Hotelhero founders exit, join hospitality tech specialist Apaleo

Hotel software review and recommendation platform Hotelhero will begin to wind down operations as its founding team joins hospitality technology specialist Apaleo .

Apaleo – which in April of this year raised €4.5 million in Series A funding – will use Hotelhero’s technology, experience and network to revitalize its app store and enhance its overall platform.

“As we join forces today, I’m more confident than ever that together with Apaleo, we can accelerate the digital potential of hotels around the world,” says Florian Montag, co-founder and managing director of Hotelhero.

Hotelhero was founded in 2017 by three graduates from the École Hoteliere de Lausanne - Julien Schmit, Thibault Gence and Florian Montag - with the vision to bridge the gap between hotels and software vendors. Through its platform, hoteliers can discover and select their software through a recommendation engine based on market share data, unique property characteristics and user-generated reviews.

“Still today, the biggest hurdle for hotels is the lack of seamlessly integrated applications due to missing data standardization and limited integration capabilities. We believe that Apaleo is in a unique position to change this with their open platform and API-first approach,” Montag says.

Apaleo claims it is the only cloud platform based on 100% open APIs, making it simple for any app provider to connect to one ecosystem.

The company says it experienced a 300% growth in its customer base throughout the pandemic as hoteliers recognize the need for a flexible and digital platform to automate operations and streamline guest journeys.

“By joining Apaleo, we plan to further develop Apaleo's app ecosystem and build the first truly plug and play app store to cater to the needs of accommodation providers of all kinds,” says Thibault Gence, co-founder and COO of Hotelhero.

The agreement will go into effect July 1.