“I have hostels in Brazil and Colombia 17 years ago. During those years, many things happened to me with guests who were complicated, who did not want to pay, who stole things, and one can not do anything. That impotence is very angry because guests run to Tripadvisor and Booking, and they qualify hotels. But the hotels do not know anything about the guests. So we started with this project to balance the power”. he explained. The founder is Israeli, but he married a Colombian woman and has lived in the Latin American country for 13 years.
A special selected (and selection)
This company was one of the 52 startups selected among more than 500 applicants from 40 countries. Participants will travel to Jerusalem for three months and will benefit from having access to a large international community of alumni and mentors from different areas, who will accompany them in their process. In addition, at the end of the program, WhosYourGuest will be able to compete against the rest of the chosen companies, which are from Israel, India, South Africa and Great Britain, to earn $ 140,000.
A new ecosystem?
“In Israel there is an ecosystem of startups and innovation and there you can find the information you need. Although in Colombia the culture of startups is more developed compared to Latin America, it does not come close to the Jewish State or the United States. That is why it is very difficult to be a startup here, people have no idea what it is, and it is difficult to find support, “said the Colombian Israeli founder. While they have faced these difficulties, WhosYourGuest operates actively in a total of 35 countries in America, Canada, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Experts making decisions
The companies were chosen by panels of experts from Israeli and international corporations, including Accenture, Google, BCG, Kimberly-Clark, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael and Gett Advanced Defense Systems. “I think they selected us because the problem that hotels have is very real and the solution is already working. It is not a theory or idea, here the good idea and there is a market that needs it, “he said.
Also published on Medium.