Trio HOP to it and make app for hotels
Software will help businesses tackle rates rises and Brexit
A Highland Perthshire businessman has launched a software to help Scottish hotels tackle business rate rises and Brexit.
Richard Drummond from McKay’s Hotel in Pitlochry, along with fellow hoteliers Jon Erasmus and Ronald Tweedie, said they were frustrated at hotels in Scotland being left behind when it comes to technology.
The trio, now known as HOP Software, have since gone on to develop the technology to help hospitality businesses run more efficiently on their own.
The cloud-based system, which can run from any smart device or phone, will mean guests can check-in online using an app, and HR departments can generate staff efficiency data more easily.
Pitlochry’s Mr Drummond said: “You could say we are new kids on the block.
“Our first principles were, why should smaller, or any size operators, be limited by functionality and why should software be so expensive?
“We don’t need armies of computer experts. No one is being charged commission by separate channel management systems to integrate bookings from third party sites like LateRooms. This updates live.
“At reception, staff know when rooms are available because cleaners click on the system when they are finished. Customers can travel from Pamplona to Pitlochry, using remote check-in, without having to see a person, if that is what they want. All aspects of the business are covered.”
The Scottish trio have already invested £500,000 into the new software, which they say will cost businesses between £2,000 and £6,000 per year, and it has already created six full time jobs.
Business partner Mr Erasmus says he hopes this new technology will remove the need for “clunky”, highcommission systems, leaving hoteliers with more time for the Jon Erasmus, Richard Drummond and Ronald Tweedie Pic Neil Hanna customers.
He said: “We are market disruptors trying to help our own industry. As hoteliers ourselves, we were all becoming increasingly frustrated at lots of expensive legacy-based systems designed in the early 2000s, with bits bolted on and run by other companies.
“Our industry is having to deal with business rate rises, impacts of the Living Wage, Brexit and rising utility costs. There are pressures in many areas and people don’t want huge IT bills on top of that.”
He continued: “We decided to develop software ourselves which could run a business, end to end, at a fraction of the cost.
“We don’t want to save businesses 10 per cent on IT bills, we think we can save them 70 per cent.”
The system is now already being used in a number of hotels across the country, including in McKay’s in Pitlochry. The three men are now looking at international opportunities to expand their business into South Africa.