Your hotel stay, digitized and customized from pre-check-in - ISRAEL21c

Next time you book a hotel or Airbnb, you may receive a welcoming message on your phone inviting you to communicate with the staff and check-in remotely ahead of time.

When you arrive, you may receive a QR code to scan at a lobby machine that will pop out your keycard. If the hotel has “smart lock” hardware installed, you could get a virtual key delivered to your phone’s Google or Apple wallet.

All hotel information, plus personalized recommendations for your stay in the area, are sent to your phone — no more rifling through a stack of papers in a folder on the dresser.

You can thank Israeli technology startup Duve for making all this possible.

Hotels, short-term and vacation rentals in dozens of countries use Duve’s platform to handle the entire guest experience from the minute you book until after you’ve checked out.

“In 2024, it’s insane that you can do online check-in for a flight, but when you get to a hotel, you have to stand in line and wait to check in. And when you finally get to the desk, instead of talking to you and getting to know your needs and preferences, they give you forms to fill out and hand you a plastic keycard,” says Duve Chief Marketing Officer Adir Ron.

“Why? How is this a guest experience? So we’re eliminating all of that.”

Today, Ron says, “hospitality is about the experience and not just about a bed to rest your head. And the guest experience starts even before you actually get to the hotel.”

When you book a room with a Duve partner, the technology immediately analyzes the reservation data to build a unique guest profile. Instead of a canned confirmation email, the hotel can craft a personalized message containing a link to a browser page for online check-in. You won’t have to download any apps.

As part of the process, you fill in details including where you’re from, the language you speak, and what interests you.

Would you like recommendations for restaurants, tours or attractions? If you’re traveling with children, how old are they and what do they like to do? For a romantic vacation, maybe you’d like wine or flowers awaiting you in your room.

“We also get your phone number so we can plug you into our WhatsApp communication platforms and the hotel can start communicating with you in your own language — we support over 100 languages — about important things like check-in time and directions,” Ron tells ISRAEL21c.

During your stay, Duve sends surveys “to make sure that you’re happy and that everything is okay,” says Ron.

If you have a question, request or complaint, you can open a chat with Duve’s AI agent, which analyzes your profile and prioritizes your query for the front desk, matching whatever language you wrote in.

The company was founded in 2016 by childhood friends David Mezuman (CEO) and Jeremy Atlan (chief of business development). Both CPAs, they had a side business managing short-term rental apartments in Tel Aviv.

“As this business grew, they realized that it’s hard to manage all the tenants coming in and going out, taking care of their requests and maximizing the revenue potential of those apartments,” says Ron.

“They felt the need to come up with a technological solution, so together with Shai Bar (CTO) they started what was then called Wishbox. It was a very simple platform to handle customer requests, manage check-in and checkout, and offer upsells to customers.”

Soon they expanded into the hotel industry and changed the company name to Duve, meant to evoke the warm, fluffy feeling of a hotel’s duvet blanket.

When the worldwide pandemic froze the hospitality industry, Duve struggled for a while. But once tourism rebounded due to the Covid-19 vaccine, Duve’s suite of products were exactly what the doctor ordered.

“Everyone still needed to keep their distance, and suddenly a solution that lets you handle

check ins and checkouts remotely — that lets you communicate with guests personally through email, chat or WhatsApp — became much more important for hoteliers and rental hosts. And we started seeing exponential growth.”

Duve signed deals with major hotel chains in Israel and beyond, including for example Fattal, Isrotel, Accor, Banyan Tree, The Set Collection and Leonardo Hotel Europe.

“We have roughly 70 percent of the Israeli market working with us by now, but Israel accounts for less than 30% of our income,” says Ron.

“We’re spread across 60-something countries and around 500,000 guests per month are interacting with Duve’s platform – anywhere from a small hostel in Marrakech to a huge chain that I can’t name yet with well over 5,000 hotels worldwide.”

In June 2022, the company raised $17 million in a Series A round, bringing its total funding to $21 million. The team, numbering about 55 employees, is headquartered in Ramat Gan’s diamond exchange next to Tel Aviv. Duve recently acquired EasyWay, a local Israeli competitor.

Obviously, if their guests are happy and post good reviews, that’s great for business.

But there are more benefits for Duve’s clients. The software products – which are modular so clients can choose and configure the ones they want – can also help manage inventory and increase in-stay revenue.

“Say you’re landing at the airport at 6am and check-in isn’t until 3pm. First of all, we can offer you hotel transportation at a dedicated price, cheaper than getting an Uber,” says Ron.

“Then, if we see through our technology that the room will be available earlier, the hotel can offer you an early check-in for a small additional charge. If you booked the economy room, and the luxury room is now available, we can offer you an upgrade at a much bigger discount than the typical cost. We can do that in a bidding system as well. If you take the upgrade, that would free another economy room back to booking.”

If business is slow at the hotel bar, Duve’s system can send a message to relevant guests inviting them to a happy hour that afternoon. Or a visiting family might receive a message offering a sign-up for kids’ pool activity, giving the hotel an actual number of kids to prepare for.

Duve can also help the hotel upsell relevant content, such as a birthday cake, a box of chocolates, or tickets to shows on which the hotel earns a commission.

After checkout, which is also handled through the app, guests receive another survey. If your assessment is positive, you’ll be prompted to post a review online.

“Adopting Duve has transformed our guest engagement,” said Lauren Bourbon of Jo&Joe Nation, a European hostel chain within the Accor group’s Ennismore lifestyle brand.

“The online check-in process and the customizable guest app helps us improve our guest experience. The flexibility of the platform, together with excellent support from the Duve team, has revolutionized our operations.”

Effie Komodromou, general manager at Leonardo Crystal Cove Hotel & Spa in Cyprus, said “Duve is truly our right hand at the hotel. It is our window to the customers. Younger generations are always with their phones, and we need to adapt to this new era. Duve gives us the opportunity to go one step further and align with modern traveler expectations.”

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