Las Vegas firm develops software for hotel bookings

Marco Benvenuti and Patrick Bosworth, co-founders of Las Vegas-based Duetto, are using the company’s innovative software to change the way hotels and resorts book rooms.

Both men have experience working for major Strip properties, and they saw how those properties were losing money as guests used online travel agencies — such as Expedia and Hotels.com — to make reservations. So, they developed software that helps hotels and resorts track their guests’ travel and spending habits, then offer deals to encourage booking through the hotel.

Bosworth said those online travel agencies typically get 15 percent to 40 percent of the sale.

As verification that Duetto’s program works, one of the company’s first customers in Las Vegas, El Cortez on Freemont Street, has seen a 40 percent increase in revenue since going live with the software, Bosworth said.

“The results have been very good, remarkable from a financial standpoint,” said Joe Woody, chief financial officer and secretary/treasurer of El Cortez. “The ease of use and thoroughness of the product (are) very good. It works flawlessly with our (hotel management) software, and we can rapidly monitor rates and make changes as necessary.

“Expedia is a very good product, as (are) all the online travel providers. … While Expedias of the world exist and a lot of customers use it, it is easier to go directly to our website, and we are starting to see a trend toward that.”

Benvenuti and Bosworth said they are waiting to make an announcement on the addition of “big-box” casinos to their customer base. Duetto also works with casinos on the Atlantic City boardwalk and one in Bossier City, La.

Duetto’s success has resulted in the growth of jobs in Southern Nevada. Since its founding in 2012, Duetto has added offices in Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago and Austin, Texas, and internationally in London and Singapore. Bosworth said Duetto raised $33.2 million recently because investors believe in the product and its ability to meet the needs of the integrated casino market, and they are ready to dramatically scale up sales and marketing.

Many of those sales and marketing jobs will be in Las Vegas. Duetto doubled its local operations by opening an office in Tivoli Village for its 57 employees, and Bosworth expects the number of local employees to double again in the next six months. Duetto also recently hired two senior executives from Caesars Entertainment Corp.

“Clearly for every business that wants to be in technology, you need to have a big presence in Silicon Valley to attract top tech talent,” Benvenuti said. “But unlike other companies, we are very focused on the hotel and casino industry. … Because we need to hire top hotel talent, Vegas is the perfect place for recruiting people. The cost of living is not as high as in San Francisco, and if you actually analyze the profile of people we are hiring in Vegas, there are a lot of high-caliber folks who come from the casinos on the Strip who decided to join us.”

Bosworth, who has a master’s of business administration from Harvard Business School, is Duetto’s CEO. He has worked for more than a decade in the hospitality industry.

Benvenuti is Duetto’s chief analytics and product officer. He was formerly the executive director at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore. He has a master’s in management hospitality from Cornell University and bachelor’s in hotel administration from UNLV.

Both understand that guests, especially first-time customers, have been trained to use online travel agencies because those companies offer a better user experience. Benvenuti said the hotel’s business is to serve guests once they are on site.

“The cardinal sin you can make here is if you acquire a customer from Expedia, let’s say, which you pay the commission, then have the same customer come back into either the same market or the same hotel, and they keep booking through Expedia,” Benvenuti said. “You are paying for the customer positioning every time instead of just paying it the first time. Most hotels fall into that trap because they don’t have processes, procedures and systems that allow them to make sure the customer, when they have to come back, books through the hotel.”

One way hotels can ensure customers start to use their website is by offering a system where the hotel can personalize rates and experiences for returning customers, Benvenuti said.

Bosworth added that hotels are missing about 95 percent of travelers who are not interested in gaming or business travel. Duetto’s software will keep track of those customers and offer incentives, whether it is a $5 discount, early check-in, free Internet or another offer to book rooms through the hotel.

Duetto’s system is similar to rewards programs that are popular with many casinos and other rewards programs that offer incentives to business travelers. Duetto partners with Las Vegas-based Konami Gaming, which helps casinos track a guest’s spending throughout the entire resort.

“This is going to be a very important tool for the hotel industry and the casino gaming resort industry,” Bosworth said.”Typically, we want to be able to steal back some market share, and the only way to do that is to create value for consumers. If consumers are not seeing the value, then they have no incentive to change their behavior.”