Riviera

What do they actually do

Riviera provides an AI “employee” for hotels that handles routine guest communications and simple operational tasks. It answers common questions (check‑in/out, Wi‑Fi, parking, breakfast), manages requests (extra towels, late checkout), takes simple orders or upsells, and hands off to staff with context when something is complex or sensitive. It connects to the hotel’s guest messaging channels (e.g., SMS/WhatsApp/web chat) and has a staff dashboard for approvals, escalations, and a log of automated actions.

Today, Riviera likely runs pilots with independent properties and small chains. The focus is on reliability for high‑volume, repeatable interactions, basic PMS awareness (read reservations, push simple updates), clear human handoff, and reporting that shows messages handled and time saved—reducing workload without trying to replace full front‑desk staffing.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Independent hotel owner / general manager (single property): They juggle bookings, guest messages, and on‑site issues with a small team. Repetitive questions and simple requests consume after‑hours time and slow responses, which hurts reviews.
• Front‑desk / operations manager at a small chain (2–10 properties): They need consistent service across locations with limited staff. Manually checking multiple inboxes and handoffs causes slow replies, missed requests, and difficult scaling/training.
• Guest experience / concierge lead at a boutique or lifestyle hotel: Guests expect fast, personalized help, but there isn’t 24/7 coverage. Off‑hour gaps reduce upsell opportunities and lower satisfaction for routine requests.
• Revenue or reservations manager at an independent hotel: Revenue leaks come from slow or missed pre‑arrival upsells, upgrade follow‑ups, and manual reservation changes that slip through. Communication inconsistency lowers add‑on conversion.
• Head of housekeeping / maintenance: Requests arrive via scattered channels and aren’t reliably turned into tasks. That leads to delayed room turns, overtime, and frustrated guests and staff.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led pilots with nearby independent and boutique hotels, with hands‑on onboarding and phone support. Turn each pilot into a one‑page case study and testimonial to use with neighboring properties.
• First 50: Leverage referrals, hospitality consultants, and targeted outbound to GMs/ops leads using early pilot metrics and a reproducible demo script. Offer referral incentives or implementation credits.
• First 100: Productize onboarding (self‑serve setup, templates, and at least one ready PMS integration) and add a reseller/implementation partner program and marketplace presence. Use a small set of industry events to feed partners.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Riviera targets independent hotels, boutiques/lifestyle properties, B&Bs, and small chains where guest messaging and light ops automation has clear ROI. A realistic TAM range is around $1B in a base case, with upside in the multi‑billion range if pricing and adoption expand.

Bottom-up calculation:

Conservative: 200k properties × $600/year ≈ $120M. Base: 400k × $2,400/year ≈ $960M. Upside: 800k × $6,000/year ≈ $4.8B. A practical near‑term SAM is ~30% of the base TAM (~$288M), with a 1–5% SOM equal to ~$3M–$15M ARR over several years.

Assumptions:

• 200k–800k target properties globally are independent/small‑chain/boutique.
• Annual price per property $600–$6,000 depending on depth of automation and integrations.
• Initial focus geographies (US/EU/AU urban/boutique) represent ~30% of the global opportunity.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• HiJiffy: Hotel‑focused chatbot/virtual concierge for common guest questions across web chat and messaging, with staff handoff; overlaps on automating guest Q&A and simple requests for small‑to‑mid hotels.
• Oaky: Pre‑arrival upsell and offer automation that sends targeted upgrades/add‑ons and captures payments; competes on ancillary revenue but is narrower than a general AI employee.
• ALICE (Actabl): Operations and staff‑tasking platform that also routes guest requests to the right team with a staff inbox; competes on workflow automation and multi‑property ops.
• Medallia Zingle: Centralized guest messaging for SMS/WhatsApp/in‑app with automated replies and task creation; direct competitor on multi‑channel messaging and escalation workflows.
• Revinate: Guest data, messaging, and reputation tools that automate outreach and response tied to CRM and reviews; overlaps where conversations drive revenue and experience, with stronger CRM/marketing focus.