From Paraty Hotels to Paratyworld in just 9 years
From One Company to Five, in Just Nine Years of Journey. A Technological Group that Never Forgets its Roots: Above All, We Are Hoteliers
PARATY TECH: IT ALL BEGAN WITH YOU
We want to tell you a story, explain how our group is structured, emphasizing the transition process over the past nine years from Paraty Hoteles, created in 2012 with the firm belief that there was a different way of doing things in direct hotel sales, to Paratyworld, a conglomerate of five companies that, with technology at its core, operates in various areas of the tourism sector to invigorate its activity. Slowly but surely, it is also finding its place in other fields of application.
Gina Matheis, CEO & Co-founder of Paraty Tech (formerly Paraty Hoteles), was working as a hotel director on the Costa del Sol at that time. With her, we begin this story, where there are no Californian garages but traditional kitchens with meatballs in sauce and family gatherings on Sunday afternoons. The Paratyworld adventure is a family affair starring two siblings, the aforementioned Gina, and Franz Matheis, CTO & Co-founder of Paraty Tech and CEO of Data Seekers. An IT engineer, Franz started his professional journey in the USA and left everything to develop our booking engine, the central pillar of the group, according to the visionary ideas of his sister, an entrepreneur by nature, with whom he barely had a relationship.
Between bites, Gina presented her idea while Franz listened attentively. "You'll have this working in two weeks," was his response. And so, with one client, one employee, and a small cubicle in the Chamber of Commerce, Paraty Hoteles was born.
Time and numbers proved Gina right, achieving a 90% increase in direct bookings for the first hotel in our portfolio and the oldest. Today, despite industry changes and the gradual emergence of fierce competitors, it continues to grow with us.
As Paraty Tech gained followers, our service portfolio also expanded. Thus, the booking engine was strengthened with web design, online marketing, web assistance telephone service, and our revenue management tools. In this order, Price Seeker (rate shopper), Review Seeker (online reputation manager), Rate Check (price comparator within the booking engine), and Parity Maker (real-time price equalizer). All developed in-house, 100% in-house technology, which over time has become one of our hallmarks, always accompanied by meticulous customer service.
Four offices, nine years, and around three thousand hotels later, Paraty Tech has a team of more than fifty professionals. A truly significant growth that we always like to emphasize occurred in a very natural and gradual way. Without relying on third parties, without financing rounds, without asking for anything from anyone, we have carved out our space in the market based on results and hard work, now being present on all continents, with a strong presence in Spain and Portugal, where we are undoubtedly a benchmark.
The evolution of our logo
In 2012, there was no graphic designer on staff. Those who were there took on various roles as needed. Hence, the first logo was, so to speak, makeshift.
A year later, in 2013, people with specific design training joined the team, and the logo was slightly modified. Fear of change prevailed, and the tweaks affected the color and stability of the brand. The logo was simplified, and the current corporate font, Roboto, was introduced.
In 2014, a very important change occurred, not so much visually as conceptually. It reflects the company's new commercial strategy, which seeks to value its main strength, technology. Thus, the "tech" surname was born. And by the way, we stopped being confused with a hotel chain.
Finally, in 2018, Paraty Tech was ready to take a qualitative leap. The corporate image was redesigned to bring it closer to the reality of the company. A serious, solid, modern, and technological brand was created, adaptable to any format in all its versions.
DATA SEEKERS: THE TECHNOLOGICAL SPIN-OFF
On many occasions, we have referred to Data Seekers, the second member of the family, as the technological spin-off of Paraty Tech, and this curious designation has its explanation. It is found in the potential of the aforementioned Revenue Management tools, which began to attract the interest of hotels and hotel chains that already had their own booking engine provider. The conflict of interest was evident, of course, and a formula had to be found so that they could benefit from our technology without having to bother or give up their partners, nor break their commitments.
Thus, Data Seekers was established in 2015, which became, on the one hand, the factory for all the technology used and marketed by Paraty Tech in its fight to increase direct sales. On the other hand, it became a new technological player, with full autonomy and independence to offer tailor-made solutions to all types of companies, regardless of their field of activity: hotels, of course, but also car rentals, destinations, ferries, textile industry, cosmetics, ticket sales, etc.
World-Class Technology
Data Seekers' web scraping technology is world-class for its speed, agility, and reliability. It underlies the extraordinary potential of our acclaimed rate shopper, Price Seeker, used by the world's most important hotel chains and an undisputed leader in the car rental sector as well.
Data Seekers identified a very untapped market niche regarding the use of price control solutions and occupied it in record time, thanks to the speed of the development team, which invested blood, sweat, and tears to adapt Price Seeker to the needs and multiple scenarios of the car rental sector. Success stories that are now an excellent introduction.
RING2TRAVEL: THE SERVICE THAT BECAME A COMPANY
For the work we do, data is crucial, and the data we obtained from our web assistance telephone service were very encouraging, as it revealed itself as a significant reinforcement for increasing direct bookings.
After years offering it to our booking engine clients with excellent results, we decided to go a step further and externalize this service, making it available to any establishment or hotel chain. It was time to set up our own Call Center, or Customer Experience Center, as we really like to call it, and for that, we turned to a heavyweight in the industry: Julián Alcolea. As Customer Experience Manager, he was responsible for shaping, launching, and managing Ring2Travel, the third company in the group. Again, we can say that we did not make a mistake.
The specialized agents of Ring2Travel, presenting themselves to customers as hotel staff, provide service in five languages, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Beyond handling incoming calls, Ring2Travel offers valuable support to hotel sales teams through services such as call diversion when lines are busy or overwhelmed, cancellation recovery campaigns, pre-stay calls, SMS or newsletter campaigns, chat and email management, and satisfaction surveys.
Almost considered an additional distribution channel, due to its opaque nature, it also enables the implementation of revenue management strategies and specific conversion levers. It is also an important customer loyalty resource and the customer's first contact with the establishment begins with the voice of our agents.
TUROBSERVER: A NEW ALLY FOR THE DESTINATION
One of the latest additions we have witnessed in the Paratyworld group is called Turobserver, a name that already indicates, in some way, on what aspects of the tourism sector its activity focuses.
This tourism observatory represents for us a new means to channel the large volume of data we handle or that we are capable of extracting and monitoring. All this for the benefit of the destination: Big data for Smart Destinations. This cloud platform offers its users the possibility to take the pulse of the destination, to obtain an accurate snapshot of its vital signs and those of its competitors, with a unique degree of customization. It has been in the market for a short time, but it is already making itself seen and heard, and we predict a promising future.
TRANSFERS & EXPERIENCES: LEADING IN EXTRA-HOTEL ACTIVITIES
It has been the latest to arrive, but it is not new. In fact, Transfers & Experiences is already a leading company in the field of extra-hotel activities, and its integration with Paraty Tech's booking engine has been extraordinarily well-received, due to the great value it brings to hotels and the experience of their guests.
With it, hotel establishments can offer their customers a wide range of options and generate revenue from those sales. From renting a vehicle or a transfer to hiring all kinds of activities, including selling tickets for events, tailor-made exclusive experiences, etc.
