, the key thing is to change their approach, because the competition is even tougher. We have noticed thatdifferentiation is becoming a key element, even among our clients: there is the establishment that focuses on the organic restaurant, those who value their wine cellar, and then there are also those who during the pandemic have invested by improving their offerings. 

The fidelity is definitely another aspect to focus on. If I come to your facility, I'm happy and therefore inclined to come back, I'll book without intermediaries, and most insiders, more than before, are trying to free themselves from the OTA machine to increase margins.  

Let's also not forget to increaseactivities related to marketing and communication, there is a serious push to be made! Yet many facilities, especially family-oriented ones, do not have a dedicated department, do not curate social media, which today is very important for storytelling and which users study to understand what the facility is like, whether it is clean, attentive to details or customer care. It is not enough to open a site or start your own social media accounts if the content is not curated and, most importantly, updated."

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