CETT Fundació Entrepreneurs Awards 2025 | InRoom, Third Prize: “The more you practice, the luckier you get”

InRoom is a virtual assistant for hotels, campsites, and tourist accommodations that automates customer service through WhatsApp right after check-in. A technological solution that reduces by up to 60% the time front desk staff spend on repetitive inquiries, improving operational efficiency and the guest experience. 

21st Entrepreneurs Awards 

The CETT Fundació Entrepreneurs Awards recognize the best entrepreneurial projects in the tourism, hospitality, and gastronomy sectors. The prize consists of a six-month advisory and mentoring period provided by members of the CETT mentoring team, along with a financial endowment. 

The InRoom team will receive this mentorship from Ester Almenar, partner at Koncepts Consultora, a growth consultancy for SMEs, and Rubén Marín, Director of Hotel Alexandre Fira Congress Barcelona and President of AEDH Young Directors, the Youth Section of the Spanish Association of Hotel Directors (AEDH), a collective that brings together young professionals and students from the tourism sector. 

We speak with Josep Marsal, CEO and co-founder of InRoom, to learn all about the service. 

• InRoom offers a very specific service. Where did the idea come from and how did the project start? 

InRoom was born from our previous experience as a company specialized in custom automation solutions for businesses. During that journey, we identified a very clear need in the tourism sector: the lack of efficient and scalable digital communication with guests. 

In addition, one of the founders worked at a hotel front desk for several summers, experiencing first-hand the operational workload, repetitive questions, and constant pressure at reception. From the combination of technological know-how and real accommodation experience, InRoom emerged: a virtual assistant for accommodations designed to relieve staff workload and improve the guest experience. 

• It is a useful service for both guests and accommodations. What does it offer to each of them? 

For guests, InRoom provides immediate answers, removes language barriers, and avoids queues or unnecessary trips to reception. By communicating through WhatsApp, it perfectly adapts to today’s traveler habits. All of this creates a smoother experience and increases guest loyalty toward the accommodation. 

For accommodations, the main benefit is time savings and reduced operational workload. We digitalize guest communication and, in addition, the virtual assistant enables upselling and cross-selling actions, generating additional revenue without extra effort from the team. 

• Going into usage details: Is this a service offered at check-in? How do users behave and how receptive are they to receiving messages via WhatsApp? 

The service is usually activated at check-in, although it is fully customizable and can start, for example, 24 hours before the guest’s arrival. This allows accommodations to anticipate frequent questions and improve the experience even before the guest arrives. 

User receptiveness is very positive. WhatsApp is a close and immediate channel, and communicating directly in the guest’s language facilitates a natural interaction that is very well received. 

• One of the key characteristics of the hotel sector is multiculturalism. How do you adapt communications to the user’s language? 

InRoom’s communication with guests is fully multilingual, allowing it to effectively address the multicultural nature of the sector. Proactive communications, such as automated messages (check-in, check-out, alerts, or mass communications), are sent taking into account the guest’s phone prefix, adapting the language from the very first contact. 

In addition, in reactive communications, the virtual assistant always responds in the language used by the guest. If a guest asks a question in Catalan, they receive the response in Catalan; if they write in English, French, or any other language, InRoom automatically adapts, maintaining a natural and coherent conversation. 

• There are as many types of tourist accommodations as there are types of guests. Who is your target audience? 

Our target audience includes all accommodations that need an efficient front desk, regardless of their size: hotels, campsites, tourist apartments, glamping sites, boutique accommodations, or luxury properties, for example. The more guests accommodation manages, the greater the impact of the virtual assistant, as it helps absorb a higher workload and frees up staff time for higher-value tasks. 

• The system uses active interactions with PMS (Property Management Systems). What advantages does this proprietary technology offer compared to others? 

InRoom is not a PMS but integrates with existing management systems to use reservation data and communicate with guests in a contextualized way. Our focus is on the “during stay” phase of the customer journey, a key moment that many technologies do not cover in depth. Unlike solutions that rely on large all-in-one platforms, InRoom is a simple, intuitive tool designed to integrate with different software solutions, without friction or unnecessary complexity. 

• How does this technology adapt to different infrastructures? What prior requirements are needed for proper implementation? 

No prior technical requirements are needed. During the onboarding process, we generate a dedicated WhatsApp number for the accommodation, with its corresponding customization and a private line dedicated to the client. This enables fast and hassle-free implementation, regardless of the accommodation’s technological infrastructure. 

• What does this recognition from the professional jury of the CETT Fundació mean to you? 

This recognition is a great motivation for the entire team. It confirms that we are on the right path and that the sector values innovative and practical solutions like InRoom. We are very grateful to the CETT Fundació for trusting the project and for supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in the tourism sector. 

• What advice would you give to students who are thinking about starting their own venture? 

There is a phrase we really like: “The more you practice, the luckier you get.” 
Entrepreneurship is about consistency, continuous learning, and perseverance. There will be difficult moments, but if you believe in what you do and work every day to improve, opportunities eventually arise. Fighting for what you want, making mistakes, and moving forward are all part of the journey.