akin is now D3x
Branding refresh as we dive deeper into the world of AI + Hospitality
Thanks for being a part of our journey thus far.
In startup-land, there’s a famous saying - if your website has a favicon (small image displayed next to the page title in the browser tab) at launch, then you waited too long to launch.
Having been around the block a few times, we skipped the bit that required us to waste time and energy on vanity design such as favicons and pretended that marketing didn’t exist.
The year that was
In 2023 we
Spoke to more than 100 hospitality operators, seeking to understand their business and figure out how AI could help augment their operations.
Launched our product and onboarded ~200 properties
Built 15 certified integrations(!!!) with messaging tools, email clients, property management systems and helpdesk software
Processed >5,500 guest conversations with our AI agent
Kept our heads down and chipped away at the problem
So what’s the problem?
Consider 3 personas — the operator, the manager and the executive. If we were in a jungle hacking away at the trees trying to make our way through to the other side, it’s the operator who sharpens the machete and hacks through the vines while keeping a wary eye out for snakes. The manager taps impatiently on a watch and says that at this speed we’ll run out of food before we get through the jungle implying that the operator has to move faster and take fewer smoke breaks. Meanwhile, the executive climbs up a tree and yells "Wrong jungle!"
The sacred (not so secret) jungle of every hospitality business is to build a large base of loyal customers who book direct.
And that’s our jungle. Having operated hospitality businesses for 8 years, the visceral pain of the 3rd party commission is etched in our subconscious mind. Our mission is to be an antidote to that poison. Our goal, to arm David with a slingshot to fight the good fight against Goliath.
Fortunately for operators, our slingshot got a MEGA upgrade when OpenAI released GPT4.
AI + Travel
Most of the operators we’re speaking to are encountering genAI for the first time. There are mixed emotions. Some expect magic - a superhuman intelligence that understands their world. Others are skeptical of Silicon Valley’s hype-fuelled marketing and dismiss AI advancements without consideration. Few others ask themselves whether implementing AI might come at the cost of unemployment in an industry whose growth has largely been fueled by human capital.
Regardless of where you stand, one thing is for certain. People want to travel. More than ever before. And AI is not going to replace that urge to see the world nor can it provide a worthwhile substitute for a soft bed and a comfy pillow. The fundamentals are secure.
However, hospitality is also a dog eat dog world where competitive advantage changes with the wind and barriers to entry are at best flimsy. Once the basics have been taken care of (room, wifi, cleanliness, security, etc.) the only differentiator is the experience. The feeling that remains with the guest long after they check out. The experience is what brings them back and converts strangers into die-hard fanatics of your brand.
Enter D3x
An omni-channel, multi-lingual, ever-vigilant AI agent responding patiently to guest queries and personalizing responses to deliver an experience aligned tightly with your brand.
We’re deploying AI to
Set website chat widget on auto-pilot
Automate Booking.com guest messages
Channel queries from Google search + Google maps to your booking engine
Draft responses to guest emails with 1-click (gmail, Outlook, Zendesk, Freshdesk)
Provide staff with access to AI-knowledge base via Whatsapp, Slack
The unifying theme of all these features is to utilize AI to save your team’s time while responding to guests instantly and encouraging them to book direct. Our north star is a world where we can increase direct bookings by 3x —> D3x.
We’ve spent some time documenting our value proposition and capabilities in a fun, easy to consume, website so please head over if you’d like to check it out. And if you’d like to talk about how AI could help turbo charge your guest experience, please drop me at note at jason@d3x.ai.