Dhaval Chokshi: Strategic Acquisition By Otelier Signals A New Era For the Hospitality Industry
Editor's note: After expanding to include a suite of data solutions for hotel owners and operators, MDO (myDigitalOffice) rebranded to become Otelier in January 2024. Please excuse any brand inconsistencies in the content below.
HelloGM, co-founded by Dhaval Chokshi and Viral Shah in 2019, has undergone a significant transformation with its recent acquisition by Otelier (previously MDO). In a recent Q&A interview with Ngoc Thach, formerly head of Marketing at HelloGM, Dhaval Chokshi shared insightful details about the company's journey, the strategic decision behind the acquisition, and the exciting prospects it holds for the hospitality industry.
The Startup Journey
HelloGM was born from first-hand experience in the hospitality industry and a passion for data science. The founding team recognized the significant challenges in accessing and analyzing critical data from multiple sources and sought to centralize and automate data collection to maximize hotel profits.
By 2020, the platform had already served around 100 properties, even amidst the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the acquisition by Otelier, HelloGM had expanded its reach to serve over 1,300 properties.
Seamless Integration
Dhaval expressed enthusiasm about the seamless integration and welcoming embrace from the Otelier team. A recent team meet-up in Atlanta further strengthened the alignment between Otelier and HelloGM and their dedication to serving the needs of hoteliers worldwide.
“I met the leadership team in person and was very impressed with their dedication to the clients, and providing solutions to the hoteliers,” Dhaval says. “It reaffirmed the fact that this is an amazing decision for us to be part of the Otelier family.”
A Strategic Partnership
The decision to join forces with Otelier was driven by the natural synergy between the two companies. HelloGM's business intelligence solution, which gathers data from various sources, complements Otelier’s expertise in paperless night audit services. The integration of these capabilities promises a robust suite of products tailored to the evolving needs of the hospitality industry.
Future Prospects for Customers
The collaboration between and HelloGM is poised to enhance the customer experience for hoteliers by providing seamless integrations with data sources and leveraging the best features of both platforms. Customers can expect improved functionalities such as an income journal, bank deposit reconciliations, OTA reconciliation, and an advanced payment solution, creating a comprehensive product suite for the hospitality industry.
Addressing Industry Pain Points
The integration between and HelloGM has successfully addressed significant pain points in the hospitality industry, particularly related to data aggregation and actionable insights for hoteliers. Streamlining night audit reports and implementing intelligence platforms have significantly eased the workflow for hotel management.
Commitment to Customer Empowerment
Dhaval reiterated leadership’s commitment to the HelloGM brand promise and emphasized their dedication to empowering hoteliers with valuable data insights.
“In the coming days, we'll be adding more resources,” he says. “We'll be streamlining our products, putting the resources from development to support, and also investing in the strategic relationships to put more integrations in place.
The company's future plans include expanding resources, streamlining products, and developing strategic relationships to ensure continuous improvement and automation within the industry.
With this acquisition and strategic partnership, HelloGM and are poised to drive significant advancements in the hospitality industry by delivering tailored solutions and empowering hoteliers with actionable data insights and streamlined operations.
Check out the Q&A here or read the interview below!
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Ngoc: Dhaval! Thank you so much for joining me for this Q&A today. We've been on an amazing ride, and it's just really good to sit down. To have this dedicated conversation with you about the news that we broke earlier this month. It's been about three weeks since MDO announced the acquisition of HelloGM, the company you and Viral Shah founded back in 2019, so let's start there.
Dhaval, will you fill us in on HelloGM's brief history, the platform's progression in features and products? And the traction that we built before the acquisition?
Dhaval: Thank you, Ngoc. And yes! So HelloGM’s story starts in 2019 when Viral and I founded the company. I was in hotel operations, and as I scale my business, I'm like, going to different places to get the intelligence, which was very cumbersome. And that's how the idea of HelloGM started after discussing with Viral. We came up with a product that can gather the data from multiple places and provide the intelligence that hoteliers will need. Now, we started in 2019. By 2020, we were around 100 properties. Although, there was a COVID phase. And then now we are serving 1,300 plus properties before the acquisition.
Ngoc: So, three weeks in, I'm wondering how are you feeling about our functional integration from a team of 35 to a team ten times as big?
Dhaval: It feels so amazing Ngoc, and I feel like it has been years we are working together. The myDigitalOffice team has accepted us with open arms. And we just finished a meeting, an in-person meeting in Atlanta, last week. And I met the leadership team in person and was very impressed with the leadership team, their dedication to the clients, and providing solutions to the hoteliers. Right? And it reaffirmed the fact that this is an amazing decision for us to be part of MDO family.
Ngoc: So, with all of that in mind, I think many who are listening, are curious like me why it was MDO that you chose specifically to join hands with?
Dhaval: When we are looking for a strategic partnership in the market, we were like, what we are providing is a business intelligence solution. And we gather data from multiple places - mainly the night audit reports. And there was a natural fit with MDO because they were doing night audit automation, right? So their myDocs product is all about paperless night audit, and they are serving 7,000 plus properties in United States. So both the products are complementing each other. So we can get the night audit reports and build business intelligence on top of that. So that is a natural fit.
Ngoc: So I I think that it's such an exciting future for our subscribers and our team and for the hospitality industry altogether. I know you can't tell us too much detail right now, but what will this mean for MDO and HelloGM customers in the not-too-distant future?
Dhaval: In the coming days what will happen is we are evaluating our platforms together, and we are identifying the best parts of how we can combine the best parts of both sides and come up with a better product for the hospitality industry, right?
So, what will there be for our customers? They will be able to have much more seamless integrations with the data sources. They will be able to use the best part of myDocs, with product features like income, general, and bank deposit reconciliations, OTA reconciliation, and a payment solution, as well. So, that will be the best suite of products for the hospitality industry.
Ngoc: So we've previously heard from our subscribers that they have generally felt like the hospitality industry itself has been a little bit behind in technological advancements. As a hotel owner and subscriber yourself, what kind of pain points have we already addressed between MDO and HelloGM's acquisition and merging together? And then what do you want to see improved in the near term?
Dhaval: So as I've observed as a hotelier, if I see what is available in the market and what is provided by MDO plus HelloGM. So, with this type of combination, we have solved the biggest problem, right? How do we get the data from multiple systems into one place and provide actionable insights to the owners or other leaders: the leadership team of the management company.
So more or less, that problem we have now resolved. We have a workflow in place with myDocs and all the night audit reports are compliant and stored. Then we have intelligence platforms where this data is automated and provides intelligence to hoteliers. We have bill pay solutions where the bill pay workflow helps hoteliers to pay the bills and all. So pretty much, as a hotelier, a lot of pain points are already addressed.
Ngoc: For my last question, Dhaval, I guess it's about the promise that we have to the customer. Because for the brief, but steadfast journey that we've been on together, we've promised to empower our customers with data science, and we've been committed to the mission of improving their life. How will you continue to work and ensure that HelloGM’s brand promise remains true for subscribers who are migrating with us?
Dhaval: Yeah. So, we are completely, you know, dedicated to that mission and providing value to hoteliers. In the coming days, we'll be adding more resources. We'll be streamlining our products, putting the resources from development to support, and also investing in the strategic relationships, like, you know, putting integrations in place. And just to keep working on the automation part.
Ngoc: That's fantastic. And it's so exciting, Dhaval. Thank you for sharing that with me, and thanks for your time today.
