Enhancing Customer Experience with Travel Technology | Nick Karagiannis from HotelPlanner

Ernesto Quezada: Pathmonk is the intelligent tool for website lead generation. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments. With relevant micro-experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more, stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50%. Add Pathmonk to your website in seconds. Let the AI do all the work and get access to 50% more qualified leads while you keep doing marketing and sales as usual. Check us at pathmonk.com. Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Nick from Hotel Planner, VP of Products there with them. How are you doing today, Nick?

Nick Karagiannis: I’m doing well. How are you?

Ernesto: I’m doing great. Thank you so much for asking, Nick. And, well, let’s jump right into it. Right. I’m sure listeners are wondering what Hotel Planner is all about. So, in your words, can you tell us a little bit more?

Nick: Of course, yeah. Hotel Planner is a travel technology company specializing in the travel space, mainly hotels. We do a lot of individual reservations talking from one to nine rooms. And then we’re the leader in group travel, that’s ten rooms plus, so we facilitate both aspects of the spectrum. We have integrations with car rentals, buses, flights, and even one of our newest suite of products, which is a registration software. But most of the meat is within the hotel space.

Ernesto: Okay, perfect. Awesome. Great to hear that. And, so that way our listeners could get a good understanding there. A hotel planner, then what would be that key problem that you guys like to solve? What is the edge that you guys have between the competition out there?

Nick: Yeah, so the big thing is, we have access to unpublished and closed user group rates. So they’re going to be highly discounted compared to the prices on Priceline, Expedia, and Booking.com. Another big thing that we deployed a couple of years ago is a kind of gig-based model. This allows folks around the world who want to earn some extra money to apply and field calls, making money off of the commission from the sale. That has been a very big game changer. Using dynamic data, we’re able to route calls from customers to agents within the area that the client is traveling to. For example, if you’re based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, you’ll be fielding calls around that North Carolina area. It’s good because you know that area, so you’re able to provide better direction on hotels, places to eat, and fun activities versus someone living in a different state or country trying to sell you hotels. This model has significantly increased our conversion rate compared to the traditional offshore call center model. It’s great because it provides additional jobs in the marketplace, and you can essentially clock in and out at any time, similar to the Uber model. That’s been a very big game changer, and we’re continuing to expand on it.

Ernesto: Awesome. Great to hear that. So then, how would somebody usually find out about Hotel Planner? Is there a top-line acquisition channel for you guys?

Nick: We have a couple of different channels. We invest heavily in the ad space, using PPC models. We actually power a lot of travel companies in the marketplace, so sometimes, even if you’re booking a rate on another platform, it might be coming from us. We also have a lot of partnerships with big corporate companies, handling their corporate travel. We engage in general outreach through a typical sales process, attending conventions, and integrating with sports registration companies like Sports Engine, AES, and GotSoccer. These partnerships provide us with clients who need travel arrangements for their events, giving us free sales and marketing. So, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach; we dabble in various channels, with our sales teams focusing on specific niches.

Ernesto: Okay, perfect. Awesome. Great. And then on that note, as far as our listeners visiting you, they could always check you out at hotelplanner.com. What role does the website play for you guys? Is it directly sales, or does it also inform?

Nick: There’s a couple of things. If you go to hotelplanner.com, you can start booking travel right away with a search box for your destination, dates, and number of rooms. If you’re booking ten-plus rooms, it takes you to the group request form to start sending RFPs to hotels for your block. You can also enroll as a gig agent, get answers to frequently asked questions, and access hotel accounts to manage property descriptions, pictures, amenities, and respond to bids. Our website links to our social media and WordPress, where our CEO Tim does podcasts to promote Hotel Planner. We’re aiming to go public in a few years, so building our brand is crucial for increasing sales and achieving a great market cap and valuation.

Ernesto: Okay, perfect. Thank you so much for that, Nick. And, well, let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about you as a leader. You being the VP of Products at Hotel Planner, what are some key tasks you focus on in your day-to-day work?

Nick: I’m responsible for the tech roadmap, ensuring developers are on target and providing the resources they need. My day-to-day involves managing our task management system, keeping it up to date, and following through the tech pipeline. I also meet with key resources within the business to get feedback from customers on what improvements or changes they want. My goal is to manage the developers’ workload, keeping them focused on the most impactful tasks and projects that will move the business forward, whether it’s cost savings, revenue generation, or gaining an edge over our competition.

Ernesto: Definitely. Perfect. And well, let’s jump into our next section then, Nick, which is our rapid fire question round. Are you ready for them?

Nick: I’m ready.

Ernesto: Perfect. Awesome. So first off, Nick, what is the last book that you read?

Nick: I read “The Lean Startup.” It was a really good book, with great takeaways. I highly suggest everyone grab a copy, especially entrepreneurs. You learn a lot about the startup realm and how to do it in a lean fashion. It had some new ideas and best practices that I’m now using at Hotel Planner.

Ernesto: Great read there for our listeners. Next up, if there were no boundaries in technology, what would be the one thing you want to have fixed for your role as a marketer today?

Nick: Right now, a big talking point is AI. Everyone’s talking about it, but it’s not that easy to implement. Some say it is, but you really need to know what you’re doing. I wish it were easier to implement AI into our business, but I know soon there will be AI tools that allow you to do it faster.

Ernesto: Great insights. If there’s one repetitive task that you could automate, what would that be?

Nick: The big thing right now, and I’m working towards it, is sending weekly tech updates to our general team and leadership team about what the developers are working on. Our current management tool doesn’t do a great job of automating that. It would be nice to grab what developers worked on, summarize it into bullets, and send it out. However, the process allows me to reflect on the week, get more in-depth with what the devs are doing, and increase my technical knowledge.

Ernesto: Perfect. And lastly, you have a lot of experience in the marketing world, Nick, but what is one piece of advice you would give yourself if you were to restart your journey as a marketer today?

Nick: One thing listeners should know is that I started a travel technology company called Lucid Travel with my buddy Ben Canosby. We focused on the sports space, targeting tournament directors and event organizers. Early on, we realized that cold calling didn’t work. What worked was market research and surveying. We sent out surveys to universities to understand their travel management needs. This approach provided valuable data and led to customer interest in Lucid Travel without an initial sales pitch. We learned to focus on both product and sales equally, gather feedback, and use existing customers for referrals. Before trying to sell, understand your product and your clientele’s needs.

Ernesto: Perfect. Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that with us and our audience. And, well, Nick, it has been a pleasure to have you on with us today. For our listeners, you could always check them out at hotelplanner.com. Nick, thank you so much for being with us today. To our listeners, thank you for tuning in, and I’m looking forward to our next episode at Pathmonk Presents. Thanks.

Nick: Thanks, everybody.

Ernesto: Bye.