4 ms·

Suiteness (YC S16) makes it easy to rent suites and connected hotel rooms

33 points by stvnchn 10y ago

a_small_island 10y ago
Not being pedantic: I don't "get" your logo. How did you come up with it and what other variants did you test? And why is the logo upside down in my chrome favicon vs rightside up on your homepage?
snake117 10y ago
I surprisingly like this idea. My friends and I were considering getting a suite in Vegas a few months back and though the plans mainly fell through for conflicting schedules, I remember finding it more difficult getting quick information on suites. I have two questions for you: 1. Have you faced any resistance from certain hotels for any reason? 2. What other cities do you plan on expanding to? Keep up the great work!
- killion 10y ago
  Thank you! The problem you described is exactly the one we want to solve. 1. Absolutely, we faced a lot of resistance when we first started. It took getting one big hotel to vouch for us to get more signed up. It gets easier every day since we are bringing the best customers. 2. San Francisco will be live very soon. Before demo day we anticipate that we will have the largest markets in the US online.
  - wishinghand 10y ago
    Why were they so resistant? I'd be interested in hearing their rationale.
    - killion 10y ago
      We found a few main reasons and lots of little ones. The main ones were: 1. Brand Safety - The hotels we work with are high-end luxury resorts and they don't want to be seen as discounted. 2. Limited inventory - Many of the suites we sell are one of a kind like penthouses. 3. Technology limitations - This is a huge one but most hotel reservation systems max out at 4 adult occupancy. They can't just put these suites on the GDS. 4. Personal approvals - Some of the suites have decor like $50K vases that if they are broken they are out of commission for weeks. So we had to overcome all of these issues before we could sign the first hotel. But by overcoming them and bringing great customers to the hotel the sales process has become easier (not easy, easier). I hope that helps.
killion 10y ago
Hi there, one of the founders here. AMA.
spdustin 10y ago
I created an account and tried searching suites in Vegas next month and got only a spinner. Console shows a console.log'd error: [Log] There was an error: 503 HTTP/2.0 503 (suiteness-564112e565.js, line 1818) Prior to that, the actual network request error entry: [Error] Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 503 (HTTP/2.0 503) (results, line 0) The response from that network request: <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <style type="text/css">html,body,iframe{margin:0;padding:0;height:100%;}iframe{display:block;width:100%;border:none;}</style> <title>Application Error</title> </head> <body> <iframe src="//suiteness.github.io/suiteness.com/error"> <p>Application Error</p> </iframe> </body> </html>
- killion 10y ago
  Hi, sorry one of our upstream providers for Las Vegas is having downtime at the exact same moment the post went live. We hope to have it resolved shortly.
  - killion 10y ago
    Whew, this has finally been resolved. Vegas is up and running at 100% again.
    - spdustin 10y ago
      Awesome. Was looking for some of those media suites on the strip. There's one at Palazzo that has a piano! I miss Vegas. Your site makes me want to go back again. The data for the Palazzo media suite, however, isn't exactly right. It shows amenities include a piano, massage table, and pool table. The suites don't have all of them (at least, not when I toured them a while back) but do have one or two in each room configuration. Great job on the site. Some gorgeous properties out there. I'll definitely be returning when I'm ready to live it up in Vegas again. That bungalow at the Cosmopolitan looks pretty swank...
Flemlord 10y ago
Would prefer it showed me the total price of the room, rather than $-per-occupant. Note I would use this to book rooms for my family rather than for a group of adults.
- killion 10y ago
  Hi, there is a AB test for that running right now. If you want the total price in the search results there is a checkbox for that in the filters. Thanks for the feedback!
eldavido 10y ago
Are you guys planning to integrate with existing property management systems or to be the property management system?
- killion 10y ago
  That is a great question, we are currently integrated at the central reservation system level. The next step for us is to integrate at the property management level. Eventually we want to provide enough utility for luxury hotels to replace their existing CRS and maybe PMS.
  - eldavido 10y ago
    Email me. Email is in sig. I've spent the better part of the past few years building a property management system and would love to trade insights (if you aren't too busy pre-demo day)

33 points by stvnchn 10y ago

Not being pedantic: I don't "get" your logo. How did you come up with it and what other variants did you test? And why is the logo upside down in my chrome favicon vs rightside up on your homepage?

snake117 10y ago

I surprisingly like this idea. My friends and I were considering getting a suite in Vegas a few months back and though the plans mainly fell through for conflicting schedules, I remember finding it more difficult getting quick information on suites. I have two questions for you: 1. Have you faced any resistance from certain hotels for any reason? 2. What other cities do you plan on expanding to? Keep up the great work!

killion 10y ago
Thank you! The problem you described is exactly the one we want to solve. 1. Absolutely, we faced a lot of resistance when we first started. It took getting one big hotel to vouch for us to get more signed up. It gets easier every day since we are bringing the best customers. 2. San Francisco will be live very soon. Before demo day we anticipate that we will have the largest markets in the US online.
- wishinghand 10y ago
  Why were they so resistant? I'd be interested in hearing their rationale.
  - killion 10y ago
    We found a few main reasons and lots of little ones. The main ones were: 1. Brand Safety - The hotels we work with are high-end luxury resorts and they don't want to be seen as discounted. 2. Limited inventory - Many of the suites we sell are one of a kind like penthouses. 3. Technology limitations - This is a huge one but most hotel reservation systems max out at 4 adult occupancy. They can't just put these suites on the GDS. 4. Personal approvals - Some of the suites have decor like $50K vases that if they are broken they are out of commission for weeks. So we had to overcome all of these issues before we could sign the first hotel. But by overcoming them and bringing great customers to the hotel the sales process has become easier (not easy, easier). I hope that helps.

killion 10y ago

Hi there, one of the founders here. AMA.

spdustin 10y ago

I created an account and tried searching suites in Vegas next month and got only a spinner. Console shows a console.log'd error: [Log] There was an error: 503 HTTP/2.0 503 (suiteness-564112e565.js, line 1818) Prior to that, the actual network request error entry: [Error] Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 503 (HTTP/2.0 503) (results, line 0) The response from that network request: <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <style type="text/css">html,body,iframe{margin:0;padding:0;height:100%;}iframe{display:block;width:100%;border:none;}</style> <title>Application Error</title> </head> <body> <iframe src="//suiteness.github.io/suiteness.com/error"> <p>Application Error</p> </iframe> </body> </html>

killion 10y ago
Hi, sorry one of our upstream providers for Las Vegas is having downtime at the exact same moment the post went live. We hope to have it resolved shortly.
- killion 10y ago
  Whew, this has finally been resolved. Vegas is up and running at 100% again.
  - spdustin 10y ago
    Awesome. Was looking for some of those media suites on the strip. There's one at Palazzo that has a piano! I miss Vegas. Your site makes me want to go back again. The data for the Palazzo media suite, however, isn't exactly right. It shows amenities include a piano, massage table, and pool table. The suites don't have all of them (at least, not when I toured them a while back) but do have one or two in each room configuration. Great job on the site. Some gorgeous properties out there. I'll definitely be returning when I'm ready to live it up in Vegas again. That bungalow at the Cosmopolitan looks pretty swank...

Flemlord 10y ago

Would prefer it showed me the total price of the room, rather than $-per-occupant. Note I would use this to book rooms for my family rather than for a group of adults.

killion 10y ago
Hi, there is a AB test for that running right now. If you want the total price in the search results there is a checkbox for that in the filters. Thanks for the feedback!

eldavido 10y ago

Are you guys planning to integrate with existing property management systems or to be the property management system?

killion 10y ago
That is a great question, we are currently integrated at the central reservation system level. The next step for us is to integrate at the property management level. Eventually we want to provide enough utility for luxury hotels to replace their existing CRS and maybe PMS.
- eldavido 10y ago
  Email me. Email is in sig. I've spent the better part of the past few years building a property management system and would love to trade insights (if you aren't too busy pre-demo day)