The first smart hotel of the chain Introvert will open this month in Sofia. The venue will be able to operate without staff. By the end of the year, two more will follow - one on Lege Street in Sofia and another in Cyprus.
The idea and investment belong to the newly established company Smartotel, which principal shareholders are Genoveva Hristova and Anelia Kassabova (founders and owners of Ligna Group - a company for interior design, and project management for hotel chains, and offices in Bulgaria and abroad). The investment amounts to over €1.2 million, two-thirds of which are for the software that manages the processes.
The motto of Introvert is "Сontactless, Сashless, Сrowdless". All processes - reservation, payment, check-in, and check-out of the hotel - are digitized and the customer will be able to guide them via phone without the necessity to contact a company representative. The software allows the visitor to choose among all services. Online questions will be answered by a chatbot.
"There is no reception, no queues, no crowds waiting for registration in the lobby. Human-free accommodation is popular with Airbnb bookings, yet unknown in the hotel industry. This model can solve problems like labour shortage and may reduce personnel costs," Genoveva Hristova summarized for the weekly newspaper Capital.
"We target small city hotels that fall outside the globalization of big brands. For the most part, these are city hotels in convenient locations facing difficulties to support themselves, without a brand strategy, unable to find and maintain staff. With Introvert, they will become part of a network, they will use software allowing cost reduction," Anelia Kasabova added.
The plans are for the Introvert chain to develop into a franchise at home and abroad.
