- Hotel Data Cloud awarded for helping hotels restart travel, in a post-pandemic world
- Handpicked from over 250 contestants, HDC was presented to global investors as a preferred investment opportunity
- Sole startup from the GCC to be recognized as an innovator in post-COVID-19 recovery solutions
- Global study results indicate that hotel amenities description are a leading factor in encouraging travel – reinforcing the need for HDC’s services as a centralized global database for descriptive hotel content
Image: Co-founders Gregor Amon and Kevin Czok
Dubai, UAE – 28th October 2020: Hotel Data Cloud (HDC) has been selected from over 250 contestants and awarded USD 200,000/- in the prestigious Lee School Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This award comes at the heels of The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) naming HDC as a “Healing Solutions for Tourism” and the most disruptive startup in the Middle East, working to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on tourism. The Lee Prize has also been awarded in recognition of HDC’s timely solution in helping restart the travel and tourism industry, by enabling hotels to communicate their safety standards, hygiene protocols and social distancing measures, in real time, to reassure travelers.
With studies finding that up to 67% of respondents will rule out a hotel stay, if the amenities description is poor, HDC is a centralized global database for descriptive hotel content that disseminates to global booking partners – thereby allowing hotels to share all their latest information, with hundreds of travel-focused websites, at the click of a button.
In addition to the cash prize that will help HDC scale their business and invest in their latest AI capabilities, HDC was also presented to investors as a viable business opportunity. A goal of the Lee School Prize is to empower HDC with the tools, resources and access that they need to maximize their positive impact and speed along a post-COVID-19 recovery.
“We are very grateful to the Lee Business School and the Ted and Doris Lee Family Foundation for their generosity and belief that innovation is the cornerstone in prompting positive change. Travel and hospitality have been severely hit by this pandemic, but through our COVID-19 recovery focused solutions we are empowering hotels to get back in control. The support that we have received via the Lee prize will go a long way in helping us continue to push boundaries and offer new and dynamic ways that hotels can meet the client expectations of living in a post-COVID-19 reality,” said Kevin Czok, Co-founder and Managing Partner at HDC.
The Lee Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurship was created by the Lee Business School at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the Ted and Doris Lee Family Foundation, with the goal of discovering solutions & providing funding for the process, to bring ideas rapidly to market. The USD 1 million prize is overseen by the Deans of UNLV’s schools and renowned industry leaders and icons who have achieved unparalleled excellence in their chosen field of endeavor.
HDC was founded in 2016, by Gregor Amon and Kevin Czok and currently has a portfolio of over 11,400 hotels in 153 countries. For additional information, please visit: www.hoteldata.cloud.
About Hotel Data Cloud:
Hotel Data Cloud (HDC) was founded in June 2016 as a solution to help hotels win back control of the descriptive content of their listings. The global platform stores a variety of current data, images and regularly updated descriptive information in a standardized format, sourced directly from hotels. This is freely accessible and automatically distributed to travel agents, tour operators, online platforms and intermediaries that facilitate bookings. HDC is headquartered in Dubai with global operations.