It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Tim Hentschel, Co-Founder & CEO, HotelPlanner, interviewed by Dorothy Dowling

• David Kong

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Tim always wanted to be an entrepreneur and worked his way into the hotel and restaurant business starting as a dishwasher and doing every job in a hotel starting at the age of fourteen. He found his way to Cornell Hotel School and minored in computer science. After graduation, he wanted to focus on the travel tech part of the hotel business and formed a partnership with John Prince, and together they bootstrapped Hotelplanner into a powerful hotel tech solution for group business. Known for supporting customers through listening and learning, Tim’s personal mantra is “be an expert and act like one.” The technology business is continually evolving and that requires innovation to remain relevant while maintaining a humble mindset.

Dorothy Dowling:

Greetings. I am Dorothy Dowling, a principal of D e I advisors. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to personal empowerment. I am delighted to welcome Tim Hel, Tim Hensel, co-founder and c e o of Hotel Planner to our d e I show. Tim, welcome to our show. It is such an honor to have you with us today.

Tim Hentchel:

Well, thank you, Dorothy, for having me. Such an honor to be here.

Dorothy Dowling:

Tim, you are a dedicated entrepreneur who bootstrapped your company with your co-founder, John Prince, beginning in 2003. I'm wondering if you would mind sharing your career journey as an entrepreneur and the learnings you've had in building your business and advancing your leadership journey. Sure.

Tim Hentchel:

So entrepreneurship started 20 years ago for us when we founded the company back in 2003. Uh, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur when I was, uh, working my way up in the industry, started doing jobs like busboy, uh, you know, dishwasher, if you name it in the hotel and restaurant, I've probably done it. Front desk, night audit, um, all those jobs started at, uh, age of 14. And so, you know, with that experience, I ended up at the Cornell Hotel School and, uh, I took that in, uh, minor in the computer science classes, uh, in the engineering school. And at that time, Priceline was, was, uh, taking off and Expedia hotels.com. Uh, other big name online travel agencies at the time were big in 2000, 2001. So as soon as I graduated, um, I wanted to jump into the entrepreneurship, uh, route. And I knew I wanted to be in hotel, uh, travel tech. And so hotel planner was basically born with me and business partner John Prince, who came from a, uh, different but similar background. I was from the West coast, uh, going to school out east. Uh, he was from Maine, so he is, uh, east Coast. And he, uh, took a degree in computer science Then, Moved out to the west, uh, because he wanted to get away from, you know, the hot, humid summers and, and get to the beaches of California. And so, uh, the two of us started the company back in 2003 in San Diego. I.

Dorothy Dowling:

I remember visiting your offices there, Tim and I, even at that time, I knew that you were going to be an incredibly successful entrepreneur just with your dedication and passion that you brought to the industry and the innovation. You were constantly innovating in terms of thought leadership. So I'm, I'm really proud of the kind of success that you've had. And the way you pave the way for others. I'm wondering if we could talk a little bit about partnerships, because one of the things that I have really admired about you, Tim, over the years, is that you have really helped partners provide a more comprehensive solution to their customers, and you have built a platform, you have helped others integrate that. Platform into their suite of solution. And I know I've read a lot of your commentary that you have, uh, published in other areas, but your approach of being that expert in the group space and supporting your customers with your expertise has made you such a trusted and valued partner. And I have always valued because I've had a front row seat and watching you and the way you listen to your customers, the way you solve their needs. Incredibly quickly and effectively, and I know that I read that your personal mantra is being an expert and acting like one. So I'm hoping you can elaborate a little bit on this mindset as how this has really powered you, your success and being part of your core business values.

Tim Hentchel:

Yeah, so you know, at Hotel Planner we consider ourselves a a hotel technology platform. So hotel and technology being independent words. Uh, you know, uh, Bruce Rosenberg, uh, at our company who's our Chief Operations Officer, and we were lucky enough to recruit him after 15 years of executive vice president at Hilton Corp, uh, for e-commerce. And so with my extensive background in the hotel industry, his extensive background in the hotel industry, and then a technologist like John Prince, who's top of his class. Uh, in computer science and then worked for I B M, uh, as a senior software engineer as, as well as Capital One, and rebuilt their system, uh, into.net. We want experts, and so right now we're emerging into the AI space and we took on an AI expert into, uh, into the company and actually gave him, um, you know, some, some equity, uh, as well. So the more expertise we can get, uh, the better the solution we can build is, and that will hopefully give us product that's, that's viral that people wanna partner up with. Uh, and longevity. Like we've had 20 years celebrating our 20 year anniversary says a lot.'cause so many, uh, tech comes and goes. You know, there was French stirs and then there was MySpace and now there's Facebook and Facebook's kind of being replaced by Instagram, luckily. Zuckerberg was, uh, smart enough to, to see the future and buy his competition, uh, so he could phase himself out. But, um, you know, so many products come and go in, in our space. So to continue to reinvent, uh, through that expertise is really important to us so that we, we stay, um, you know, relevant basically, which is a hard space to stay relevant in, in both hotels and in technology

Dorothy Dowling:

these days. Well, and I totally agree with you, Tim, and I, I do think that investment in terms of your learning and really building out that expertise and competency is, is something that's truly valued by partners. And, and the part that I was always incredibly impressed with over the years was just your speed to market. When a customer articulated a need, it was the speed that you're able to really respond to their needs and, and, uh, support them. And, uh, Uh, you, you did that better than anyone else that, that I have ever had the honor of working with. So, uh, again, thank congratulations. I have

Tim Hentchel:

to credit more John Prince and, and Bruce Rosenberg for that. I mean, John has best handpicked technology team that he put together. Everything is done in house, and then with Bruce on the operation side that understands hotels and their needs from. Uh, bottom up, you know, they can put together a product and get it out to market very quickly. Uh, you know, obviously in the early days I was very responsible for that too because luckily I have from a very young age, a lot of hands-on experience too, which if I could give any advice on entrepreneurs, uh, before you start something in industry, have that, I mean, I can't tell you how many people approach me for funding, uh, on an idea and. It, you know, sounds okay. And then I get to know their background and I just say, you know, they want to get into hotel travel tech. And, um, currently they are a, uh, you know, in the construction industry and, uh, and they're a builder, plumbing. And I started to think well build something around, uh, an app around plumbing, construction, something that you know, and, and that, you know, inside and out that you can show. People, what the advantages are of that. Because to not have that expertise to just jump into a new, uh, field and then want, uh, to build tech around that is very difficult. Um, yeah.

Dorothy Dowling:

Well, I think that depth of your industry knowledge really has been incredibly valuable to your partners. There was something that you said in a recent interview that really struck me because it was one of your leadership tips that you had provided, and it was about, I. Choosing your battles wi wisely. And I think you said some people may irk you, but getting into a fight with them could cost you. And I have to say I really love this advice because I certainly, um, share that perspective and playing the long game and really being thoughtful about deploying one's personal capital. But I'm wondering how you can share how this perspective has really shaped. Your business success?'cause you work with a lot of individuals and I'm sure, I'm sure many have irked you over time, but you have managed to prevail.

Tim Hentchel:

Hmm. Yes. But I feel like you know just as much about that, uh, stoicism as I do because. Nothing's gotta be more difficult than working through, you know, corporate chain on a global level to get to the tippity top. Uh, because you've got it coming from the side, from, you know, the bottom, from the top all the time. And everybody wants, uh, you know, to come after you. You see, or at least it seems like that, uh, I actually give you more credit than I deserve.'cause luckily, you know, as an entrepreneur, uh, and a major, you know, shareholder in the company, Uh, at the end of the day, you know, I can kind of pick who I, I have to interact with. I think I have more respect for PE people who are in a corporate environment and then, you know, they don't have that say, but they have to, you know, I. Get in there and do the, the, the work every day that the corporation demands. Um, and they don't exactly get to pick their, their entire team, you know?

Dorothy Dowling:

Well, that is true, Tim and I, and I appreciate you sharing that. I, I just think it is a particularly wise piece of advice because when, when that likability factor to me has always been, uh, an important part of success and people that like you. They tend to go out of their way to support you. And I think you have done, you have done a lot in that space in terms of many of us have always wanted to work with you because you have made that investment in your relationships with others. So

Tim Hentchel:

keeping me humble is a big part of that stoicism too. And then, yes, big success for both, you know, entrepreneurs and, and corporate career. Uh, oriented, uh, um, business people. I, I mean, just recently when you're talking about what's going on in the industry, you know, there, uh, seems to be clashes quite, quite often, as you know. And the biggest one that hit the news is right, right now is, is Hopper, uh, and Expedia. And, um, I have to say that, uh, hopper has a few strings of successes and I think they got very, um, aggressive about letting everybody know, like how big they are. And I think they forgot, you know, that partners are responsible for that. And so we know, you know, how that has ended up. So then we just have to remind ourselves like, you know, You might feel big and you might have a string of successes, but there's always somebody bigger and, uh, you gotta respect the space that they've earned and, uh, and be humble. And that's what I, you know, I try to be, you know, as, as much as possible. Um, and I know that I probably may not even like, have that reputation. Um, but, you know, it, it is something that I think about and, and, and try to, to work on. And then I think it, it does. Resonate in our company and I think that's why people like to, to work with us quite a bit. Um, But yeah, I mean, I, I wouldn't normally name names, but to the audience that will see this, everybody will know who we're talking about anyways. Yeah.'cause we all get the same news wires and that is the hottest thing I would say that's going on in the industry right now. But then if you go back, you remember, you know, the chain o t a fights, remember, you know, the mid two thousands where it was, uh, the big hotel chains versus the two big, uh, OTAs. And then again, stoicism played out, right? You know, nobody really lost their heads and everybody, you know, got along and eventually it all worked itself out. So I think that typically does happen in our industry quite a bit, um, that, you know, it's hospitality at the end of the day. So people do want to find common ground and work together.

Dorothy Dowling:

Quite a bit. Yeah, I, I agree with you, Tim, and I think a lot of that surfaced through the pandemic where people really did find mutual ways to support the industry in, in a, in a powerful. Way so that we could all survive and, and, um, see the future as we are today. I, I'm wondering if I can move a little bit onto your global, um, investment because I think you have taken some really interesting career risks in terms of your moves around the world and. You know, for me, Tim, I mean, you've got a young family. You've done this very courageously in terms of building your business. I'm sure it has been part of you shaping your own development and your own strategy in terms of your future. But I'm wondering if you can share a little bit about your, uh, thought process around that and how you navigated it.'cause,'cause those were big changes that you chose to make.

Tim Hentchel:

Yeah. So, you know, e s G, uh, environmental social governance, uh, has been a hot topic for the last five, six years. And I think it, it's only getting stronger, um, you know, and, and resonating more. As you know, we almost went public. We have, uh, you know, uh, aspirations of being a publicly traded company. So e s g, you know, is more important than to us than, than maybe most companies. So, you know, then when I think about the social aspect of it, the d e i side, um, in our industry, Dorothy, as you probably mentioned, the, uh, the d and the d e i, the diversity side is, is probably pretty easy'cause uh, you know, it's a global industry. Uh, so we naturally attract the best talent from all around the world. And our workforce skews more female than male, typically in the travel industry. Um, like other diverse industries like the fashion industry or media industry, um, you know, hospitality has some of that same d n a, uh, especially when it's got the creative side around boutique hotels and then the creative side around distribution, selling and marketing hotels. Uh, so you know, that part, you know, comes a bit naturally and, um, you know, The equity is something that, you know, is a little bit tougher because the internet is naturally not an equitable place. You know, uh, most people mapped this, that, uh, the, the money and, uh, the traffic all flowed to the top. You know, one 10th of a percent of websites, you know, out there. And that concentration of wealth and power is in a, gets into a smaller and smaller number of hands. It seems every year as the, the big get bigger and bigger and bigger. So, you know, we are not the biggest, uh, obviously going back to the humble part, um, what we've always done well is, is developing custom tools that people, you know, um, want to use and want to partner up on. So where we feel like we can add value to the equity side is through what we just did with the gig. Uh, call center, first of its kind gig call center. For people that are, aren't really familiar with call centers in the travel industry, OTA is the majority of, if you pick up the phone and want to make a reservation over the phone, that reservation is gonna be transferred to a call center out of Mexico, India, or the Philippines. The problem with that model is, you know, less than 10 cents of, of every dollar that that O T A is spending for that call center actually gets to the agent. Um, so with our gig, first of its kind gig powered call center, cloud-based call center, I should say, um, we've completely eliminated the middleman in that. So, um, you know, typically you would pay between 12 to$14 an hour for a call, answering services for reservations, and then only, you know, a dollar 50 or$2 of that is actually getting to the agent, um, with our gig. Um, system, you know, the top agents are making between 20 to$30 an an hour, and basically we rev share with, uh, the call center agents and they work whatever hours they want. Uh, and that, uh, allows us to transfer that money directly to the agents on a local basis. That's very revolutionary for the, in the internet, because with the internet, it typically, you know, takes money off of the main street, right? Like it's not known to support, uh, small businesses on the high street. And, uh, And with this, I mean anybody, we can become an agent. Uh, it's all VoIP activated. You can do it without, um, prior travel knowledge. We actually have tied in the VoIP into chat, G B T and barred. And so when questions are a asked, it automatically feeds into the ai and then, you know, responses are pushed back. With our data fed into chat, G b T, so the information comes up really rapidly so we can make somebody who has no travel experience an expert very, very quickly. So that's what we're, you know, really focusing on what we call augmented intelligence, uh, to artificial intelligence with human intelligence and making it, uh, stronger and, and, Uh, more effective for, for agents to, to be more successful quicker. And so we, um, have done some studies and our, our gig call center converts at 30% higher. Uh, rates for, for, for reservations. And so that's, I think one of the ways that we're, you know, building out a, a company that's giving back, um, and, and bridging that equity gap. Mm-hmm. We also want to pledge$10 million, um, over the next few years to building, uh, sponsorships in, uh, communities with meetings.com. Our other, uh, brand. Before Covid hit, we acquired a couple companies and we were looking to expand out to, um, looking for venues outside of hotels, you know, so we even wanted sleeping rooms in hotels, obviously for the convenience of all the amenities a hotel has to offer. But as you probably know, conference space, um, and food and beverage space at the hotel is nice for one night it's. Very standard across most, you know, product too. So when you get outside of the hotel, there's just this world of all this unique venues and, and product that can be out to, you know, life for parties and events and everything else. Um, and so we want to build that out. We, we wanna sponsor, you know, these different venues and community centers, communities as part of, again, you know, bridging that equity gap and giving back more to the community. Uh, so those are some things that we are working on as a, a smaller company that doesn't have the budgets that, you know, big tech has. But, uh, you know, we can all do our part. That's what the part we want to play is in the next few years. I.

Dorothy Dowling:

Well, and I think those are remarkable ways of using your subject matter expertise, Tim, and, and really thinking about how to be a change agent in, in supporting whatever this new generation of, of how we're going to respond to labor's needs and, and really, uh, think about in employees and teammates in a different way. So I really commend you on that. I'm wondering if you could speak a little bit more about your personal decisions, because you took your family to London from the US and you went to Singapore, and then you come back to London. Those are pretty significant moves that you have made. Um, I know part of that has been your learning journey and, and supporting your company's growth, but I'm wondering if you could share a little bit about how you made those decisions and what some of the learnings, uh, through that process was for you.

Tim Hentchel:

Sure. So in 2010, we took on a massive, um, group partner, uh, largest online travel agency in the world to exclusively power their group hotel bookings. And we needed to then expand into the international market, which we didn't have one. And so, uh, being an entrepreneur basically volunteered my family to, to move to. You know, start the first office and then from that growth we wanted to expand into Asia. So then, you know, the move to Singapore made sense. And now is, um, looking back to more centralized, uh, you know, The operations and, you know, two locations were Bay. I came back to London and now we're splitting, uh, the executive team between our London headquarters and our West Palm Beach floor at Florida, uh, headquarters. And it's working really well for us. Um, You know, it was a little tough to use Singapore. It's a very different time zone, uh, than the, you know, the, than the west. And so that made it difficult, even though we did, uh, do a roadshow, um, for, uh, I P O Nasdaq, uh, with me working mainly from the hours of 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM in the morning. Uh, so it's okay. I, I'm a night auditor back in the day, used to working those hours, so it worked out.

Dorothy Dowling:

Well, I think it's amazing, um, experience that you've also afforded your children to live in different parts of the world and experience cultures firsthand. So, uh, again, I think that just is, well, I really

Tim Hentchel:

enjoyed my time in the UK and I mean, you're from Canada, so we're basically just, you know, three of the same countries. When it really boils down to it, you feel very comfortable in any, we share almost the same laws, um, So it doesn't take much to get up to speed, uh, in all three con countries. And it's the fact that we all immigrate back and forth all the time, you know, between all three countries. Yeah.

Dorothy Dowling:

Well, well said. I think that does speak to your flexibility though, to be able to manage through all of, not just the time zones, but there are cultural nuances that. I think you have have managed extremely well. I I'm just wondering if we can talk a little bit about challenges and adversity.'cause uh, our industry obviously goes through lots of ups and downs. Um, and you bootstrapped your business and I know in the, one of the articles that I read that you did for Entrepreneur Magazine, you really spoke to. Uh, individual entrepreneurs and making sure they have enough cash flow to be able to, uh, fund their business during their startup days. So I'm just wondering if you can add any more context in terms of that leadership advice, in terms of how you have supported your own business, because, um, you and John really took some big betts early on and you put a lot of sweat equity in terms of really shaping hotel planner.

Tim Hentchel:

Yes. So I, a big proponent of bootstrapping and, and keeping equity in the founder's hands. Uh, then the founder can truly execute their vision. Um, and I know I'm one of many people that, that say this, uh, um, social media and in print, uh, when it comes to entrepreneurship, uh, because the huge rise of private equity, which is. Basically only been around for the last 20 years to the size it is now. And you know, now it's funded upward to a trillion dollars because, um, pension funds and 4 0 1, uh, K money, uh, sovereign money is now equally and the stock market is, is in, in alternative investments, which, uh, you know, the prepp and the VC market fall into that. Um, has caused this entire next generation, current generation of entrepreneurs to think that entrepreneurship is synonymous with raising money, um, from banks, from funds, um, and then it means that the entrepreneur is spending more time raising money and talking to banks and giving a pitch Then, Actually working on the product. Um, so much so that, you know, it's led to fraud. I mean, when you look at Thanos, uh, Theranos, sorry. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, had Elizabeth Holmes been spending more time in the office maybe and just working on the product, um, did, you wouldn't have had to make claims about the product that were there because her main focus was just raising money. Um, maybe it's this, the attitude that you have to run before you walk. I mean, we're a 20 year old company and you know, some of the criticism from the financial industry is, why did you grow faster? It's, well, to build a grassroots company with 50,000 individual membered hotels that log into a system, you know, that was built from the ground up specifically does, you know, group hotel rates. Takes the effort of signing up each hotel one by one by one. Um, so that takes time. Uh, and it is worth, I, I think it's worth the effort because then you own, you know, the, the equity, which also means you can own the future vision. Uh, one of the tough things was the entrepreneurs is they spend, you know, Majority of their time, uh, raising the money, and then they spend the other majority of their time fighting the money that they raise because so many entrepreneurs we talk to are looking, um, to get out of their funding situation and want to be, um, you know, bought by like a company like ours, uh, to be taken, owned by owner operators again, uh, instead of funds. So, yeah, I think if. You know, Richard Branson was born 30 years later. What we have of Richard Branson, um, you know, I can't think of a, a modern equivalent to, to him because he built and bootstrapped his company, which allowed him to take risks and, uh, you know, crazy marketing stunts that you just don't see anymore, uh, because it's, it's not, um, it's not possible in today's funded world. Um, I'm not as wild as Richard Branson. I'm not jumping out of hot air balloons and all of that. You know, I wish I had his creative genius when it comes to, you know, sparking that kind of, uh, of, how do you say it? Like, uh, memorable moments and, and things like that. Uh, I think I'm probably a little bit more traditional, uh, than that, but, but you know what? I am. Stick to the fundamentals and, you know, do the fun fundamentals better is what I like to, to, to live by Just every day doing something a little bit better than the day before. And, you know, that has brought me success in other ways. Um, not the, the, you know, it probably is the rapid growth as Richard Branson, uh, had, but, um, but the solid growth, like to have a solid base where, you know, the company's the, the best it's ever been, the balance sheet is the best it's ever been. Um, so, you know, that's a great place and we've been through several ups and downs in the industry, as you know, in the last 20 years. So that's been a lot.

Dorothy Dowling:

Yeah. No, I agree with you, Tim, and, and, uh, I do think that, that you have done some. Pretty amazing things in terms of your dedication, your passion and, and your purpose. You have been very true to what you want it to be. And, um, that bootstrapping, uh, financial acumen, I think has, has allowed you to be successful in, uh, in ways that are very admirable. Um, we're coming up to the end of our interview and we always ask every d e I advisor if there is any, Final piece of advice in terms of the tagline, empowering personal success that you would like to offer to our audience. So is there anything further you would like to add?

Tim Hentchel:

Well, I mainly just reiterate the point that I made earlier, which is I really would like to see e ss g uh, and d e i, uh, adapted, uh, to each company's size and abilities, uh, and so that they can put their own creative mark on it. I feel that I. It's more, you know, sustainable that way. I mean, if you look at how Facebook took over, you know, knocked MySpace off its perch, which was supposed to be impossible'cause of the moat theory, right? They had a hundred million members when Facebook was only, you know, a few hundred thousand college students. But Facebook opened its operating system up to, um, builders who could build applications around it. And you had games like Farm Bill, you know, bought, which brought a whole new, you know, um, Person two to the site that, that, that left MySpace to come over to Facebook. Um, I think for e s G and d e I to be as successful as possible, um, it needs to be more open, um, not just a box check, uh, to, to that we, we want more creative solutions and people to put their personal mark on it, and then I think it, it'll be much more successful and, and, uh, And grow faster, you know, if people are, are allowed to do that, uh, with it. So not so much the, just the rigid rules that have kind of been pushed through on, on this, you know, what can people do? Uh, you know, that dairy have a unique skill set at, uh, to bring to the table. That's what I'll basically like to see.

Dorothy Dowling:

Well, what, what I would, um, thank you for, Tim is always giving, uh, time to the industry for always sharing your thought leadership, and I'm very confident that the kind of change agent that you have been in our industry thus far, that if you bring that power of your thought leadership to how d e and I can be transformed. That we are all gonna be better for it. I'm, I'm really confident that your generation is the one that is going to transform, uh, the equity and the diversity in, in the way we go to market. So I'm grateful that you shared your wisdom with us today. It's always an honor to be in your company and I really thank you for joining the d e I advisor community.

Tim Hentchel:

Well, thank you so much Dorothy. Thank you for having us. It's been fun. Thank you. Of

Dorothy Dowling:

course. And, uh, if I may, for our audience, if you've enjoyed this interview, please visit us on our website, dei advisors.org, where you will see other webcasts and podcasts of other industry eater leaders like TEMA that will empower your knowledge and feel your spirit. I hope to see you there. Thank you again, Tim. Thank you.