Spotie

History

Spotie was founded on 23 August 2011 by founders Mateo Perak, Ivan Burazin, Mislav Tomić, Marjan Žitnik and Nebojša Veron. All of them have entrepreneurial background. Perak is a founder at Booking IT, Burazin is a co-founder at Codeanywhere, Žitnik is a Webstart Contest winner.

Different from its current function, Spotie started out as a location-based social network for events which allows users to find out what's happening, when and where at the click of their mouse rather than having to search the internet to find relevant information on the events happening nearby. It also allows users to create their own events and share them with their friends. Spotie was launched as a private beta on TechCrunch Disrupt in Beijing in October 2011. Six months after its emergence, Spotie had achieved 3,000 sign-ups. Spotie became a public beta in early 2012.

On 21 March 2014, Typing Ltd, owned by Lukša Jakobušić and Marjan Žitnik, completed the acquisition of Spotie for cash. The acquisition was announced on 11 April 2015.

Company

Spotie is owned by Typing Ltd which has several projects such as Frames +, Emplio, SoundScriber and SnoozeNews. Typing Ltd’s headquarters is based in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Typing Ltd aims to deliver applications, websites and brands from Dubrovnik with love.

Operation

Spotie is a website which allows owners to rent out their accommodation and travellers to book accommodation through direct booking. Contrary to what other booking sites such as Airbnb does, guests have to contact the owner directly, either through phone calls or emails, to make a reservation. Users are not required to register in the system or enter personal details such as their credit card number to make the reservation. Such a feature is unique to Spotie as no other system provides this at the moment.

Spotie is the first mobile application which rents private and hotel accommodation with 0% commission to the host and the guest. Owners are often faced with high commissions reservation systems, ranging from 5% to 20, having to spend thousand euros to rent out their available accommodation leaving them with a low profit margin. At the same time, guests are ensured the lowest price of the selected accommodation they can find on the internet with this 0% commission concept.

Mobile

On top of the Spotie website, Spotie also offers mobile applications for iOS and Android users which was officially released on iTunes App Store on 11 April 2015 and Google Play Store on 26 March 2015. With the release of their mobile application, it allows users to search for a suitable accommodation on-the-go.

Business Model

Spotie is free for every customer, be it property managers or guests. Landlords can advertise their available accommodations for free without paying any commissions and fees. On the other hand, guests can search for accommodation in greater details and contact the landlord with just a few clicks.

Spotie-I

Spotie’s current business model Spotie-I, is based on the option "Jump to the top". If users want to increase your chances of getting a reservation, they are able to use the "Jump to the top" option which puts their post on the top of the search, regardless of the city, country or state, as long as other users do not do so after them. This “Jump to the top” option which enhances users’ chances of completing the booking will cost them €0.99. However, this option is optional whereby all users will be displayed on Spotie and Google search engine without having to pay for the “Jump to the top” option.

Awards

In December 2011, Spotie won its first pitching contest at Startup Standup, organised by SEE ICT and Vukašin Stojkov in Belgrade, Croatia.

Future

For 3 years, Spotie has been in the top 10 world application for travellers. Spotie's focus is to be a renowned application around the whole world.