This calls for a celebration: This month, Guestfriend officially turns 5 years old! What started out as an idea has now developed into a successful concept. Five years ago we were still tinkering with our prototypes, today we already have more than 4,000 customers, numerous product enhancements and a total of five tools, all of which simplify the everyday lives of hoteliers – and there are more to come. We are very proud that we have achieved so much together and would like to say THANK YOU with a special birthday special!
How it all began …
We often found ourselves in the following situation when travelling: At reception, we were inundated with lots of information at check-in. There were piles of paperwork and worn-out room folders in the hotel rooms, so we ended up having to find the really relevant information for our stay ourselves or ask reception again. This wasn’t really satisfactory for either us or the hotels. So we thought: there’s a better way! In 2013 we had the answer:
A digital guest folder that provides guests with all the important information about their accommodation and holiday region in a bundled format and, on the other hand, enables hoteliers to communicate with them in a targeted manner and market offers. That was a gap in the market! A short time later, we founded Gastfreund GmbH and developed the first prototypes of our app – always in close cooperation with a number of hoteliers and tourism organisations. A year later, we had finalised our concept and our Guestfriend app and were able to acquire our first customers in the Allgäu – our home region.
… and where we are today.
What started in the Allgäu region has now spread throughout Germany, Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland. And recently we have even expanded into Scotland and the Netherlands. And that’s not all! Within 5 years, we have now been able to inspire over 4,000 customers, our team has grown to 95 employees, and we have moved into another office in Berlin in addition to our headquarters in Kempten in the Allgäu region.
And the best is yet to come: through intensive dialogue with our customers, we have developed further products in addition to the Digital Guest Directory: the Hotel Newspaper, the Wi-Fi welcome page, the Info Channel and the turnkey Hotel app. All five tools are now popular products that our customers are very happy to use – after all, 95% of our customers recommend us to others. That’s amazing!
“We were always convinced that we had a good idea and a great team. But nobody expected us to grow so quickly and inspire more than 4,000 hoteliers within five years. We have to praise our team for accepting and mastering the challenges right from the start! But we would also like to thank our customers: it is incredible fun to work with them, they help us to refine our products and develop them further. Without our great customers and the motivated team, we wouldn’t be here now!”
Marc Münster, CPO/CEO of Gastfreund GmbH
5 years full of challenges and ambitious goals, hard work and determination are now behind us. Our mission to digitalise communication in the hotel industry, improve the travel experience and support hoteliers in their work has always come first. But our journey is far from over! The last few years have shown us that we are doing a good job and that there is still a lot of potential to make the hotel industry fitter for digitalisation! So be curious to see what else awaits you in the coming years! Guestfriend is celebrating, celebrate with us!
But let’s keep it short: Thank you very much for your support, your help, your loyalty, your warmth and your enthusiasm, dear hosts, hoteliers, partners, friends and, of course, dear Guestfriend team!
And to make sure you all benefit from our 5th anniversary, this month we have some great birthday presents for new and existing customers! Just give us a call on 49 831 930 657-0 or send us an e-mail to info@hotelcore.io and find out what you can expect.
Here’s to many more years together!
