A unique tour, designed to highlight the importance of small businesses in the hospitality sector through film, is set to begin this spring at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. The tour is organized by hospitality software company eviivo Collective and will feature a mobile pop-up vehicle and projector showcasing “10 of the world’s best independent properties.” The tour will travel through eight global cities: Austin, Belfast, Canterbury, London, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Brussels and Belgium.
Michele Fitzpatrick, CEO of eviivo, noted that independent accommodations often do not receive the recognition they deserve. The tour aims to bring attention to some of the world’s best boutique hotels, vacation rentals, Airbnbs, inns, and other unique getaways. Viewers of the film can enter a competition to win a dream vacation at one of the featured properties.
Eviivo is a hospitality software company known for its cloud-based booking and property management system, eviivo Suite. This all-in-one system allows property owners, hoteliers, and hosts to manage guests, bookings, and online travel agencies such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and Vrbo. Currently, eviivo software powers around 26,000 independent properties worldwide.
The short film will be shown at festivals around the world, such as the SXSW Festival in Austin and Shoreditch in London. The aim is to celebrate and raise awareness for the independent accommodation sector on Independent Accommodations Day on March 24. The film will be projected from a vintage Volkswagen van equipped with a unique projector capable of projecting visuals that scale the size of the Empire State Building.
Eric White, CTO of eviivo, stated that the company is proud to provide innovative solutions for their customers. He added that initiatives like eviivo Collective demonstrate their commitment to the independent accommodation sector beyond their software offerings.
The number of independent vacation rental properties has significantly increased in recent years, with over 6.6 million properties available across various platforms as of 2023. This growth comes as the short-term rental market is undergoing changes due to market saturation. At the same time, the global hotel industry is experiencing a modest recovery due to customer dissatisfaction with some short-term rental apps like Airbnb.
Source: forbes.com