Bart-Jan Leyts Talks Otamiser — The First Ever Ranking Management Solution

Who Are You and What's Your Vision?

My name is Bart-Jan Leyts, Founder of Otamiser. I’m a passionate young entrepreneur looking to make a change in the industry. My personal vision is to provide young people with the right resources to educate them as much as possible, and for myself to develop my own capacities as much as possible.

Otamiser’s vision is simple; we are the first-ever ranking management solution, and we aim to transform and/or disrupt the industry by putting the importance of ranking on the map of revenue management (and by this, enforcing our 'new school of revenue management').

What Is Otamiser All About?

Otamiser Booster is a ranking management solution, which is a new term we invented. A ranking management solution aims to maximize the ranking of properties on OTAs, so they can leverage the OTAs to the maximum. By leveraging OTAs, hotels can squeeze the maximum bookings from a given channel and utilize the billboard effect to its maximum.

What Makes Otamiser Unique?

We are the first ones ever to put ranking management in a tool. Apart from the consultants who claim to have the golden recipe for maximum visibility on OTAs, our tool backs it by data.

Our tool is running on a property on a 24/7 basis, testing the performance against the market, so we can step-by-step find the recipe that works for that given property in maintaining a high OTA position.

Of course, as OTAs change their algorithm frequently, we have to do that too, and have to predict their next changes so our properties can gain competitive advantages in utilizing a high ranking.

Who Should Use Otamiser?

Hotels who want to maximize their revenue (and are looking to attract more guests). The biggest misconception is that maximizing OTAs is decreasing direct website bookings. OTAs provide valuable visibility for brand.com as well, resulting in maximized overall performance.

Another misconception is that the hotel will become OTA-dependent; we generate the guests. But apart from that, it’s vital to put a strategy in place to make those OTA guests recurring guests.

What Are the Biggest Challenges in Developing Otamiser?

Our biggest challenge was finding correct data in the industry, as a lot of providers have completely different data outputs. We’ve coped with this by combining supplied data with our own. For example, booking.com was really hard to find the genius ranking vs. the non-genius ranking, while on Airbnb we had to run a couple of hundred scripts (with different customer profiles) to be able to find the rankings.

How Does Otamiser Integrate with Existing Tech?

Right now we are integrating with Cubilis (Stardekk) and soon with Hostaway. Those are our ‘public’ integrations; we have some other more locally built ones for individual customers.

What's Next for Otamiser?

We will be launching a new version of our dashboard soon. Also, we are actively building our RMS connections, which will incentivize people even more to use ranking as an aspect of revenue management.

How Has User Feedback Shaped Otamiser?

From the moment we started, we have used a personal account manager approach. So we are always on the front line of feedback. As we were all very young and didn’t have any work-related experience, user feedback was even more important for us. I wouldn’t lie if I were to say that without user feedback we wouldn’t be where we are today.

What Metrics About Otamiser Are You Most Proud Of?

Our average ROI is 4.17 for our clients. While the revenue increases after our solution by 24% (this is if they already use an RMS; if they didn't, it’s even more).

How Does Otamiser Comply with Regulations?

Our tool is applicable to the systems of an OTA, so we are protected by their regulation compliance.

Any Success Stories Featuring Otamiser?

check out:

• Hotel Monarc & Otamiser x RevControl (in Dutch)
• Otamiser Case Studies

How Does Your Leadership Impact Otamiser?

My leadership has a significant impact on our product development. As a dynamic and resilient leader, I set the tone for the team in our innovative, fast-growing startup. I emphasize the importance of adaptability and agility, showcasing that being flexible and resilient is key to unlocking our team's full potential. This approach influences our product by fostering a culture of innovation and the ability to swiftly respond to challenges, resulting in more dynamic and successful product development.

What Are Your Thoughts on the Future of AI in the Hospitality Industry?

The importance for me is how OTAs will cope with AI-generated content. Will they, as does Google, punish it or not? In our analyses, we don’t see any significant result yet. So it will be the question of which point of view OTAs will take.

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