The Future of Hospitality Is Here
Real estate lies at the core of our everyday lives — it characterizes the space in which we live, the environment in which we work, and the places where we socialize. Yet, technology adoption within the real estate community as a means to fundamentally disrupt how physical assets behave and how transactions occur was lagging up until the last couple of years. We have witnessed the likes of WeWork, Convene, and Airbnb reimagine working and living, all while catalyzing momentum for further investments across the real estate technology landscape. In fact, according to the 2018 year-end report by CREtech, funding for “proptech” startups has surged with over $20 billion invested across early and late stage venture rounds in the last two years — quickly making real estate technology one of the fastest growing venture asset classes.
There is something inherently exciting about this growth and the opportunities it implies. While certain categories such as coworking, alternative accommodations, “ibuying”, brokerage, and construction (among others) have adorned the front pages of leading media outlets, we are still very much in the early innings of innovation in the space. Real estate remains a large, established multi-billion dollar category where lots of things continue to be done in lots of old fashioned ways. The investment frontier has been opened, yet the second wave of mass technology adoption and integration across the real estate horizontal has only just begun.
For example, traditional hospitality, a category which is poised to grow to over $200 billion in the next five years, still remains ripe for disruption and innovation. Why?
For decades, hotel operations have been characterized by substantial amounts of human capital to drive aspects of the guest experience that are sometimes more frictional than beneficial (check-in, early arrival / late checkout requests, etc.) and by substantial amounts of invested capital in formal amenities required by incumbent brands that are frequently cost centers rather than profit centers (lobby restaurant, room service, etc.). Modern consumers have increasingly begun to accept, and often prefer, reducing both human and invested capital with technology and third-party services. These trends, captured by the rise of alternative accommodations platforms (largely driven by Airbnb), have presented consumers with an alternative to hospitality that is more simple at a better value. However, the consumer experience provided through these platforms is largely inconsistent. The levels of cleanliness, service, and experience differ from unit to unit and host to host. Consumers are forced to rely mostly on peer reviews and incur the additional friction of having to deal with the unit owner, who may double-book or rent out units illegally against city regulations, among a host of other issues, resulting in a largely unreliable user experience.
The real estate trends have also shifted in parallel to accommodate these preferences. New developments are increasingly purpose-built for mixed use, where retail, office, coworking, hospitality, and residential (among other categories) are being intertwined as a means to preserve optionality and to deliver an enhanced customer value proposition. It is about building and recreating communities. Mixing previously siloed spaces and the demographics associated with each creates an authentic, boutique environment where individuals can naturally intersect and connect in ways that are preferred over dealing with a concierge or front desk. The connective thread here is the use of technology. It sits at the core, tying together these physical spaces, but also making them inherently more flexible and user-friendly.
That is why we are very excited to partner with Mint House, an alternative accommodations platform focused on revamping the core elements of real estate, technology, and customer experience in an effort to address the existing pain points of traditional hospitality and alternative accommodations. Mint House is focused on being the operator of choice and preferred partner to the real estate community, converting multi-family apartment inventory in state-of-the-art buildings into high-tech, amenity rich suites through the use of technology (all in an operationally efficient and regulatory compliant manner). For the consumer, this translates to staying in an ultra-one or two bedroom apartment with all the associated building amenities and controlling the entire hospitality journey from the Mint House app (say goodbye to physical concierge and check-in desks!) — all for the price of an equivalent four star hotel. Whether you are a business or family traveler tired of the same old options or a landlord looking to add a mixed-use element to your building, Mint House is a no brainer! The future of hospitality is here folks.
