One of Kahraman Yigit’s employees has been creating quite the stir on social media. Olive by Embassy, his hospitality company uses off-site receptionists and a recent post gained viral status and getting both positive and negative feedback. The co-founder and CEO of Olive by Embassy spoke to ETHospitalityWorld about his company’s pioneering work with technology and AI in the budget hotel sector in India and beyond during a freewheeling chat recently. “We’ve been using this technology for the past three years. It was a pandemic-induced innovation,” Yigit said, adding that disruption happens in pockets and the world gets to know about it only when it goes viral. His company Olive by Embassy was a hybrid operator having properties which were a mix of long stay hybrid and short stay. Most have between 40-45 rooms and it doesn’t make sense to have someone at the front office of the hotels doing the check-ins. “During the day at peak hours there will be the check-ins and checkouts, but at night you might get only one or two check-ins—yet you still have to man the reception. We found it very inefficient. Our staff were sitting there all day waiting for a guest who might or might not come, especially for the night shift,” he said. Inspired by what he saw happening around the world with virtual meetings and even classrooms replacing physical interactions, Yigit decided to implement the model into his business. “We do realise that hospitality is about empathy and the human touch, which we never want to let go. Many hotel brands are really high tech, low touch—you just come and check-in through a kiosk. You don’t even see a person. We understand that hospitality is about the human connection. So this (system) allows us to retain the human connection, but yet still achieve the efficiencies that the technology gives to us,” he said. The systems and technology which he has in place not only allows him to increase efficiencies but also at the same time have centralised control over multiple properties, where everything from manning the reception to revenue management (the latter is already common industry practice) is centralised from their office. “My reception is always on, they are on eight hour shifts and can check in guests across properties in different geographies. No problem,” he said adding, “From a single station, we’re able to manage multiple properties, and yet we’re able to really gauge the customer experience at check-in and checkouts when the majority of the interaction happens with the guests.”The system allows them to really improve the guest experience that they deliver, while on the other hand, being able to give their staff meaningful tasks and better job satisfaction. At the same time, there were economic savings which allowed the company to offer more affordable rates to guests, Yigit added. Giving the example of the company’s first purpose-built property—Olive Hotel Brookfield in Bengaluru, Yigit added that the space for a reception could be repurposed into a cafe or bar and earn additional revenue.
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