Tech firm aims to break into hospitality market
ANEW Birmingham tech firm aiming to simplify services in the hotel and hospitality industries has signed a revenue share deal with an international laundry brand.
Superbutler has teamed up with on-demand service Laundryheap as it looks to break into and disrupt the UK’s hospitality sector.
The Superbutler website digitises typical services customers might want while staying at a hotel such as ordering meals, booking spa treatments, taxis and table reservations and submitting requests for things like laundry and meeting rooms.
It can also register customer complaints or other issues and give hotel managers data insights into a business’ operations in real time, such as tracking orders while also providing
feedback to guests. Users will not be required to install an app or go through a lengthy registration process and the system works on mobile phones in several different languages.
Superbutler said the aim was to allow hotels to provide personalised experiences for their guests, initially targeting around 1,000 hotels in London with plans to expand the service to venues in the Midlands. Other possible future uses for the platform include at golf courses and on cruise ships.
Laundryheap offers on-demand laundry and dry-cleaning services, in a host of cities across the UK, including Birmingham and Coventry, Europe, the US and Middle East.
It caters for both consumers and businesses, such as restaurants, bars and spas and counts more than 500 UK hotels on its client roster.
This new deal will enable Laundryheap to introduce Superbutler to its hotel partners.
Separately, both companies are also currently going through a crowdfunding round on the Seedrs platform.
Superbutler has so far raised more than £268,000 against a target for £350,000 while Laundryheap has raised more than £1.28 million, surpassing its target of £1 million.
Superbutler is the brainchild of Waqar Shah who studied computer science at the University of Birmingham and later became a BT software engineer.
He also launched the Birmingham-based food ordering website and app Supermeal in 2015.
Mr Shah told the Post: “We are excited about our partnership with Laundryheap which offers an excellent chance for rapid growth both in the UK and on a global scale.
“Concurrently, we will introduce Laundryheap to our hotel partners which do not have on-site laundry services. Together, Superbutler and Laundryheap will create numerous job opportunities in the UK, contributing to career development.
“Our joint commitment is to provide unmatched convenience and efficiency to our customers, leveraging state-of-the-art technology and innovative solutions.”