Reviews are dead, or so it may seem. Although, according to this new Dutch startup, they’re very much alive, but not in their current form. Entrepreneurs Gideon Nagtegaal and Dennis Hendriksen, both former Wehkamp employees, cooked up what’s next with Seeviews. With a little help from their – super rich – former boss.
Seeviews: visual reviews
Their solution for online reviews is Seeviews: a visual review tool for the travel industry. The startup offers hotels and b&bs the tools to convert video tales of guest experiences into an effective marketing tool. “These days no one books holidays without looking for reviews. You just want to know how other people have experienced the place you want to book. However, one big disadvantage of written reviews is that they are black and white; it is either very good or very bad. We wanted to make reviews more realistic, by giving them momentum and making them more visual. Most people experience their holiday with their eyes open, right?” Gideon Nagtegaal, founding partner at Seeviews, states.
Strong team
“We have an innovative product”, Nagtegaal’s co-founder Hendriksen boasts, “but what is equally important, we have formed a strong team of internationally oriented specialists in the field of hospitality and e-commerce. And now, the market is more ready than ever; hotels and b&b’s have the strong desire to realize more bookings through their own websites and the consumer always has a smartphone in their pocket, with which they can capture their experiences perfectly.”
Video review
Here’s how it works. In the Seeviews’ dashboard, the hotel manager has a real-time overview of how, when and what guests are experiencing. Then and there, they merely invite new guests to make a video review within the Seeviews-app. These reviews are then shown on the hotel website, to be found by potential guests.
Third travel startup from Wehkamp
Seeviews is the third travel startup that has recently emerged among former online specialists at Wehkamp. Besides Gideon and Dennis, are Ruud Raaijmakers (price fighter weflycheap.nl) and Maurice Schriemer (vakantieboekenbijnederlanders.nl) active with travel startups.
Backed by rich former boss
The two founders are backed by Paul Nijhof, former CEO of RFS Holding, the parent company of Dutch online retail giants Wehkamp and fonQ. In 2015, British investor Apax bought Wehkamp for a reportedly €450M from RFS, in which Nijhof held an 80 percent stake together with Ad Scheepbouwer (former CEO KPN) and Berend van der Maat (CFO RFS). Nijhof’s estimated net worth: €140M (Quote 500, 2016). Launching a startup with enough cash isn’t easy, but it sure helps to have a wealthy former boss.
