At Kaptivating, we endeavor to see that your next travel plans are only one click away. We are a new technology company focused on hospitality that is revolutionizing how hotels and potential consumers interact with each other. With support from some major hotels around the world, Kaptivating is poised for a lucrative future in the hotel booking and promotions industry.
In summary, Kaptivating listens to the travel needs of consumers on a social level and matches the best available hotel offer using our proprietary matching technology. This also solves a major problem for hotels by allowing them to create a direct relationship with customers. By cutting out the middlemen, consumers get the best rates and hotels make more profit.
Before every relaxing vacation comes the stressful process of searching through different online travel agencies and various hotel sites to find the right room at the right rate. Since these sites know nothing about the needs of the customers, people must search several travel sites and online booking engines to compare relevant hotels and rates. Wouldn’t it be nice if the best available rates at hotels you desire to stay at could find you? That is the benefit of the Konnector!
Hotels also suffer from the high costs of customer acquisition. They must all compete on the same sites that consumers are searching on, with no real way of targeting based on preferences. They also develop social accounts without thinking about monitoring or measuring performance. Hotels can use online travel agencies like Expedia to get bookings from customers, but these agencies may charge hotels up to 35% of the transaction value.
For consumers and hotels, finding a mutually beneficial deal is time consuming and costly. For the hotel, using online travel agencies like Expedia is an expensive way to fill rooms and does not allow them to price aggressively. For the consumer, searching multiple sites for similar rooms at the same price is inefficient and does not allow them to find the exclusive deals that matter. Kaptivating allows hotels to pass on savings to consumers and still make a higher profit. Everybody wins!
Kaptivating’s Konnector system integrates with digital marketing channels and social media platforms to connect hotels directly with their customers. Our patent-pending solution monitors Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other digital and social sites’ content for consumers who are demonstrating an intent to buy.
Once our system identifies a consumer as in the market for hotels, a relevant real-time offer is sent to them directly based on a number of factors that we track in order to achieve the highest level of engagement leading to the right hotel room at the best price. Since everything is private (no middlemen), hotels can offer tailored specials, deals and the option to book a room directly on the consumers’ preferred social media platform at a reduced price (and still make a tidy profit). Basic information can then be stored that will allow the hotel to offer future deals tailored to their preferences.
This revolutionary new system is a step forward in how hotels manage online bookings, moving consumers seamlessly to the best match at the lowest price. With Kaptivating’s method, customers no longer need to search for the deals because the deals find the customers!
To date, the technology specific to our pending patent has been the focus of our engineering efforts. We are immediately focusing on our efforts to enable better sentiment analysis and product matching at scale.
We have four test & learn customers including Treasure Island Las Vegas, Hilton-Tropicana Las Vegas, Latos Hotel Greece and Beacon Hotel South Beach. We have more than a dozen other hotels down our revenue pipeline as well as three more properties/chains with approved pilots. Companies that have already expressed interest in becoming or have become customers include Treasure Island Las Vegas, Hilton Worldwide and Ayres Hotels. Partnerships are in place with K-Hotels, JJW hotels & Resorts, Destination Marketing International and Sensible Hospitality.
We have officially executed a contract with Tropicana Las Vegas (Hilton property) to run a full-scale Konnector campaign. In addition, we have had an ongoing campaign with Treasure Island Las Vegas with a 23% click through rate and authorization to expand. The standard successful campaign click through rate is only 2 to 3%.
Michael Palmer, CEO. Michael is serial entrepreneurial and proven leader. His initial business after graduation from the University of Southern California was the accounting firm Parks, Palmer, Turner and Yemenidjian. It grew to be the largest regional firm in Southern California over a 15-year period and was sold to CBIZ, a public company in 1998. Since that time, he has created several successful start-ups that now hold assets in excess of 1 billion dollars, including Realty Center Management Inc., Tropical Resorts Development LLC., Global Cash Card and Hollywood Park Casino. Michael was the CEO and operations leader for, K-Hotels, one of the largest hospitality representation companies in the world with over 4,000 hotel rooms globally. He is the overall leader for strategy and operations at Kaptivating. From 2000 through 2004 he served on the Gambling Control Commission for the State of California.
Steve Tulk, CTO. Steve is a hands-on expert in current software development technologies, systems and network infrastructure. He has held senior level roles with a number of well-known global brands including Nike, The J. Paul Getty Trust, Johnson & Johnson, Pharmacia and Vivendi. He has also been involved in several successful startups including Alliance Medical Products, Hollywood Park Casino and Global Cash Card. Since co-founding Kaptivating, Steve has been responsible for all aspects of the design, product development and engineering of the Kaptivating platform.
Robert DeSantis, Marketing. Robert is currently president of Transactional Media and Marketing for Maddocks, a branding and marketing firm located in Los Angeles whose client list includes Red Bull, Estee Lauder, Sony, The Venetian Hotel, Lumina Hotels, Disney and many more. In 1990, he recognized the opportunities of Television Home Shopping networks HSN and QVC and through his collaborative efforts was able to help generate over $150 million in sales by 1997. Robert brings these and many other relevant successes to Kaptivating as the head our marketing and branding.
Mara Palmer, Account Management. Mara is currently lead account manager and social media expert at Kaptivating. Prior to joining the team, she worked with Cogent Entertainment Marketing, a firm specializing in leveraging celebrities, influencers and partnerships to drive brand awareness through social media and brand experiences. At Cogent, Mara lead the management of the social media platforms of several internationally recognizable supermodels resulting in a average 30% growth of followers and subsequent features in publications such as Vogue. In addition, she launched the Instagram account for the hit television series, America’s Next Top Model. Through live tweeting episodes, Mara engaged with fans to drive viewership and increase ratings. Mara also acted as a content curator for various clients’ Instagram and Facebook accounts, such as EOS Beauty Product. In addition to her social media focus, Mara acted as a critical liaison between the celebrity seeding team & social media team for the marketing of the Can-Am Spyder Roadster. Mara earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business where she concentrated in marketing. A Los Angeles native, Mara is active in the USC Alumni Association.
Business Affairs/Co-Inventor.
Technology/Co-Inventor.
Mr. Galido is an entrepreneurial and driven leader with 18 years of experience delivering results for complex business problems from Fortune 100 companies to early-stage startups. He is currently CEO of nDorsit Technologies. Prior to co-founding nDorsit Technologies, Tom was the program and operations leader for all revenue programs at CityGrid (NASDAQ: IACI), the largest local advertising network of its time. While at CityGrid, he grew partner revenue from $10 million to $50 million in under 2 years by driving product roadmaps, attacking new markets, integrating complex data partnerships and growing existing relationships. He also has years of consumer brand management and technology experience with companies like L’Oreal Paris, Miller Brewing Company and Kimberly-Clark as strategy consultant and manager.
Mr. Batkin provides strategic consulting to corporations and offers clients digital media, social commerce, interactive marketing and development services with a focus on revenue generating business models. Mr. Batkin is recognized as one of the founders of the interactive industry and has more than 30 years of experience in creating innovative campaigns for companies such as Anheuser-Busch, FOX, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Sprint, Toyota, the NFL, YAHOO!, Netscape and many others.
Mr. Marshall specializes in distribution technology, hospitality industry marketing, social media, online marketing solutions and mergers & acquisitions. He is a travel Industry executive with broad background including stints in wholesale and retail, founder of an early online travel agency and most recently, international consultant on M&A, new market acquisition and distribution technology solutions.
Mr. Morgan is an accomplished actor who has been a part of film, television and stage plays such as “Taking Care Of Business,” “MacGyver,” “In Living Color” and “NYPD Blue,” to name a few. He is best known for his portrayal of athlete Clyde Robinson on the soap opera “The Young and the Restless.” He and his partner and fellow producer Blair Underwood are active in the production of film and television shows.