How Yours Truly elevates the guest journey through cutting-edge tech

Discover the captivating transformation of Munich's boutique hotel, Yours Truly – a stunning blend of Bavarian charm and the allure of New York. With its neon-lit exterior reminiscent of Times Square, this iconic hotel has been a favorite since 2002. However, recent times called for an extraordinary upgrade to elevate its existing charm to unprecedented heights. 

Yours Truly, a part of the 2021-founded TheNew Group by Konstantin Irnsperger and Markus Sutor, is redefining hospitality norms. Their vision is to establish a sustainable brand that reshapes the industry, with a keen eye on technological trends. Their commitment to research keeps them pioneering, resulting in an unmatched guest experience. TheNew Group isn't just a company; it signifies a bright future for hospitality, merging sustainability and innovation to establish fresh industry benchmarks.

We sat down with Meghan Dinegar, General Manager, and Konstantin Irnsperger, Managing Director of Yours Truly, to explore their recent success. As pioneers of Apaleo, they've harnessed its integration possibilities and personalised their guest experience to create the perfect home base for travelers exploring Munich.

Fully digital end-to-end guest journey

Challenge: Disparate stages in the guest journey taking up staff’s time

When various aspects of the guest journey are managed through disconnected systems or manual processes, it can lead to inefficiencies and a fragmented experience for both guests and staff. Inconsistent data flow between the stages of the guest journey makes it difficult to offer tailored experiences. The team of Yours Truly needed to invest extra effort to understand guest preferences, impacting the ability to surprise and delight.

Solution: 100% fully digital end-to-end guest journey

Unlike traditional closed systems, an open platform allows for easy integration with a wide range of third-party applications and technologies. At Yours Truly, the guest journey takes center stage, shaping every step of the experience. From the moment a potential guest lands on their website, a chat widget stands ready, enabling direct interaction with the reception even before the booking process begins. This offers visitors a unique chance to engage with the staff, providing a glimpse of the warm and welcoming atmosphere that awaits them.

The commitment to guest-centricity extends into pre-arrival preparations. Yours Truly leverages Straiv for a seamless digital check-in experience. Guests receive a digital check-in form two days prior to their arrival. As the stay draws near, the hotel employs WhatsApp as a digital concierge, proactively reaching out to provide assistance and address any queries, ensuring a smooth and personalised transition for the guest.

Efficiency is further enhanced through the Make.com automation, connecting Apaleo with iCloud. This integration automates contact creation and enables swift WhatsApp communication with arriving guests. They also automate a trigger notification for the front office team when direct bookings are made, enabling proactive engagement. Reminders are sent for pending registration forms, streamlining the process and ensuring no detail is overlooked. After check-in, the hotel leverages WhatsApp to send essential hotel information, offering guests a convenient platform for communication and engagement.

As the stay comes to an end, Yours Truly maintains its focus on personalisation and building relationships. While Straiv takes care of check-out and invoicing, WhatsApp keeps the personal touch alive. This unique approach enriches the check-out experience, and also sets the stage for ongoing guest connections, embodying the essence of Yours Truly's guest journey - one of warmth, convenience, and genuine care.

Result: 20% reduction in administrative tasks at reception

Over the past few months, the freshly introduced guest journey has already slashed administrative tasks at the reception by 20%, allowing the staff to allocate more time to their valued guests.

“Apaleo's simplicity, efficiency, and robustness firmly establish it as the only solution for our present and future hotel operations.” - Konstantin added.

Pioneering the guest & staff experience with Alexa for Hospitality

Challenges: Legacy and all-in-one property management systems impede innovating on staff and guest experiences

Innovating digitally within legacy and all-in-one systems poses a challenge due to their inherent limitations and complexities. Legacy systems, often developed years ago, may lack the necessary infrastructure to seamlessly integrate with modern technologies. This can result in compatibility issues, making it difficult to implement new digital solutions without significant customisation and redevelopment.

Furthermore, digital innovation thrives on agility and experimentation, which is sometimes at odds with the rigidity of legacy and all-in-one systems. These challenges can lead to higher implementation costs, longer deployment times, and potential disruptions to ongoing operations. Consequently, this decline in operational agility and adaptability impacts the overall guest experience, resulting in reduced guest satisfaction.

Solution: Top-notch technology enabled by an open property management platform

Staying ahead in the competitive landscape of the hospitality industry demands not only impeccable service, but also the savvy incorporation of cutting-edge technology. Embracing modern trends through an open property management platform has become an essential strategy for hotels looking to enhance guest experiences and operational efficiency. The Apaleo open property management platform with cloud-native capabilities enables innovation on modern trends due to its inherent flexibility, scalability, and compatibility.  The team of Yours Truly has harnessed the power of technology to offer an unparalleled guest experience. Ranking among the first three hotels in Germany to adopt Alexa for Hospitality from the connectivity provider of Speed-U-Up, Yours Truly has seamlessly woven intelligent voice assistants into its in-room concierge services. The smooth integration between Apaleo and Alexa for Hospitality enables guests to effortlessly access essential hotel-specific information with the mere sound of their voice. The guests are able to direct all their questions to their personal Alexa device, which is always up-to-date with the hotel information and preloaded with staff recommendations.

“Apaleo has been instrumental in bringing our digitalisation vision to life and allows us to curate a tech stack that meets our unique needs. The intuitive interface and API possibilities have seamlessly united our front-of-house, back-of-house, and guest-facing tasks. With Apaleo we've not only achieved notable time and resource savings but also have set a strong foundation for expanding our brand's presence in the hospitality landscape.” - Meghan concluded.

This smart implementation extends beyond the hotel's immediate offerings, as it assists guests in discovering nearby events, regional activities, and public transportation schedules. Furthermore, Yours Truly is set to roll out an ordering feature, streamlining processes for guests to request amenities like fresh towels or in-room breakfast, thereby reducing both hassle and time for both guests and staff.

Result: Enhanced personalisation and high-tech innovation through the Apaleo & Alexa for Hospitality integration

Anticipating substantial improvements in operational efficiency, the integration of Apaleo and Alexa for Hospitality is positioned to save the Yours Truly team an average of 3 hours per day. This newfound efficiency streamlines operations, and empowers the staff to offer a highly personalised service, a quality consistently praised by guests for its approachability and warmth. 

Beyond operational streamlining, guests are eagerly expecting the convenience of engaging their personal Alexa devices for inquiries. Additionally, a projected 20% surge in revenue from supplementary bookable options, such as breakfast and late check-out, is on the horizon. This uplift is attributed to the seamless resolution of queries and insights drawn from the success of other hotels leveraging Alexa for Hospitality. These enhancements collectively pave the way for improved guest satisfaction and a more streamlined, profitable guest experience.

Looking ahead

TheNew Group is on the brink of launching a revolutionary hotel brand that will redefine industry standards. Apaleo's multi-property functionality is set to play a pivotal role in this journey. As multiple properties under the new hotel brand come to life, Apaleo's platform will seamlessly unite operations, ensuring consistency, efficiency, and a unified guest experience across every location.

Meghan adds: “Having worked with various Property Management Systems, I can confidently say our partnership with Apaleo gives us the unique freedom to constantly test out new ideas and connections. With this dynamic approach we can focus on enhancing the guest journey and increasing our team’s productivity.”

The visionary approach of Yours Truly extends to the digital realm as they set their sights on integrating it into the metaverse through VR 360 tours. As the augmented and virtual reality market steadily gains traction, Yours Truly is taking pioneering steps by conducting preliminary VR environment tests. Their ambitious goal is to establish a virtual hotel extension in the Metaverse, presenting an innovative solution for those unable to attend physical meetings. Unlike conventional video conferencing, VR participants can freely navigate and interact within a defined hotel and event setting using their avatars. This transformative move allows individuals to preview hotel rooms in advance and also facilitates direct connections with the hotel team, through their avatars. 

Digital innovations signify Yours Truly's commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to redefine the hospitality experience, making it more immersive, accessible, and forward-thinking than ever before.

A dive into Yours Truly's tech stack

Browse apps in the Apaleo Store:

• SiteMinder - Channel manager

• myIBE by detco - Booking engine

• Hotellistat - Revenue management system

• Make.com - Visual automation platform

• Whatsapp for Business - Instant guest messaging

• Payjim - Self-service check-out

• SAG Schulte-Schlagbaum - Door locks

• straiv by CODE2ORDER - Guest self-service check-in/out app

• Alexa for Hospitality - In-room voice assistant