theZouk – we make hotels come to you!

In theZouk, it’s hotels searching for clients, not the other way around.

This way, finding and booking the right place to stay becomes easy, personal and transparent.

Today, most of us spend hours searching the internet looking for the right place to stay – only to find the same hotels in many different systems. Often with different prices for the same period, although they all “guarantee” the lowest rates. Endless lists of rooms with little to distinguish them from one another. It’s not transparent.

Even worse – most of the small cozy places you were hoping to find are not even in the lists. In fact, only 10 % of all hotels and B&B’s in the world are currently available in the traditional online booking systems (OTAs). Notably from an investors point of view, the two largest OTAs generate revenues exceeding US$ 12 billion (!) each year from these 10 %.

The personal and simple way to find and book the right place.

Everyone has their own expectations from a trip. In theZouk, you just select the options that are important to you and then add any personal requests you may have – in your own words. You are done in minutes and can then focus on what’s important in life.

In the meantime we notify all relevant hotels at your destination, and the ones that are interested in having you as a guest will reach out to you through theZouk. Tailor-made offers will start to arrive one by one with personal responses, directly from providers who make that invaluable extra effort and can provide just what you’re looking for.

A new channel for hotels and B&Bs struggling to be found

To all the hotels and B&Bs currently locked out of the market, theZouk creates a window into the traveler’s world.

Hotels will be notified of potential new guests, can focus on true potential and reach directly into the travelers living room with tailor-made offers “for their eyes only”. Hotels can also search for extra clients in periods of low occupancy. To them, it’s revolutionary.

Our concept allows and enables hotels and B&Bs to do what they are most passionate about – to deliver a high level of service and a perfect experience for their guests from the very beginning.

Often, prices in theZouk are very competitive. Each hotel will decide how good a price they can offer based on how many rooms they currently have unsold. Average occupancy in most destinations is 50-70% = every 2 or 3 rooms are always empty! Since only one client will see their offer the hotels won’t reveal the details of the offer to competitors or other clients (as happens on “big booking” sites) – and this is very important to them.

It’s really easy – and free – for hotels to join theZouk. No cumbersome IT integration is needed and it costs much less to take a booking through theZouk than in the big OTAs.

We know the long tail of hospitality is ready and eager to compete on equal terms!

But we also need your support to succeed!

We already have our first local private and angel investors committed (one of which is a hotel owner), but we love the idea of an “army” of international ambassadors to help us spread the word and improve our concept and offering which is why we are launching this campaign. With the funds we are raising at this stage we will be able to create Proof-of-Business, paving the way for future investment rounds needed to quickly expand geographically into our most important markets.

Within the next 6 months we will

• migrate to our new platform
• add an Escrow service keeping both parties safe
• add Android and iOS apps
• prepare existing, and attract new, hotels and B&Bs in our key markets

and then launch our first powerful marketing campaign aimed at travelers in Scandinavia. The strategy is to use a strong media concern as a partner to get us cost-effective access to targeted as well as above-the-line advertising and popular online media.

theZouk 2.0 will contain:

• Automatic translation of messages between traveler and the hotel
• An escrow service that keeps both traveler and hotel safe
• An online catalogue where travelers can browse member hotels and choose which ones to include in their request
• A beautiful modern, user-friendly interface that will work across all kinds of devices
• A recommendation system that will help theZouk spread through our travelers
• And much, much more…!

So, to summarize:

• We provide value to both travelers and hotels by disrupting the established industry model.
• With 30-50% of all rooms always empty, hotels badly need better distribution.
• 90% of all hotels and B&Bs are still not bookable online!
• A simple and fair business model makes us the hoteliers’ champion.
• A great, personalized user experience means travelers love theZouk. It’s never been more enjoyable to book your stay.
• Prices from our hotels are highly competitive because offers are personal instead of public and because our fees are low. We have seen rates down 60% on upscale properties!
• We achieve personalized offers with little effort on our side – the personalization is done by the hotels.
• Our operation is extremely scalable and entirely automated. Hotels and travelers register themselves, find and communicate with each other and conclude their business without any intervention from us whatsoever. Our profit margins will become very attractive as we grow.

Join us as we make life easier for travelers and empower the small hotels and B&Bs across Europe!

Source: ICNW