The Joys of Boutique Living with Angel Tena Redondo

“If you work hard, you’re going to get results,” says Angel Redondo Tena, hotel developer from Madrid, on what he loves about the work culture in the United States. Angel came to the US ten years ago to work in hotel development. Throughout the past five years, Angel has been working on an exciting new project he refers to as “Boutique Living,” a modernized version of an extended stay hotel that enhances the guest experience through the use of technology. Jurny, the app that accompanies Angel’s vision, enables guests to control every aspect of their stay, from booking and checking in to accessing the wifi and thermostat.

Angel is passionate about travel and has fond memories of traveling as a child all throughout Europe. He believes hotels should provide a warm experience where people can immediately feel at home and not be bogged down after hours of travel by outdated systems like check-in lines and easy-to-lose key cards. Jurny makes finding a beautiful, all-inclusive place to stay as easy as booking an Uber. In addition to creating a better guest experience with a plug-and-play model, Jurny provides a greener, more sustainable alternative for hotel owners who are struggling to keep up with costs of managing and staffing a whole hotel when occupancy fluctuates. Angel explains how Jurny was developed, his first experience testing the app himself, and how it differs from the traditional extended stay hotel model. 

Tune in to this week’s episode of Pushing Dirt for a conversation with Angel Redondo Tena about Jurny, a contactless, fully-automated, green way of exploring the world. Hear more about how Angel’s love of travel led him to a role in hospitality, how his work has helped hotel owners retain their properties during the pandemic, and how millennial digital nomad culture led to his development of boutique-style, extended stay hotels.

 

Quotes

• “Millenials are the digital nomad. They embrace technology, and they don’t want to live in the same place. They are working from wherever they are, so they are also spending a lot of money on travel. They are demanding this product, so it’s like a perfect storm.” (11:44-12:24)

• “We customize the interior design of the rooms, the look and vibe, based on the property, the neighborhood, and the demographic that it’s going to go into.” (21:30-21:44)

• “We approach developers and hotel owners, and we offer our fully automated and contactless solution for them at no cost. So, the upgrade of the hotel will be at no cost and then we will manage as an operator the hotel for them.” (25:56-26:15)

• “The problem with hotels is you always need the same amount of people whether you have really high occupancy or low occupancy. With this, it doesn’t matter if you are fully occupied. The costs are variable. There are no fixed costs.” (30:00-30:15)

• “I think somebody should do a cool budget hotel because everybody likes nice things and to be warm, and when you are on the road, those things matter.” 

 

Connect with Angel Tena Redondo

LinkedIn: Angel Tena Redondo

IG: @urjurny

 

Connect with Host Camilla Rantsen

IG: @camillarantsen

LinkedIn: Camilla Outzen Rantsen

Facebook: Camilla Outzen Rantsen 

TikTok: @camillarantsen

Twitter @camillarantsen

 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm