Hotel rooms are just a text away
A SOUTH Yorkshire company is making last-minute hotel bookings as easy as sending a text message, thanks to a £100,000 investment from South Yorkshire Investment Fund (SYIF).
Kaos Solutions, based in Sheffield, has developed Room Angel, a mobile phone application that provides immediate 'in-pocket' access to booking hotel rooms without the need for internet access or telephone calls.
The Spontaneity Engine technology works when the user creates a request on the application. A few simple clicks transmits a Short Message Service (SMS) to request a booking, which yields a response from a hotel chain.
The offer can then be accepted with a simple click resulting in a firm and secure booking, complete with confirmation number, with the whole process using the equivalent of two text messages for the user. Room Angel also sends an email to confirm the booking.
David Hoggard, Kaos Solutions' managing director, said: “The concept of Room Angel is to simplify chaotic transactions. It is the most convenient, easy to use, and often cheapest method of making a last-minute booking because you don't need to be connected to the internet and you don't have to worry about getting through telephone switchboards.
“It takes our clients into new, effective and innovative areas of customer engagement. Room Angel customers are the sort of people who, when they want to book or organise something, they want it done now, so that they can move on to whatever they were doing when the need or impulse struck them.
“The investment from SYIF has gone into researching and developing the software, which is opening up capabilities to send flowers, change travel bookings, even bet on a horse, in a simple SMS application.”
The Room Angel mobile phone application is free for users and is due to go live in April 2008.
Jonathan Dixon, deputy chief executive at SYIF said: “Room Angel is a fantastic concept and soon enough people will be able to get the full benefit of making quick, straightforward bookings and transactions.
“Kaos Solutions is driven by a desire to take technology to new frontiers and the innovations of David and his team are exciting developments that we are delighted to support.”
South Yorkshire Investment Fund can provide seedcorn, loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2.5m, specifically to help small and medium businesses meet the gaps in funding they need for growth and development.
