Cincinnati Entrepreneur George VonAllmen has spent 30 years in the hotel business - during that time one unfortunate constant has rang true: absent a well-known special event, it can be tough to sell out hotel rooms during the week.
That's especially true for the Bed and Breakfast set, said VonAllmen, who along with partner Don Farrell founded eConnectPEOPLE, a company that designs websites and mobile apps that help users make lodging and entertainment decisions based on their interests.
"Weekdays, they just stink. So Don and I started brainstorming on what can we could do to bring them some weekday business," VonAllmen, of the west side, said.
The pair knew it would take something creative that wouldn't necessarily involve cutting room rates to catch the industry's attention. They'd seen a lot of ideas and strategy - VonAllmen has been in hotel marketing and consulting for 30 years and Farrell, of Memphis, has spent 35 years in the hospitality industry and co-founded and sold Signature Worldwide, now the largest Sales/Service Training company in the Americas.
After months of research and tinkering, VonAllmen and Farrell came up with an idea that's both Web 2.0 and old school. Their idea,
NeatWayToMeet.com, is the company's first product offering. It helps people who are traveling decide which hotels to visit by connecting them with people in their own social and professional networks who are also traveling.
"We called it a traveling clubhouse. If there are two or three people, like from the American Bar Association or collectors of baseball cards, who are going to be in the same area they can find each other. It’s a neat way to have a different kind of (lodging) experience," VonAllmen said.
NeatWaytoMeet is nearing final development and the company is in talks with Queen City Angels for possible investment. The site is preparing for an April 1 launch. A third partner Ananda Jami, of Columbus, designed the NeatWaytoMeet.
NeatWaytoMeet is designed to be low commitment, safe, and user friendly, VonAllmen said. To sign up as members, users will only need to provide an email address and one of there interests.
"It's a 20-second sign up. There are no identifying factors included like age or gender, and users can create an anonymous secondary email," VonAllmen said.
As a member, users can see where others with similar interests are lodging. They can also tentatively set up meetings, perhaps for breakfast or a museum, through the site.
Since emails are anonymous it's up to the users to decide if they want to meet, VonAllmen said.
Once the site launches, the company plans to partner with hotels and associations to attract users. The founders also plan to integrate potential users' personal social networks on sites including Facebook and LinkedIN. Eventually the site could expand by pairing up people going on cruises, to concerts, and to restaurants and sporting events.
Pending funding, the company plans to set up shop in the Hamilton County Business Center later this year.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: George VonAllmen, CEO eConnectPEOPLE
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