Civitfun Hospitality, a new wave of digitalisation for travel and hospitality industries

Civitfun Hospitality was born in 2014 with the aim of innovating the interaction between hotel owners and guests in a digital way, starting from check-in and check-out processes. Processes that had not seen any major change in the context of a travel sector that was evolving digitally in many other ways. Mariano de Oleza, Germán March, Javier Gómez, and Massimo de Faveri are the creators of this project.

Just two years after its foundation, the company had already become one of the rising start-ups in its field. It won a Business Travel IBTA 2016 award (“start-up” category) in 2016. Then, in 2021, it became one of the finalists of the South Summit 2021 (“travel” category).

Choosing to work in this business turned out to be a successful move for the four founders. Moreover, the Covid pandemic gave a further impulse to this field, as the tourist industry saw new behavioural patterns emerge. And some of these changes are secular trends that will last for the long run.

Covid brought about a pressing need for digitalisation. Consequently, companies like Civitfun became increasingly relevant. For instance, in 2020, Civitfun registered a +180% in its turnover.

In March 2022, the start-up closed a 2-million-euro round, with P101 as lead investor. P101 was supported by Fabio Zecchini, Operating Advisor at the firm, and Claudio Bellinzona, co-founders of TUI-Musement, a company operating in the traveltech field. Thanks to these new funds, Civitfun managed to strengthen its team, its position in Spain, and explore new markets.

Nowadays, the company has clients in 25 different countries, even if it’s primary market is Spain, its country of origin. The start-up has a significant business presence also in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Jamaica, the USA, Finland, Italy, Greece, and the Czech Republic.

What does Civitfun offer?

Civitfun creates services for companies operating in the hospitality industry. Its clients are travel operators, online agencies (Booking.com has chosen the company, for instance), hotels, and tour operators.

As mentioned, the start-up was born as a provider of digital check-in and check-out solutions.

Check-ins are delicate procedures. They involve the collection of guests’ data, which are to be handed to competent authorities. In every country, specific regulations guide the entire process. The digitalisation of check-ins makes  the collection of data easier and faster, and  reduces the risk to commit errors.

Civitfun created a system that integrates its solutions with the Property Management Systems (PMS) of hotels. Through PMS, hotels manage activities and processes that are connected to their business, like reception services, invoices, and housekeeping.

Thanks to Civitfun’s system, each feature can be singularly included in a client’s PMS. Consequently, over time, Civitfun has introduced several new functionalities.

For example, it is now possible to digitally sign a contract of permanence. Furthermore, the company has released an online system to process payments, also when they are made by guests during their stay in a hotel. Indeed, guests can do all operations from their smartphones.

Finally, Civitfun has developed a fully-digital room selection procedure. The company also provides tools to create and submit surveys to customers and for identity verification.

The technology underpinning Civitfun

Civitfun relies on the complete automatization of its systems.

The core aspect of its technology is a proprietary API (application programming interface). This tool allows Civitfun to link its check-in and check-out solutions with PMS. Furthermore, PMS are interconnected, and they work altogether in real time.

Another essential element is the dashboard, Civitfun Hub, a virtual space that the company provides to its clients. After a simple configuration, this platform allows to manage all the above-mentioned services from just one interface. Moreover, the platform allows guests to interact with the online features that hotels offer.

Next plans

Civitfun is now working to reinforce its technology. They aim to make their services compatible with 100 different PMS, as now, their tools can be incorporated into 50 PMS.

The company also wants to increase the number of proprieties that use its solutions. Nowadays, they are 850. The goal is to reach 2000 clients by the end of 2023.