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Welcome to another episode of Hospitable!
This episode features Ruud Hontele, the founder and CEO of Woby, a company that creates unique guest experiences for the hotel industry.
Recorded live at the Omniboost headquarters in Terneuzen, Netherlands, we discuss how Woby helps hotels deliver a self-ordering web app that enhances the guest experience and improves operational efficiency.
We discuss the importance of the human touch in a digitally hyper-connected world and how technology can make everyone more effective and efficient. Join us as we dive into the world of hospitality and discover how Woby is impacting the industry.
Don't forget to subscribe and review!
Timestamps:
[00:02:31] The birth of Woby
[00:05:00] Tech stack and operational knowledge
[00:09:02] Seamless guest experience
[00:13:11] Tools for better guest experiences
[00:17:11] Creating better travel experiences
[00:22:43] Accomplishing goals in 2024
[00:05:00] Tech stack and operational knowledge
[00:09:02] Seamless guest experience
[00:13:11] Tools for better guest experiences
[00:17:11] Creating better travel experiences
[00:22:43] Accomplishing goals in 2024
Shownotes:
00:01:04. Seamless integrations in hospitality.
00:08:24 Seamless integration enhances guest experience.
00:17:43 Collaboration drives industry innovation.
00:18:19 Importance of seamless travel experiences.
Connect:
Ruud Hontele: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruud-hontele/
Woby: https://www.mywoby.com
Omniboost: www.omniboost.com
Rob Napoli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robnap/
Show Produced by: Niranjan Deshpande (Nick), Broken Frames Studio, www.brokenframesstudio.com
Creators & Guests
Host
What is Hospitable?
Hospitable is a podcast that discusses how to make hospitality MORE human through technology.
Hospitable focuses on discussing the leading challenges facing the hospitality industry and to explore the latest trends, technologies, and best practices that are shaping the industry. Each episode features interviews with hoteliers, restaurateurs, chefs, industry analysts, and other experts who share their insights and experiences on topics such as customer experience, sustainability, innovation, staffing, and more.
Hosted by Rob Napoli
OB_EP_Ruud Hontele_Transcript
00:00:00:01 - 00:00:09:22
Rob
Where? You can go like, go anywhere in the world right now? where would you want to go South Africa? Why South Africa?
00:00:09:24 - 00:00:14:18
Ruud Hotele
I heard beautiful stories of it. The weather is nice.
00:00:14:18 - 00:00:15:18
Rob
Yeah.
00:00:15:20 - 00:00:17:20
Ruud Hotele
A lot of hospitality. Yeah.
00:00:17:22 - 00:00:24:13
Rob
Where? Right now. Where's the coolest location that Woby has an integration at?
00:00:24:15 - 00:00:25:18
Ruud Hotele
It's Aruba.
00:00:25:20 - 00:00:26:19
Rob
Really? Aruba.
00:00:26:20 - 00:00:28:13
Ruud Hotele
So maybe I need to go there
00:00:28:13 - 00:00:42:00
Rob
Say Aruba? Bahama. So, I mean, there's a whole beach boy song with that. Okay, So Aruba, guys.
00:00:42:02 - 00:01:15:24
Rob
Hey, how are you doing? We are back for another episode of Hospitable. So Hospitable is a podcast that explores how to make hospitality more human through technology. And today's guest is actually a company called the Woby, which provides seamless integrations as well. In fact, will be as part of the Omni Boost Incubator program, which is really cool. And we are recording live on location in Zeeland in two news in.
00:01:16:02 - 00:01:17:17
Ruud Hotele
Of all places.
00:01:17:19 - 00:01:24:04
Ruud Hotele
At the Omniboost headquarters, and my guest is the founder and CEO of Woby, Ruud Hotele
00:01:24:06 - 00:01:25:20
Ruud Hotele
Yes, you pronounce it well.
00:01:26:00 - 00:01:34:17
Rob
I'm getting better at these pronunciations. So tell me a little bit about Woby, what is Woby, in your words.
00:01:34:19 - 00:02:18:00
Ruud Hotele
All right. Thank you. First of all, I want to thank you for the invitation. Woby, in my words, actually is standing for the welcome order by yourself. And we are specializing in the hotel industry. So you said seamless integrations. Isn't part of the reason why we can help hotels being a able to deliver and self ordering lap up where the guests really have an seamless experience and the operational side from the hotel perspective also really save money and time.
00:02:18:02 - 00:02:33:01
Rob
That's awesome. And so why did you get into this space? Like what intrigued you about hospitality? What made you want to build a company for the hospitality space specifically?
00:02:33:03 - 00:03:01:18
Ruud Hotele
I think it's not quite a rare decision that it's needs to be the hospitality. The idea was born in those now where I'm coming from and I was sitting with friends there and we want to order a beer. Only the waiter didn't see us and it was not really busy or something. I thought they were losing revenue and we want to drink our drink.
00:03:01:20 - 00:03:09:04
Ruud Hotele
So that's why the idea was born. And I have an iPhone three in that time. Yeah, so.
00:03:09:08 - 00:03:23:02
Rob
So this was a long time ago. I mean, there isn't an iPhone three that's taking us back dated a little bit, but it always seems that great ideas happen over a beer or in this case not over a beer because you didn't get a beer.
00:03:23:04 - 00:03:27:14
Ruud Hotele
The first run. The second round is So what?
00:03:27:16 - 00:03:35:18
Rob
What is your goal with woby? What does the future look like for woby and how do you see yourself being a player?
00:03:35:20 - 00:04:05:23
Ruud Hotele
Back to the when the idea was born, I was thinking about the Simon Sinek his book, Everything Starts with a Why and after a long thinking about that the why of Woby is made to serve you. My willingness to serve people is not only to our customers, but also to the guests of the hotel industry. So what was the question?
00:04:06:00 - 00:04:17:18
Rob
Yeah. Yeah. No, that's kind of why woby? But yeah, where do you see yourself as a player in this space? Like, what do you want to accomplish in this space because of your why.
00:04:17:20 - 00:04:24:16
Ruud Hotele
Yeah. Dominating the world with self ordering. So for us, especially for hotels. Yeah. To help them
00:04:24:18 - 00:04:31:06
Rob
And why hotels? Why is that a space and a place that you feel this technology is needed?
00:04:31:08 - 00:05:07:07
Ruud Hotele
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Good question. As I said, I'd started in 2017 and we did a lot of pivots, different segments, delivery takeaway or terrasses or, restaurants. And what we see is that with our tech stack and operational knowledge, we can help hotels the best way with our tech. And also, I like the ambiance when I'm at the customer.
00:05:07:09 - 00:05:10:13
Ruud Hotele
So yeah.
00:05:10:15 - 00:05:28:23
Rob
I mean, it makes sense too, because there's a lot of different spaces and places where this can be needed. But also thinking about restaurant. I mean, now this is pre-COVID that you thought of this, right? post-COVID, a lot of restaurants have QR codes, but there's still the need for a waiter or waitress, somebody to serve you.
00:05:28:23 - 00:05:45:24
Rob
Right. And be hospitable And same thing in the hotel space. But I think it's a bit more unique because when you go into a hotel, you're very connected, right? When you go down to sit down to dinner or sit down for a lunch, you sometimes want that feeling of being waited on versus at a hotel. You're already connecting.
00:05:46:01 - 00:06:07:03
Rob
It's very much to checking in and all these things. And so being able to just leverage your phone and also sometimes it's nice just to like charge it to the room and pay it all at once later versus like pull your credit card out, etc.. So, yeah, I see this as a as a really kind of natural space from a travel experience perspective.
00:06:07:05 - 00:06:25:23
Rob
And so I think that's really cool. So I asked kind of a free question, one of the coolest places that woby is integrated at and you said Aruba. Yes. Which is a really awesome, beautiful island. And then I started seeing Beach Boys and I realized I can't sing. So we'll cut we'll cut out me starting to sing Beach Boys.
00:06:26:00 - 00:06:38:11
Rob
How did that come about? How did you or they find you in order to make this successful and talk about it as the case study? Why did they choose Woby and what was their need that you were feeling?
00:06:38:13 - 00:07:12:24
Ruud Hotele
Oh, I love to answer this question because they found us a fire partner of us while Woby is on the marketplace of the their P.O.S. system and the tool they using that time before they implementing Woby, The tool didn't have the integration with the property management system. It only an integration with the point of sale. And we have a customer a few miles from that customer and who really love Woby.
00:07:12:24 - 00:07:51:04
Ruud Hotele
So he said you need to go to that hotel. So it was a world of months and they found us via the marketplace as well from the POS. And what we do for them and others can't do is integrate the P.O.S. and PMS simultaneously at the same time so we can validate the if the guest is checked in and only when the no post is not indicated and the guests have the possibility to order and charge the room directly.
00:07:51:04 - 00:08:00:19
Ruud Hotele
So they only have to pay when they are checking out and not what you said every time to reenter his credit card details.
00:08:00:21 - 00:08:20:16
Rob
And how does that, so one I like showing this that in a very digital world the word of mouth still makes a big difference in being able to have that validation, be able to have somebody say, hey, you should try these guys out or check these people out, check this company out, and that makes a big difference.
00:08:20:16 - 00:08:47:03
Rob
And so providing that level of hospitality to them, that level of experience that they're willing to refer you is is I think, one of the greatest things that can happen. And so when you think about this whole experience, what does this do for the guest experience, putting yourself in the guest shoes? they walk into a hotel and they go and they spend, whether it's business, whether it's leisure or whether it's the blended pleasure type experience, they're not going to know.
00:08:47:03 - 00:09:01:21
Rob
T\that Woby necessarily is the tool that's being used. But how does it contribute? How does it contribute to the guest experience? And what do you hope it contributes to the guest experience for for a property that uses Woby
00:09:01:23 - 00:09:54:07
Ruud Hotele
I think the most important one is that when the guest has booked his travel online, mostly they get an pre-arrival email and that's where the guest journey starts. So we put in a link in the pre-arrival email and the guests see all the facilities of the hotels and know the hotels or the guest don't see that Woby is the tool behind what they are using, but they for the experience is really important to have a seamless flow from the different stages for real life or in stay in post day.
00:09:54:09 - 00:10:28:14
Ruud Hotele
So they're using the same web app where they order room service with or book or reservation. Actually, that hotel in Aruba, you can make a reservation for an palapa. It's a nice place on the beach. And if you are on the palapa, you can order your food and drinks as Woby. So they have exact the same web app for arrival and during the in-house stage.
00:10:28:16 - 00:10:53:05
Ruud Hotele
So and what I want to accomplish and in the future to deliver more guest experience is as feature like streaming to your hotel TV and make some romantic scenes or to cover the full guest experience.
00:10:53:05 - 00:11:12:04
Rob
Yeah. So it's a really well based power is that it helps just seamlessly make that experience because it is tough, right? And you go in and you got an app for this, you got an app for that, you got to scan this QR code, you scan that QR code, you got to use Apple Pay. Or if you don't have Apple Pay, enter your credit card details to be able to streamline that just makes that stay.
00:11:12:04 - 00:11:30:00
Rob
It's one less thing to think about when you are especially on a beautiful like location like Aruba. Yeah. One last thing we have to think about and not always do you want to carry your wallet, especially if you're somewhere tropical or if you're going to a spa day and you want to carry that wallet. So having a web app where you can easily do like an Apple Pay charge it to your room, take care of that experience.
00:11:30:02 - 00:11:43:18
Rob
So that's one less thing to forget or lose and me personally like I'm prone to losing stuff, especially on vacation. And especially I'm on a vacation where I'm in a tropical location. But even business wise, that's true. Yeah.
00:11:43:20 - 00:11:44:02
Ruud Hotele
Yeah.
00:11:44:04 - 00:12:15:12
Rob
It makes that experience just that much more memorable. It's one less thing you have to worry about and that I think, is really important. And we talk about, this podcast is all about making hospitality more human through technology, right? And by using Woby and the technology, it allows humans to have better experiences at these locations. And it's one last thing to think about, one less thing to lose because I can't tell you I know a lot of people that, when they go out, they just take like their credit card and their ID and they lose it somewhere.
00:12:15:18 - 00:12:18:15
Rob
And nothing is worse than being on vacation, losing an ID and a credit card.
00:12:18:16 - 00:12:20:20
Ruud Hotele
Yeah, you don't need to have that. Yeah.
00:12:20:22 - 00:12:45:07
Rob
So that's a beautiful part of the experience. So it's exciting. So when we think about Woby, we'll be as part of the Omniboost in Incubator program, how did you and Keese meet or how did that, for those that don't know, Ombiboost is a big supporter of Woby is as we have this program and this partnership so how did that come about? How did you meet Keese? How did you team up to be a part of this incubator system?
00:12:45:09 - 00:13:22:06
Ruud Hotele
It's went via our angel investor. You already did or still do business with Kees, and it was meant to be that I met Kees because when the angel investor was investing in Woby and you heard what Woby is doing for the hotel industry and he also knows what Kees doing for the hotel industry, it's is the perfect match to what you said to get more and more better guest experiences and of all that.
00:13:22:12 - 00:14:06:11
Ruud Hotele
There are a lot of tools. What you said about the earlier, there are a way some hotels need to have four or five tools and they don't want to have another tool in the tech stack. So with Kees with omniboost, we can integrate with the existing, the existing system. So for the hotels it feels like they don't have in order to in the tech stack it's it's yeah streamline a lot in the operational efficiency for because of that it's not only the guest perspective but uh yeah the operational perspective as well.
00:14:06:13 - 00:14:30:10
Rob
I think that's really impactful. Right. And I, I always say this and people who listen to this podcast or listen to me talk about omniboost is nine times out of ten. If you walk into any like a hotel or restaurant or partner of ours, they don't probably know that omniboost is being activated. And that's the and to us is the sign that we're doing the right thing, right.
00:14:30:12 - 00:14:52:17
Rob
We're creating this because if you actually look in, it's actually something you sent me when we first met of the the marketplace of the hospitality industry and how many different tech stacks for PMS, for POS, for OTAs, for this, for that. I mean, there's so many different things, the ability to simplify that. And I think that's what we it's really easy in a digital age to have tech overload having too many things.
00:14:52:17 - 00:15:12:21
Rob
And while it's great when you start stacking all these things on top of each other, you lose efficiencies or you lose data flow, you lose connectivity. And so being able to seamlessly integrate I think is kind of a win win and that's why omniboost and while we make sense, you're here in the office, you come here usually once or twice a week.
00:15:13:00 - 00:15:23:23
Rob
What does it mean for you to be able to team up with Omniboost and be in this ecosystem and be around the team here? How does that help Woby and yourself grow?
00:15:24:00 - 00:15:56:09
Ruud Hotele
first I want to say about that is the ambiance, the spirit. I know guys told me a lot of is people and the themes of Omniboost are they have a high willingness of serving guests or customers and this also with new people. So they, when I have a question, the willingness to help me is high and you recognize that in the office
00:15:56:09 - 00:15:59:05
Ruud Hotele
So that's really nice. I will.
00:15:59:05 - 00:16:21:15
Rob
Second question. Yeah, just the second question is really around how does that help you personally know what? I guess so you get the questions and the business, but how for as a founder who's growing a company to be around another high energetic banner, to be around this team where willingness to serve as part of our core DNA, how does that help you level up your game as a founder, as a CEO, as an entrepreneur?
00:16:21:15 - 00:16:22:00
Rob
Yeah.
00:16:22:02 - 00:16:49:10
Ruud Hotele
So Woby is more in the in the that the startup phase and omniboost in the scale of faith. So I have some mentors actually looking at one and also kees help me with the faults they make in the past so I don't need to make that the same faults and that saves a lot of money and time for me as well.
00:16:49:13 - 00:17:09:02
Rob
Yeah, getting to learn lessons are avoid hard lessons and sometimes the hard lessons to be learned, but being able to have mentors and now we get to sit down and talk a lot about very valuable. Yeah, the sales and the marketing in the brand and commercially how to how to grow at scale and what traps to avoid, what are the right tools to use.
00:17:09:02 - 00:17:26:08
Rob
I think that is is super impactful and when you're able to team up and I think it's really important for the industry is as we look at creating a more hospitable place when we go, we travel because travel tough, when you travel somewhere, you got to book the flights and could have a bad flight experience.
00:17:26:08 - 00:17:45:24
Rob
You have bad weather. You never know what's going to happen. And traveling by nature, you're you tend to travel especially for vacation, to relax. And sometimes that doesn't always happen. So if we can help create better experiences and one less thing that a customer has to think about, I think we win. And we do that together as a as an industry.
00:17:46:01 - 00:18:06:03
Rob
And we look at simplifying and collaborating and cross-pollinating. That to me makes sense. And that's why I think this makes sense to have the Omni incubator program and having companies like Woby be involved in it. It just creates some symbiotic integrations and flow of data that really helps the whole industry.
00:18:06:05 - 00:18:07:01
Ruud Hotele
Yes, for.
00:18:07:01 - 00:18:32:01
Rob
Us in the day, we want to make sure the hotels and restaurants provide top class service to those that are there, to those that they serve. And this is where that willingness to serve goes down the line, because then the day it's about human connection, it's about the experience that you get to have and the fact that you leave whatever experience, business, work, travel, leisure, family solo, that you come home, come back to wherever you live and be like, that was a good trip.
00:18:32:01 - 00:18:39:03
Rob
Like, Yeah, I enjoyed that. It was an experience as, say, memory that we can remember as a positive one.
00:18:39:03 - 00:18:44:01
Ruud Hotele
A You really need to go there because you can do this or experience that. Yes.
00:18:44:06 - 00:19:05:13
Rob
Yeah. I mean, the some of our best memories are those that we experience, right? And you can experience a lot of things digitally, but sometimes you just have to experience in-person. If you get if you're lucky enough to do those things and when you're there and you want to experience those things, you want it to be seamless. You want it to be about the experience of the thing you're doing, not about something that happens technically that can run the whole trip.
00:19:05:13 - 00:19:10:15
Rob
So it's quite people don't realize how big of a deal that can be.
00:19:10:17 - 00:19:43:07
Ruud Hotele
Yeah. And also I believe in the joys of freedom, of the freedom of choice because some especially generations before the Y in the Z and the millennial, the millennials, they all want to order by themselves, but the older generations, give them the choice. So when they don't want to have used a smartphone, there is enough staff capacity to help them in the way they want.
00:19:43:09 - 00:20:08:06
Rob
Yeah, and I think even as we go to a more digital world and the fact that I can do everything for my phone, even if I can do everything from when I still want that human element, I still want the ability to talk to somebody to have help with something. So providing also the hotels and restaurants staffs with the tools that they can be more in the moment and taking care of their customer and doing what their job.
00:20:08:06 - 00:20:22:23
Rob
It just makes everybody much more effective and efficient and you create those experiences. So I love that. And even as we get more in a digitally hyper connected world, we still need that human touch. And so if we can provide those human touchpoints meaningfully just makes the whole experience better.
00:20:23:00 - 00:20:23:18
Ruud Hotele
Yeah, Yeah.
00:20:23:19 - 00:20:34:15
Rob
Last question, What is the, as we head into 2024, what is success and growth look like for me? What do you hope to accomplish next year.
00:20:34:17 - 00:20:38:03
Ruud Hotele
In numbers or in just finance? Yeah.
00:20:38:05 - 00:20:50:20
Rob
Not a numbers, I would say more. And just like the impact, like what do you hope? Is it a new product or is it is it a new region? Is it rolling out like what do you hope to accomplish next year as a business going into 2024?
00:20:50:22 - 00:21:30:01
Ruud Hotele
I'm hoping to accomplish to be in as much as market places as possible for P.O.S. and PMS, both because in that way the step for an hotel is really low to get started with Woby and when they get started they will be the guests as a nicer experience and the people. The staff have more time to do what they like to do and yeah, how much hotels are more hotels are better.
00:21:30:01 - 00:21:30:18
Ruud Hotele
Yeah.
00:21:30:20 - 00:21:53:08
Rob
Yeah. I love that. And it's exciting to see what could happen next year in terms of being able to continue to spread the word about WABI, continue to create more experiences and get more hotels on board. So that's exciting to see what's going to happen in 2024. I know you've got a couple programs that you're looking at getting into an accelerator is, etc., that you can, learn to grow and also travel and experience.
00:21:53:08 - 00:21:57:06
Rob
I'm excited to see what happens for you as you head into 2024.
00:21:57:07 - 00:21:58:16
Ruud Hotele
Yes, exactly.
00:21:58:16 - 00:22:06:04
Rob
So if anyone out there listening wants to get in touch with you, how would they get in touch with you? What's the best way to reach out and connect with you and Woby
00:22:06:06 - 00:22:21:18
Ruud Hotele
I think, the best way if they have LinkedIn, connect with me via LinkedIn and that's chat. Fayyad Air and or you can go to our website mywoby.com and you will find the contact details there as well.
00:22:21:22 - 00:22:42:21
Rob
Awesome And I'll make sure to link through your LinkedIn and mywoby.com will be linked in their show notes. If you're interested. Open us shownotes. You should be able to easily navigate to his LinkedIn or to the website, so we'll make that all happen for you. I appreciate you coming on remote and for those out there listening, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Hospitable.
00:22:42:23 - 00:22:58:21
Rob
Be a tier one subscribe right now, whether you're watching on YouTube, whether that's on Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcast, wherever you're listening to this, make sure you subscribe. I've become a tier one and get involved. And if you know of anybody that should be on the show, you have questions for this show. Let us know.
00:22:58:21 - 00:23:01:08
Rob
We appreciate you. Thank you so much for coming on here.
00:23:01:08 - 00:23:06:01
Ruud Hotele
Welcome. And on Friday, every Friday, there's brilliant news.
00:23:06:03 - 00:23:21:10
Rob
That is true if you're ever in the office here in Tunasia and we have plenty of beer all the time on Friday, so come check it out. That is it for another episode of Hospitable. Until next time, Stay well. Got.