In our ‘5 Questions for…’ section, Gastfreund staff, customers, partners and industry experts offer brief insights into trends and practical knowledge from the hospitality sector. This time, we’re speaking to Tobias Roelen-Blasberg, Co-Founder & Managing Director of MARA Solutions. We ask what happens to a guest review once it’s been written, how a single piece of feedback is turned into a specific task via MARA and the Gastfreund Hotelboard, and why, for Tobias, it is precisely this moment that defines true hospitality.
MARA was named the best reputation management software by the Hotel Tech Report in 2025 and 2026 and is now used in over 1,300 hotels. What’s the story behind MARA, and what sets you apart from other review management software?
When we founded MARA, we had a clear goal: to help hotels manage guest feedback more easily and efficiently.
Reputation management remains at the heart of our platform to this day. With MARA, hotels can centrally manage reviews from all relevant channels, create high-quality AI-generated responses that align with their own brand voice, and automate many repetitive tasks. This saves teams valuable time every day without compromising on quality or personalisation.
From the very beginning, it was important to us that hotels retain control over their AI. From a detailed brand voice right through to flexible automations, our customers decide for themselves what replies look like and when processes are automated.
We’re proud of this. Over 1,300 hotels now rely on MARA, and the awards for best reputation management software from the Hotel Tech Report in 2025 and 2026 confirm that we’re on the right track.
At the same time, we have recognised in recent years that guest feedback is much more than just the foundation for a good online reputation. For us, guest feedback is one of the most valuable sources of data a hotel has – and yet one of the least utilised. Those who systematically analyse feedback can identify recurring patterns, make better operational decisions and improve the guest experience in the long term.
A single review is an opinion; a hundred reviews are a pattern. How does MARA identify such patterns – patterns that are often overlooked or given too little weight when looking at individual reviews on a day-to-day basis – and how does AI help ensure that this feedback really makes an impact?
No one has the time to read hundreds or even thousands of reviews individually every month and draw the right conclusions from them. This is precisely why MARA’s AI was developed. It analyses large volumes of guest feedback and identifies recurring themes across different departments, individual hotels or entire hotel groups.
It is often the small details that, when taken together, paint a clear picture. When several guests independently mention slow check-ins, problems with the air conditioning or recurring cleanliness issues, this creates a pattern that can easily be overlooked in day-to-day operations.
However, it is not just a matter of recognising these patterns, but also of channelling them into areas where they can lead to concrete improvements. Hotel managers should not have to spend their time manually analysing reviews. MARA highlights the truly relevant issues so that teams can focus on improving the guest experience.
The analyses generate tasks so that the team can address any shortcomings in a targeted manner. How does MARA determine that a review is relevant enough to turn it into a task – and what happens to the positive reviews?
Not every review automatically needs to become a task. That is precisely what sets it apart.
Our AI assesses not only the star rating, but above all the content of a review. For example, if guests repeatedly report a faulty air-conditioning unit, a broken remote control, housekeeping issues or unusually long waiting times at check-in, MARA recognises these as specific recommendations for action.
Our aim isn’t to generate as many tasks as possible. Our aim is to ensure that important issues don’t get overlooked.
Positive reviews are just as valuable. They show hotels what is already working exceptionally well. When guests repeatedly praise the same member of staff, the breakfast service or specific processes, these are best practices that can be highlighted and shared across the entire organisation.
Guest feedback should therefore not only help to resolve problems; it should equally support hotels in understanding what they are already doing particularly well.
These tasks now go straight into Gastfreund’s Hotelboard – the very place where the team coordinates and processes tasks on a daily basis according to their respective responsibilities. How does the interface between MARA and the Hotelboard work, and what benefits does this bring for marketing, reception, housekeeping, IT, etc.?
The real challenge today is no longer simply collecting guest feedback. The challenge lies in quickly deriving the right actions from it.
Let’s imagine a guest mentions a faulty remote control, a noisy air-conditioning unit or another issue in their room in their review. If they didn’t report this to reception during their stay, the hotel might only become aware of the problem through the review.
Previously, someone had to read this review, recognise that it was relevant, identify the responsible department and then manually create a task. This takes time and always carries the risk that important issues will be overlooked. It is precisely this step that we are automating in collaboration with Gastfreund. MARA’s Service Ticket AI identifies relevant operational issues in reviews and automatically creates tasks in Hotelboard.
Hotel teams already organise tasks in the Hotelboard – whether from shift handover, housekeeping or technical services – and assign them to the right staff members. It only makes sense that tasks arising from guest reviews should end up in exactly the same place.
If MARA is also connected to the hotel’s PMS, information such as room numbers or booking numbers can be imported directly. This means, for example, that housekeeping or technical services not only know what the problem is, but also immediately know in which room it needs to be resolved.
Our aim is to translate guest feedback into concrete actions as quickly as possible. After all, the faster problems are resolved, the less likely it is that the next guest will have the same experience.
More and more hotels are using AI or are currently trying it out for the first time. What advice would you give to hoteliers who now want to introduce AI-powered software such as MARA for review management, to ensure that it genuinely reduces their workload rather than creating additional effort?
I would advise every hotel not to start with the technology, but with the question: What problem are we actually trying to solve? Today, the best technological solutions do not operate in isolation. They create real added value when different specialised systems work together seamlessly and complement existing processes in a meaningful way.
Our partnership with Gastfreund is a good example of this. MARA analyses guest feedback and identifies areas for improvement. Hotelboard then ensures that these are turned into specific tasks and that the right teams can get to work on them straight away.
This is exactly how we view the use of AI in the hospitality industry: it shouldn’t create an additional platform that needs to be monitored. It should take on repetitive administrative tasks and free up staff’s time. Ultimately, hospitality will always be a human endeavour. When AI takes over routine tasks, hotel teams have more time for what really matters: their guests.
Tobias Roelen-Blasberg in conversation with Jessika Fiala, Gastfreund GmbH
