What’s HOT and what’s NOT in 2011

By Liubov Zhabina


Being an Entrepreneur means seeing opportunities,
but many people have difficulty recognizing them. What separates entrepreneurs from others is their ability to identify, even invent opportunities and to see what others can not.
These are some forces driving change in 2011. Maybe after you have read this article you will come up with a great idea on how to benefit from these changes!

They age, opportunities bloom

Todays aging Babyboomers are providing a set of fantastic market opportunities, such as construction services that make homes more senior-friendly; supermarkets with lower shelves and wheelchair-compatible shopping carts; and sales and tech support by phone for seniors, by seniors. So watchout entrepreneurs, granny’s got dinero to spend ;-)

Travel and tourism take off

Travel and tourism are back and by the end of 2011 they will be better than ever. Revenue is expected to reach nearly $1.4 trillion, which means the opportunity in the sector will be the biggest so far!
The industry is increasingly shifting online, opportunities are emerging fast. Smartphone owners are loving their access to Wi-Fi finders, flight status updaters, local restaurant finders, budget booking assistants, translators and more. Websites offering unique travel-oriented services have made a strong showing too. This area will continue to grow, improving the efficiency of the overall industry and increasing demand for travel. It will be a good time for new players in the market!

One-way private online shopping? No!
Social colletcive buying sites ? Yes!

Who would have imagined?! E-commerce has now gone social. These sites rely heavily on online conversations to drive sales. The i-tools of these sites allow their users to easily share deals and recommendations and plan activities with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Companies no longer have total control over their brand's message. That responsibility now falls in the hands of the social web and people like you and me.
Social shopping startups continue to pop up all the time. One is "swipely.com", which "turns purchases into conversations." When users swipe their credit or debit card, the transaction shows up on the site--for the community to discuss with eachother

Home sweet home

Home owners start to take care of those leaky roofs and unfinished remodeling projects put off during the recession. People are willing to make their homes meet the energy-efficient standarts as well as to be tastefully functional and accesible. So let the hamering begin!

Going green is not a trend . It's an expectation!

If you're not thinking about all the ways to go green, you're way behind the curve.
If you haven't accepted this fact, your competitors will gain more attraction and sustainability than you! Green is where the money is!

Affordable luxuries

The recession has created more selective, value-conscious consumers and retailers hungry for sales. It has also conditioned shoppers to expect great products and services at reasonable prices.
Many budget hotels are pouring money into renovations and added amenities.
Some of the hotels are adding new linens, plasma-screen TVs, brightly colored walls and modern furniture. More fashion designers are now offering "bridge lines," or lower-tier collections, for a fraction of the price.

As you can see, lots of hot opportunities and gold mines to tap into in 2011. Let the creativity and innovation begin!

HosKit Solutions

Hospitality IT Solutions

By Evguenia Lomteva

Kassem Jouni, 26 years

Business Development

As faith would strangely have it, genius ideas are usually the simplest of ideas and they spring to life in the minds of genius people. The person, whom I`m referring to partnered up with other three innovators and together have developed a very different business model to suit individual properties. It is a concept that will hopefully bring individual hotels to the same competitive level as hotel chains in the area of Revenue and Distribution management and we, their contemporaries, are lucky enough to be able to see the beginning of this new era of change. But let’s start from the very beginning, shall we?

I got to know Kassem step by step. Once he came with a professional visit to HIM, the school I was studying at that time, in order to learn more about it. I was a student he got in touch with in order to guide him around, show the property and explain to him what HIM was all about. We kept in contact and one day whilst brainstorming with my fellow bloggers for potential stories for our new blog, I decided to contact my new pal in order to interview him and to get a glimpse of what his company and him are all about.

Kassem Jouni is a young entrepreneur. Together with his associates he created HosKit Solutions, which is the one of the few companies on the market to target individual properties in revenue and distribution management outsourcing, web activities, and innovative solutions for the hospitality industry. At the prime of his life, merely 26 years old, Mr. Jouni is already one of HosKit Solutions key developers. He has experienced venturing into other fields such as coffee shops and catering back home in his native Ghana and also lectures students about Revenue and Distribution at some of Switzerland`s finest hospitality schools like Cesar Ritz for example.  

But how did the company start?
Kassem was always interested in revenue management from the very start of his career. It was during his internship days at design hotels that he gained the knowledge that gave him the push he needed to get into the field.  Whilst obtaining his Bachelor Degree of Science at EHL, he was also interning at Grand Hotel du Lac in Vevey after which he continued as a night auditor there. While working during the nights he had enough time to do research about subjects that he was passionate about. More or less with the help of his manager, Mr. D’Onofro, Kassem started embodying his ideas into reality. Kassem wanted to do more than just forecasting and analyzing information. He wanted to offer mainly to Individual hotels all the tools and expertise they needed to compete on the market.  Kassem values the Grand Hotel du Lac for giving him the chance to learn and pursue his ideas.

The new company started its long and thorny path in the art of hospitality a mere 9 months ago. Together with his associates Kassem started offering pure consulting services and IT support to hotels. New entrepreneurs noticed the fact that there are not many capable individuals in this particular field that could offer their expertise in making life easier for hotels and hoteliers. Furthermore the tools in place today are created to target mainly large hotel chains. Having experienced how inconvenient the tools on the current market were, step by step they started creating and installing their own software that would make up for the glitches in what was currently available out there. This is basically how the new company was born.

The idea is simple enough but, surprisingly, quite a few companies came up to its realization. HosKit Solutions aims to offer its clients an all-in-one system that is combined with the expertise needed to increase occupancy and attract customers simply by using the web and making the Internet another great tool to sell its products and services, while remaining 100% web-based. HosKit Solutions went down to 0% commission for the utilization of its software, finding it the most convenient strategy for the company. It is extremely user friendly. It provides a company with a free booking engine for its website, assists to connect to GDS and as many distribution channels as possible. Hotel management is given an ability to choose exactly what they need as the HosKit Solutions team is very flexible in helping you find the right custom made solution for your particular business needs. It is simple, and most importantly, effective! According to Kassem, the installation and maintenance of an average Revenue Management system usually costs a lot of money for hotels. Cost, along with the complication of running it are what small individual hotels find not suitable. Whilst with using HosKit Solutions you don’t need to worry, as the tools they are using are simpler, the costs are more affordable, and the expertise is there at the disposal of the hotels when needed.

Today HosKit Solutions has a portfolio of 28 hotel clients in countries stretching across the globe such as Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Ghana. The Headquarters of the company comprising of a team of 4 is located in Lausanne along with 3 associates outside of Switzerland. HosKit Solutions hires from 1 to 3 interns bi-annually. They don’t have a marketing department, but they do promote themselves through their network with hospitality schools.

The IT package of services HosKit Solutions offer today are as follows:

-                Revenue Management

-                Distribution Management

-                Website Design

-                Website Maintenance

-                Search Engine Optimization

-                Content Creation

-                Social Media

-                Online Reputation Management

Some new services like Media Production and Mobile Promotions are on the stage of development.

A straight forward question to the interviewee

On the question of “Can you call yourself an entrepreneur and why?” Kassem answers “no” and says that you are not an entrepreneur until you first, take a risk, and second, actually succeed. Hoskit Solutions is a young company but its founders believe that they are moving on the right path to be branded a success. Kassem highlights that any slip up would result in serious damages to the success of the company that is why at this crucial stage the team has to be working trice as hard.

A word of gratitude to the contributors of success

The founders of Hoskit Solutions credit the following people for helping them reach the stage they are at now. Venture kick for the training and the kick they have received to enhance their entrepreneurial skills. The Canton de Vaud for offering all the necessary incentives needed to have a smooth start. Ian Millar from the EHL, Zoubair Mejri and his team from Kuchena, Simon Johnson from EPFL and Jacques Pernet from the Hotel Bellerive for the advices they have been giving. Most importantly for their first few clients such as the Hotel Allalin and the Motel de Rennaz for putting their trust and giving the chance for a small team to grow. Kassem mentions that he promises his clients, that the team is always doing their very best, to provide them with the perfect mix of products and services.

Looking to the future

Kassem believes that Hospitality industry is one of those businesses where one has endless opportunities to shine and do something new, creative and innovative. Many young graduates look at the potential salaries and at a complicated situation in the industry, believing they could not have taken a more difficult career path. Kassem believes that the reason for this lack of motivation and excitement is that the hospitality industry is in need of a global reformation and it is up to us, the new generation, to create these big changes. You just need to come up with an idea and start working hard believing in success of your initiative. Only like that you will take your unique niche on the market and bring an Idea that may be jotted on paper to life…

If you want to learn more about HosKit Solution, please contact the company straight through the email below.

info@hoskitsolutions.com

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