Revenue-Hungry Hotels to Tech Startups: We Are All Ears

25.08.2023 - 14:30 / skift.com / Justin Dawes

Before the pandemic, the tech startup ResortPass had partnered with a little more than 100 hotels, offering a software platform that can book guests for day use of their amenities. 

Now, the startup partners with more than 900 hotels, including brands like Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Westin, Fairmont, W Hotels, and Hyatt Hotels. 

That fast growth speaks to hotels’ eagerness — desperation, maybe? — to increase revenue post-pandemic. 

The ResortPass customer software platform can market availability of a hotel’s amenities — spas, pools, fitness centers, meeting rooms, and more — and allow guests to use them during the day without needing to book an overnight stay. The company also offers hotel clients a software platform to manage that business on the backend. 

ResortPass argues that the traditional business model of a hotel is fundamentally flawed: If guests are not using a hotel’s amenities to their full capacity, why not open them up to travelers and locals for a fee? Airbnb basically had a similar idea but for a different industry; maybe that’s why AirAngels, the Airbnb alumni network, decided to invest in ResortPass in its recent round of $26 million.

Hotels have been adding software to increase efficiency, as Skift has reported multiple times. But there’s only so much that can be done to make the most of the dollars you already have. ResortPass is a standout — and even turned a couple of heads in the Skift newsroom — because its platform offers hotels a new revenue stream, not something that just makes existing operations easier. 

For the vast majority of the startup’s partners, this is the first time they are opening access to amenities without requiring an overnight stay at the hotel, according to Michael Wolf, ResortPass CEO. There have been more than 1.6 million bookings to date, with ResortPass getting a cut of the hotels’ new revenue.

“We have many hotel partners that we’ll send over a million dollars in revenue to. And in addition to that, they generate millions more in food and beverage and other ancillary revenue on top of the guests visiting the property,” Wolf said.

Founded in 2016, the startup’s newfound growth has led to the latest fundraise, with plans to expand geographically and strengthen the product. Wolf, a startup and venture capital veteran who is new to the travel industry, was recently hired to lead that business growth. He has a lot of work to do, with a market potential of 100,000 hotels. 

Profiting off of this underutilized space can also help hotels become a stronger part of the places where they are based, which could turn out to benefit everyone in the long-run.

“It really creates a relationship, often with the local community as well, in a way that they’ve never