Was macht eigentlich das Travel Start-up HOSCOM?

Könnt ihr euer Start-up in einem Satz beschreiben?

HOSCOM optimizes internal hotel communication and digitizes all daily operational workflows by bridging the information gaps between departments and employees and flexibly integrating the hotel’s existing system landscape.

In your opinion, what sets HOSCOM apart and makes you stand out from the competition?

First, it’s important to realize that the vast majority of hotels do not yet use comprehensive digital solutions for internal communication, and that day-to-day hotel operations are still largely handled using traditional methods like the phone, pen, and paper.
When a hotel explores HOSCOM, it quickly becomes clear that HOSCOM combines the best of both worlds—“communication” and “hotel tools”—on a single platform and truly maps out daily hotel-specific workflows. And since we know from our years of industry experience that while the same tasks are typically performed in hotels, the processes are ultimately always different, we’ve built HOSCOM as a flexible, plug-and-play modular system so that we can tailor our hotel software precisely to the workflows of each individual hotel.
We also adhere to an open-API philosophy, which we believe is the only way for hoteliers to select, from the countless software options available, what is best for their own hotel and their own hotel tech stack.

Bei welcher Gelegenheit kam die Unternehmensidee?

Our creative force and co-founder, Robin Renschler, comes from the hotel industry and has worked for renowned hotel chains in various countries. At every stop along the way, the biggest challenge was always the exchange of information within his department—but especially with other departments. This is mainly because employees and departments lack a shared platform for exchanging information and communicating changes. Ultimately, this is what hurts the guest experience the most.

The idea for HOSCOM thus arose from personal experience and the chaos of day-to-day operations. The project officially kicked off during the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. With hotels closed and employees on 100% furlough, there was suddenly enough time to turn the idea into a product and start a company.

Was war der beste Ratschlag, den ihr fürs Gründen bekommen habt?

““Starting a business isn’t a sprint—it’s a marathon.” That’s what our mentor and sparring partner Angelika Goll told us right at one of our first meetings. Starting your own company really does require a lot of perseverance, self-belief, and above all, time. You have to stay on top of things and not let (minor) setbacks throw you off course; instead, you must always keep the big picture and your goal in mind.

Was war bisher euer größtes Erfolgserlebnis und was die größte Herausforderung?

The greatest sense of accomplishment is undoubtedly seeing our own product implemented in the first hotel and watching as our hotel software is used and continuously refined. But the BMWK’s Gründungspreis+ award, recognizing us as “one of the most digitally innovative startups in Germany,” is also a huge success for us.
HOSCOM is, after all, a “classic COVID startup,” meaning that, as mentioned above, the launch of our idea was delayed by the first lockdown. So for two years, we had to constantly adapt to new regulations and the rapidly changing needs and challenges of hotels. That was indeed a challenging time for us as a startup.

Was sind eure Pläne für die nächsten Monate?

To further develop the product, onboard the next customers, and expand the HOSCOM team.

Angenommen ihr bekommt eine Finanzierung in Höhe von 500.000 Euro. Was würdet ihr mit dem Geld machen?

We would primarily invest the money in expanding our team, as this would bring us a big step closer to our vision of “being the center of the hospitality industry.”

Where do you see further potential for innovation in the tourism industry? 

From our perspective, innovations in the tourism industry often focus on the guest or customer. Tourism companies invest money in the digital customer journey, but forget to sensibly structure and consolidate the entire digital transformation process behind the scenes for their employees as well.
We believe there is enormous potential to optimize and effectively digitize the employee journey—and to do so holistically! Looking at the hotel industry, we see innovation potential—or rather, a need for innovation—particularly in standardizing interface integrations between providers and establishing a common standard.

Welche Tipps würdet ihr anderen Gründern mit auf den Weg geben?

Robin Renschler: “Have a personal reason for why you do what you do.” The path of a founder isn’t always easy, and above all, it isn’t always straightforward. That’s why it’s very helpful to know why you’re doing it and what personally motivates you to stick with it.
Magnus Liedtke: “Be prepared, but don’t wait to be ready. It’s important to prepare for the journey of founding and launching a startup, but you’ll soon enough reach a point you haven’t prepared for. That’s why you shouldn’t wait too long and should be flexible enough to react to the unexpected.”