In 2019 we are rebranding and changing our business model.
For 5 years CloudHotelier a Joomla based open source web development platform and booking engine for hotels.
New product
During the last year we have been working to offer our clients a new integrated hotel management platform, which includes PMS, Channel Manager, CRM, Automations and Call Center, apart from the current web and reservation system.
New business model
With the evolution of our product we also evolve our business model. Our Joomla Club will cease to exist, focusing on working with direct customers and partners.
The reasons for discontinuing the Joomla Club are low volume and low revenue per customer. Unfortunately, Joomla is no longer a popular platform for web development, especially when it comes to a niche product such as hotel websites. As a result, the level of sales has never been able to justify the efforts needed to keep the club alive, from publishing updates and new templates, to technical support. In fact, the Joomla platform forces us to be at a price level that does not allow us to give the support that our customers demand.
A new product, much more powerful
Whin is an extremely powerful and hyper-connected platform. It is not only about the booking engine, but about the entire hotel management. A management that, nowadays, demands connectivity and integrations. For example, synchronisation with the main channels and channel managers in the market. This implies that, on the one hand, the level of service and support required is much higher, and on the other hand, that the decentralised model does not make sense.
Higher marketing costs, more power and more service force us to move to a new monthly subscription model and price levels in line with the hotel market, not the extension clubs we were competing with until now.
What will happen to existing Joomla Club customers?
Nothing will change. Our current products will continue to work as usual, and our Joomla customers will still be able to renew their booking engine subscriptions. However, this service will be discontinued for new customers. We will also not be releasing new templates or significant extension updates.
If one of our customers wishes to renew their website, or use our new hotel management platform, they will be able to do so, however, they will have to switch to a monthly subscription model.
Will we remain open-source?
Whin will maintain the essence of CloudHotelier in terms of open-source. However, due to the hyper-connected nature of the management platform, it does not make sense to release the code of the platform for the time being.
However, our intention is to continue the open-source model with the web development platform. In this regard, we plan to develop and launch our own CMS during 2019, which will be released for use by our customers and partners as well.
Our company
In the last 2 years, CloudHotelier has evolved from a small web programming studio to a start-up philosophy. This change has been very enriching for our business and has meant changes such as the incorporation of new team members.
We hope that 2019 will be a year of great growth for the new company, and that Whin can aspire to become a technological benchmark for the hotel sector.
