Meet Thynk, a new company that aims to build the definitive enterprise software solution for the hospitality industry. The startup just raised a $13 million Series A round.
This round was led by Singular, which also includes a New York-based fund managed by Itai Tsiddon and the Belgian investment company CNP (Groupe Frère). Fly Ventures, an existing shareholder in the startup, reinvested.
When it comes to software-as-a-service businesses, entrepreneurs choose to address a specific segment. Some companies choose to focus on the long tail of small and medium businesses because they often lack the right tools to do their job. For example, in the hospitality industry Services focuses exclusively on independent hotels and B&Bs.
Thynk is at the other end of the spectrum as it is designed for hospitality businesses that operate multiple properties and want to optimize their processes.
“When I was thinking about starting a business again, I scanned the market and looked at different industries to find a company that could reach $500 million in [annual recurring revenue]co-founder and CEO Pascal Petit told me.
More specifically, Petit was looking for an industry that could benefit from a business software solution that could focus on three pillars: sales, operations, and finance. Some inspiring companies include: Veeva And nCinotwo enterprise software companies focused on the pharmaceutical and banking sectors respectively.
He ended up in the hospitality industry because it generates $9 billion in revenue every year and it has been neglected. “This industry is completely under-armed when it comes to integrated information systems. It is a sector that grew out of asset management. The end goal of hospitality is nothing more than a new way to generate income from real estate,” said Petit.
When you arrive at a hotel, the receptionist is of course sitting at a computer. They usually communicate with a property management system (PMS). This system tells you which room is available and how much it costs to book another night.
“These systems are built around one building with a focus on [profit and loss]Petit said. Essentially, all data collected during your stay evaporates when you check out.
And yet hotels have changed quite a bit in recent years. In addition to hotel rooms, many hotels now have upscale restaurants, sophisticated cocktail bars, conference centers, coworking spaces, spas, and various paid experiences.
Follow the business roadmap
Thynk does not want to replace property management systems. The startup believes these systems will always be there to activate key cards, tell hotel staff when a room needs to be cleaned, and other tasks.
Built on top of the Salesforce stack, Thynk acts as a turnkey information system for hotel groups. First, it collects, cleans, centralizes and unifies customer data. Each customer becomes a unique ID, which is a huge mental shift. Instead of focusing on rooms, Thynk focuses on customers, like a CRM.
After that, data can be used for various internal processes: group bookings, payment flows with deposits and prepayments, quotation production and more. For example, if a loyal customer wants to book a dozen rooms, but the hotel is full, the sales team can take over and recommend another hotel since it has a multi-property listing.
And finally, Thynk can be used to actively reach customers with new offers, upsell opportunities, and questions to improve a stay – everything you would expect from the customer success team.
A product like Thynk makes sense in 2023 because many hotel groups are trying to streamline their activities. Due to a talent shortage, some support functions are centralized by region or country. They need better tools as they no longer deal directly with hotel customers. Moreover, they work for several hotels at the same time.
The startup has already signed contracts with several hotel groups, such as Postillion in the Netherlands, Groupe Lucien Barrière in France and Design Hotels in Germany. In the United Arab Emirates, Thynk started working with Rottana, a group with 65 hotels and 15,000 rooms.
“They’re using us as the core of their internal system and because they’re launching a franchise,” Petit said.
And this is the key to Thynk’s potential success. Once hospitality companies integrate the platform with their property management systems and centralize all data in Thynk, it becomes an integral part of the customer’s business. “We are trying to replace the car’s engine, so the purchase decision is very difficult,” said Petit.
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