New company launches multi-purpose, ‘contactless’ concierge program

THE SOFTWARE COMPANY chaired by Rajiv Trivedi, former brand president for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc.’s La Quinta Inn, has officially launched its first product. Virdee’s Concierge virtual reception program provides contactless check-in capabilities with payment processing and ID verification.

Virdee, which recently raised $2 million in seed money from investors including Trivedi, is pointing Concierge toward multifamily housing as well as hotels. The Austin, Texas-based company said guests can use the Concierge system using the company’s mobile app, in-lobby device, iOS/Android Wallet and virtual agents.

The new system also Integrates with commonly used RFID and BLE smart locks, mobile payment platforms and PMS systems. Virdee claims Concierge can save a 5,000–10,000 hours in labor costs per year for typical properties, and its ID verification capability cuts down on credit card fraud and charge offs.

“This is the future in my opinion, regardless of environment. Consumers are getting used to independent transactions at almost all other facilities, such as airports and retail stores,” Trivedi told Asian Hospitality. “Our hotel industry is lagging behind in that some of the systems that are on in place are not complete, do not allow us to do all of the things that this system does.”

Virdee Concierge is designed for use with any hotel’s existing systems, said Branigan Mulcahy, Virdee founder.

“Most of the hard work of building integrations has historically fallen to in-house IT teams that often are unable to invest in building and maintaining a robust solution,” Mulcahy said. “However, when Virdee builds a key integration, such as with Oracle’s Opera PMS, it can be used by any of Virdee’s customers. This approach means that through each integration Virdee generates a greater ROI than brands or management companies typically could individually.”

Concierge also offers customization for guest usage, said Nadav Cornberg, Virdee’s other founder and chief technologist.

“Not all end-users have the same preferences on technology, so, in order to provide a complete solution, we offer end-users the choice of interacting via mobile, web, in-lobby device and/or virtual agent,” Cornberg said. “We will continue to add differentiating functionality.”