STARTUP STAGE: FreeGuides empowers hotels to accompany their guests beyond the lobby

FreeGuides

With their AI-driven platform, FreeGuides consolidates traditional travel guides into a QR code-driven solution, providing guests with local experiences and hotel information.

Founded in 2021, FreeGuides capitalizes on its foundation of existing relationships with hotel groups like Accor, EVT and IHG.

What is your 30-second pitch to investors?

FreeGuides is
transforming the travel landscape by empowering hotels to accompany their guests
beyond the lobby and into the city. Our white-labeled, artificial intelligence-driven platform
consolidates traditional travel guides into a single QR code-driven solution,
providing guests with comprehensive local experiences and essential hotel
information.

This seamless integration not only enriches the guest journey but
also enhances hotel operations by eliminating the need for multiple apps and
paper brochures, making content creation straightforward and efficient. Through
FreeGuides, hotels can maintain a consistent presence with their guests,
whether they are enjoying the comfort of their room or exploring the city’s
attractions.

Describe both the business
and technology aspects of your startup.

• Business: We partner with hotels to enrich their guest engagement
  by integrating self-guided local tours, recommendations and hotel services
  into one platform, increasing their value proposition.
• Technology: Leveraging a
  web-based platform, we use QR codes to offer scalable and customizable content
  management to our partners, allowing real-time updates and insights.

Give us your SWOT
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of the company.

• Strengths: Innovative
  technology, first-mover advantage in QR code integration, strong partnerships
  in the hospitality industry.
• Weaknesses: High dependency on travel market
  stability, resource limitations for rapid scaling.
• Opportunities: Expansion into
  new markets, potential to scale globally, integration with other travel
  services.
• Threats: Competition from traditional and new tech-based travel
  guides, economic downturns affecting travel.

What are the travel pain
points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and the industry
perspective?

We address the clutter and confusion of managing multiple travel resources by
providing a unified platform that enhances the exploration experience for
travelers and simplifies content management for hotels.

So you’ve got the product,
now how will you get lots of customers?

To acquire customers, FreeGuides capitalizes on its strong
foundation of existing relationships with prestigious hotel groups such as
Accor, EVT and IHG, which collectively encompass numerous properties across
the Asia-Pacific region. We are actively engaging with these groups at the
brand level to facilitate rollouts across their networks, which will
significantly scale our reach. Additionally, our presence at major industry
expos and targeted digital marketing campaigns help increase our visibility
within the hospitality sector. The intuitive and viral nature of our platform
also encourages organic growth, as users share their positive experiences,
further attracting hotel partners interested in enhancing their guest
engagement.

Tell us what process you’ve
gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the
addressable market.

Through market research and pilot programs with key hotel
partners in Sydney and across APAC, we’ve validated the demand for streamlined
guest services and identified a significant market among urban hotels seeking
to upgrade their digital offerings.

How and when will you make
money?

We
operate on a subscription model charged to hotels for using our platform.
Revenue generation started post-pilot phase and continues as we expand our
network of hotels.

What are the backgrounds
and previous achievements of the founding team?

The founding team comprises individuals
with expertise in tech development, digital marketing and the hospitality
industry, previously involved in successful startups and professional services.

How have you addressed
diversity and inclusion within your business?

We actively recruit talent from diverse
backgrounds and implement policies that promote inclusion in all areas of our
company, from hiring to decision-making processes.

What’s been the most
difficult part of founding the business so far?

Navigating the travel industry’s
volatility, especially during global events like the pandemic, which
drastically affects travel patterns and investment in new technologies.

Generally, travel startups
face a fairly tough time making an impact – so why are you going to be one of
the lucky ones?

Our unique value proposition, agile adaptation to market needs
and the increasing demand for digital integration in travel experiences
position us for success.

A year from now, what state
do you think your startup will be in?

We expect significant growth in our hotel network globally,
expansion into new markets and further development of our platform’s features.

What is your end-game (going public, acquisition, growing and staying private, etc.)?

Our goal is to scale the
business globally and remain private in the near term, with potential for an
acquisition as we establish ourselves as a leader in digital travel solutions.