Inside the journey to the HotelPlanner EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 award

HotelPlanner founders recognized for innovation and growth in travel tech

John Prince and Tim Hentschel, co-founders and co-CEOs of HotelPlanner, have been named winners of the HotelPlanner EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 Florida Award. The prestigious recognition, announced on June 16, celebrates their leadership in developing one of the most innovative platforms in travel technology. [caption id="attachment_300038" align="alignnone" width="300"] Tim Hentschel, co-founder and CEO of HotelPlanner. He was recently named EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Florida.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_300040" align="alignnone" width="300"] John Prince, co-founder and CEO of HotelPlanner. Honored with the 2025 EY Entrepreneur of the Year award for Florida.[/caption]

The award is part of EY’s long-standing program recognizing business leaders who demonstrate excellence in areas such as innovation, long-term growth, and value creation. Winners are selected through an independent panel of judges, based on entrepreneurial spirit, financial performance, and impact.

A Business Built on Innovation and Scale

Founded in 2003, HotelPlanner has grown into a global platform for hotel bookings, specializing in group, corporate, and event-based travel. The company has gained industry attention through its use of AI-driven booking tools and a global network of travel experts. This model has helped HotelPlanner achieve strong growth while maintaining a lean and scalable structure.

The HotelPlanner EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 recognition highlights how the company has navigated industry shifts with agility, integrating technology to simplify complex booking processes and improve the customer experience.

In a joint statement, Prince and Hentschel acknowledged the work of their global team and emphasized the importance of innovation in shaping the company’s success.

Looking Ahead

As winners of the Florida award, the HotelPlanner leadership team will now be considered for the national Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 title in November. Finalists from across the country will compete at the Strategic Growth Forum, with national winners moving on to the global competition in 2026.

The HotelPlanner EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 award confirms the company’s position at the forefront of travel technology—and positions its founders among the most respected entrepreneurs in the industry today.

  UPA Asia is pleased to announce HotelPlanner as the Official Accommodation Partner for the Trailblazers Program in 2025.   HotelPlanner is a leading travel technology company that leverages AI and a global customer service network to transform hotel bookings across individual, group, and corporate travel segments. Founded in 2003, the company provides unique discount rates through an innovative booking engine that connects travelers with an extensive network of hotel partners and institutions.   Through the partnership, HotelPlanner will provide accommodation support to the Trailblazers during their time competing throughout the USA as well as at PPA Tour Asia stops in 2025.   The UPA Asia Trailblazers Program is set to elevate talent across Asia and establish the region as a force in the global pickleball landscape. The Trailblazers will spend 3-months in the USA, receiving expert coaching, media training as well as competing on the PPA Tour.   The UPA Asia Trailblazers immediately benefited from the support of HotelPlanner during their attendance at Baton Rouge PPA Challenger, from 4-6 April in Louisiana. There the Trailblazers claimed four medals, including Yufei Long (CHN) winning the gold over Ken Tam (VIE) in the Pro Women’s Singles.   For fans wanting to follow the Trailblazers on their journey, book your accommodation here.

Travel technology platform HotelPlanner has served up a new partnership with the UK’s Lawn Tennis Association (LTA.) The Hotelplanner tie up will enable the LTA’s 1.5 million members to source hotels at special rates in the UK and globally. It will enable the LTA to manage their accommodation needs more profitably and provide a better service to its members and players. Hotelplanner will provide great hotel rates for national and international travel and for the many events the LTA organizes. The LTA is the sport’s governing body and has been overseeing the development of tennis in the UK for over 130 years. It oversees the grassroots such as after-school training sessions up to major international tournaments on all tennis court surfaces. It’s a nationwide organization of coaches, administrators and volunteers. “It’s such a pleasure to look after the hotel needs of some of the world’s greatest tennis players,” said Tim Hentschel, CEO, Hotelplanner. HotelPlanner is pleased to support the LTA’s mission of making tennis welcoming, enjoyable and inspiring to everyone. The LTA’s ultimate goal is to create opportunities for more people to play and enjoy tennis. The HotelPlanner hotel booking platform combines proprietary artificial intelligence, and a 24/7 global gig-based reservations and customer service network. It has established partnerships with the largest OTAs, global hotel chains, individual hotels, online wedding planning providers, ancillary lodging providers, corporations, and numerous sporting organizations from youth to professional level. HotelPlanner’s brands include flagship site HotelPlanner.com, meetings and events-focused sites Meetings.com; EventConnect.com; and Venuexplorer.com; sports team travel provider Lucid Travel, and its most recent acquisition Eventsquid, which focuses on corporate and association event registration.

Golf’s Challenge Tour has appointed HotelPlanner as title partner in a multi-year deal. The travel technology company is the Tour’s first title partner, from the start of the 2025 season. HotelPlanner combines proprietary AI agents (HotelPlanner.ai) and a 24/7 global gig-based reservations and customer service network. The sports sponsorship will help grow the Tour through increased prize funds while helping to elevate the standard of golf events on the Road to Mallorca. The 2025 HotelPlanner Tour schedule begins in South Africa next week, with the SDC Open taking place at Zebula Golf Estate & Spa from January 23-26. Players will compete for a record total prize fund of over €9,000,000 on the HotelPlanner Tour this season, with each European event having a minimum prize fund of €300,000. The prize fund increases for 16 events in total in 2025. The schedule will consist of 29 tournaments staged across three continents in 18 different countries. It concludes at the Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A in Mallorca. In addition to their title partnership, HotelPlanner will provide additional investment into six events on the 2025 HotelPlanner Tour schedule, and a total of 40 tournaments throughout the multi-year partnership. HotelPlanner will use their assets, connectivity and people to help grow the Tour and open doors for the game of golf through global travel. Jamie Hodges, HotelPlanner Tour Director, said: “Today’s announcement is undoubtedly a momentous one in the proud history of our Tour. It will be strengthened because of this hugely significant deal. “ “This new partnership will increase prize funds for our membership and elevate the standard of our events. The global reach of HotelPlanner is also aligned with the diversity of our membership and the places and cultures we visit.” Tim Hentschel, HotelPlanner Chief Executive Officer, added: “We are delighted to become the title partner. This partnership provides an excellent platform to engage with customers, prospects, and stakeholders, and build our brand.” “The Challenge Tour has been the foundation of so many great golfing names and we are excited to see the HotelPlanner Tour continue to open doors for the next generation of superstars.” Founded in 2003, HotelPlanner has partnerships with the world’s largest online travel agencies, sports franchises, hotel chains, individual hotels, online wedding providers, ancillary lodging providers, corporations, universities and government agencies.

HotelPlanner’s new call handler team are not your average AI bots answering simple, stock questions. Having used eight million recorded phone calls made by human call center agents, the firm’s AI powered customer agents are as human as the tech gets. In fact, HotelPlanner says many customers don’t even realize they’re not actually speaking to a human. During its first month, the AI powered team has handled about 40,000 inquiries. UK newspaper The Times tested the service to see whether artificial intelligence compared with real time human interactions. Its initial reaction – there was no discernable indication that AI bot Cassandra wasn’t a real person. The service is as advanced as it gets; Cassandra and the other AI entities can make recommendations, check for room availability, quote prices, and give room type explanations with ease. Its quite a feat with 1.4 million hotels on its site. Overall, HotelPlanner has created 20 AI agents able to converse in 15 languages. There are two specific AI characters which have gained media attention. One is called Santa for the festive season, while another is called Donnie. The latter promises to make a stay in America great (again) complete with similar verbal mannerisms of the President-elect. The Times staffer’s interaction with Donnie went as follows: “This hotel is great, it’s tremendous, absolutely tremendous … it’s a beautiful thing, believe me.” “How many nights would you like to make America — I mean make your stay — great?” HotelPlanner’s CEO Tim Hentschel, said the volume of : calls has doubled since the AI platform fully rolled out. “This year we’ve had to curtail the capacity on our site, when fewer call handlers were available, but now we can now scale much faster,” he said. “We have calls recorded of people saying ‘Hey, James, will you be at the hotel when I get there?’, who responds, ‘Sorry, no — I’m an automated agent’.” Of course, sometimes an inquiry is too nuanced or complex for AI, such as ‘Does your breakfast have poached eggs?’ In that case we’ll transfer the call either direct to the hotel or to one of our human agents,” Hentschel added.  

HotelPlanner has announced a world’s first of its kind AI powered hotel booking assistant. HotelPlanner.ai is the first end-to-end AI hotel booking assistant, with fluency in 15 languages. The AI Assistant will take a call, respond to customer requirements, check the availability and price out suitable rooms. It can explain the unique nature of the room type, the booking terms and respond to detailed questions. It can also process a credit card booking. Then the guest will receive confirmation by text and/or email. The AI Assistant is able to book prepaid rooms or a pay at hotel rate. “We launched our gig economy call center during Covid. It’s been incredibly successful with over 7,000 active salespeople but the number of available agents limited our growth,” said Tim Hentschel, Co-CEO, HotelPlanner. “We used data from over 8,000,000 reservation calls to train AI Voice assistants to not only look after our customers many queries but sell rooms in a streamlined, enjoyable and efficient experience that has never been seen before.” With access to HotelPlanner’s inventory of over one million properties worldwide. HotelPlanner’s AI Assistants are already looking after the hotel needs of customers that speak English (in multiple variants), Hindi, Mandarin, French, German Spanish and Portuguese. Greek, Turkish and many more languages will be added soon. The Assistant can deal with complex queries such as “Hi James, I’m looking for a family friendly hotel, within a 4-hour flight of West Palm Beach, FL. I live on the beach, so I don’t want a beach resort, and I want it to be 4 or 5 stars and have an indoor pool.” Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with praise for its ease of use. Customers also have the option to talk to a human agent, but this is rare, the company says, due to the quality of service. Below is an actual transcript from a customer at the end of a booking process:   Customer:  Will you be there when I check in? AI Assistant James: I appreciate you asking, I apologize for the confusion, Derek. I should have been clearer. I'm a virtual assistant. Customer: And I want to know your name so I can leave a….. Oh, sXXXt! Okay. I was gonna give a great review for you. AI Assistant James:  Really appreciate your kind intention Derek!   “We are incredibly excited to lead the charge in integrating AI into the travel booking experience,” added John Prince, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of HotelPlanner. “HotelPlanner.AI not only simplifies the booking but as our AI Assistants continue to learn they will only get better. Now our human call center team can look after customers with the more complicated and higher value bookings.” Ahead of the holiday season, HotelPlanner announced that proceeds generated from any booking taken by special AI Assistant Santa Claus will be donated to Toys for Tots, ensuring that children in need receive gifts this season. “We believe that technology should serve a greater purpose,” added Hentschel. “By connecting travelers with Santa and supporting a wonderful cause, we are excited to make this holiday season memorable for all.” HotelPlanner.AI is now live. For more information, or to talk to the AI Assistant: Hotelplanner.ai 

Related News Stories:  

  Planning an event like a wedding, meeting, or sports team travel can be time-consuming, costly, and stressful, especially when booking hotel rooms. HotelPlanner.com simplifies the process by allowing hotels to come directly to you. With HotelPlanner, you can get instant quotes from top hotels competing for your business, ensuring you find the best rates—guaranteed savings of up to 77%. Just fill out a request with your event details, compare offers, negotiate online, and select the best deal, all in one convenient platform. HotelPlanner.com is committed to making group bookings easy, efficient, and affordable.  

  The American Group Travel Awards charity gala hosted by HotelPlanner took place on November 12, 2023 at the Boca Raton Resort to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and to celebrate HotelPlanner’s 20th Anniversary and HipHop50.   Grammy Award nominee and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Flavor Flav was honored as the World Hospitality Award winner, with Hip Hop legends Rob Base and Grandmaster Flash performing, and a special appearance by Cuba Gooding, Jr.  

    Tim Hentschel is the founder of HotelPlanner, which sought to digitize the analog process of booking group business in hotels. HotelPlanner has changed a lot since it launched, and Tim is now exploring other ways to digitize analog processes in the hotel industry. Susan and Tim talk about automating relationships, over-managing rate strategy, and innovating in a tech resistant industry.   What you'll learn about in this episode: - Why AI might not fully replace human agents in high-touch services. - How the flexibility of gig work is gamified for customer service agents. - How AI is being integrated into HotelPlanner's customer service operations. - Why the hospitality industry is resistant to fully automating meeting space bookings. - What challenges revenue management systems face during high-demand events like the Olympics.

  I know what you are probably saying to yourself right now: HotelPlanner?!?!?!? Not that old thing again?!?!?  Those leads are garbage and they NEVER convert!!!  Well…(channeling my inner Chandler Bing)…you could not be more wrong!   With first hand experience and loads of data over years and years of using their services, I can tell you if you still have this attitude in 2024 it is because you are not utilizing their system the way it was designed. I’ve seen consistent portfolio close rates of 8.5%.  Yes…that’s on minimally qualified RFPs and on the low end of what you might expect.  But…when you use the tools HotelPlanner gives you to get the leads that matter, I have seen close rates consistently above 40% (and…NO…that doesn’t mean they got 5 leads and closed 2 all year!).  Real prospects measured in the 1000s across an entire portfolio of hundreds of hotels.   If you want to maximize this potential partnership, keep reading.  It’s pretty easy.  

Who Can Benefit from HotelPlanner?

  HotelPlanner is not…repeat…IS NOT a place for low rated business.  Low rated leads do exist, but not any more than any other source.  The stereotype that this site has earned among some in sales is undeserved.   It is not just your average booking platform – it’s a kind of hero for all sorts of events. It caters to groups of all sizes AND all rate levels.  Whether a planner (or a novice stuck with the job!) is looking to book a block of nine rooms or 999 rooms, or groups with space or without space, or groups with F&B or without F&B, or any other combination it is an actual source of all types of groups.   Here are some key demographics that you can get in front of (in the order of what you can expect):

• Weddings
• Sports Teams & Youth Groups
• Corporate Business (AT&T, Walmart by example are just two exclusive users)
• Reunions
• School Groups
• Extended Stays 15+ Nights

  So who can benefit from that?  Well…everyone.  These groups have a place at every property in some way, especially when you consider most leads are room-only blocks.  All 4 major brands can utilize this platform with no issue: Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and Hyatt.  These brands do place caps on the commission rates paid, so check with your NSO.   Additionally, HotelPlanner is also cooperating with Best Western, Choice, Wyndham, Sonesta, Cobblestone, G6, and others.  

Making Friends with OTAs & More

  HotelPlanner is actually the “power” behind OTA group business.  Like www.groups.expedia.com is HotelPlanner’s “white label” application managing all leads and the sales process for every group wanting 5 or more rooms.  The major OTAs such as Hotels.com, Priceline, Trivago, and more are all through them.  This is on top of the public sites they run that appeal to people searching online for help in planning group events – i.e. novice people looking for 15 rooms for 2 nights for their corporate retreat.  This means:  Even if a client submits a group hotel request through one of these sites, they will remain on the respective site from start to finish. But if you want to gain a piece of this business, you need to use HotelPlanner or take a pass on this rather qualified group business.  

Top 5 Ways to Maximize the HotelPlanner Lead Volume

  So this goes to the stereotype I mentioned at the top of this article.  Do junk rated leads exist on HotelPlanner?  Absolutely.  But just like spam messages shouldn’t stop you from using email, junk leads can be easily “deleted” and never bother you again.  Leaving only the ACTUAL, valuable qualified leads you want to talk to.  How do you do that?  

1 – Filter Like Your Life Depends on It

  And it is sooooooooooo easy to do.  Just one time and less than five minutes, you can be walked through some simple check-box-steps to get only the size, rate, and room night RFPs you want.  You can even qualify by space + rates, rates + no space, space + F&B, rooms only, even geography and group event types if you wanted it.  You set these minimums and…in the words of Ron Popeil…”you set it and forget it!”  (google him if you don’t know…)  See our simple step-by-step guide to filters HERE  

2 – Let the System Do the Talking

  Short and to the point:  Instant Offers are your best friend.  Like the filters, HotelPlanner lets you pick any date or set of days you want and set up an autoresponder that will instantly fire off a response to any RFP for you, including restrictions, contractual minimums, and even incentives.  And it can be done in a matter of minutes just like filters.  So, if you have a set of dates this year or 3 years from now that are just so behind pace you are “distressed”, just load an Instant Offer with a “take it or leave it” rate complete with incentives and contractual requirements and let offers fly!  And even if you are doing well but could use some help.  Use Instant Offers with a solid, competitive rate offer.  If no bites, oh well.  But if they do, they are that much more qualified when they finally reach out in person to close the deal.  

3 – Simplify the paperwork process with the e-contracting functionality

  Utilizing this feature allows you to manage contracts electronically, saving time and reducing administrative burden.  Enter any restriction or minimum you want, even concessions.  It does it all.  

4 – Explore GNET Rate Plan Technology

  The GNET Rate Plan Technology enables instant group bookings for small groups ranging from 10 to 25 rooms.  For small teams who need to concentrate on larger group needs, this can be your “automated admin” helping you book those few extra rooms to get over your goal!  

5 – Consider Preferred Membership

  If you join as a Preferred Hotel Member, your benefits will include: top placement in search results (think Google Ads for paid search!), reduced commission rates, personalized recommendations to clients, access to RFPs open for collective bidding (free listings have to wait for a planner to ask you personally), and more!  

Cost of Using HotelPlanner

  The great news is you can start with no fee to participate as a classic member. In this case, HotelPlanner operates on actualized referral fees, based on meeting planner commission fees per brand.   Additional Resources:

• Best Practices for Group Rates vs Transient Rates
• Account Review Check List
• Outlook Rules: for New Lead Notification Emails, for Referred for Consideration Emails and Quick Parts
• Useful HotelPlanner Contacts
• FAQ

  How to Set Up RFP Filters & Qualifiers:   In summary, HotelPlanner isn’t just any booking platform – it’s a comprehensive tool that integrates with you and your sales team, aligns with Branded hotels, provides you with a wide range of planners to reach who are ACTUALLY looking to book, as well as plenty of resources to help you maximize the production you will get.

Hotelplanner.com, a leading online group hotel booking solutions company, announced it has acquired travel industry news and intelligence platform TravelMole. This strategic acquisition aims to strengthen Hotelplanner.com’s leading position in the hospitality industry by both expanding its reach, and diversifying its content offerings. Furthermore, it will ensure it continues to provide valuable insights to both hoteliers and travellers. “We are thrilled to welcome TravelMole into the Hotelplanner.com family,” said Tim Hentschel, CEO of Hotelplanner.com. “TravelMole’s deep expertise in travel industry news, analysis, features and data aligns perfectly with our mission to connect hoteliers with the travel trade worldwide. This acquisition will enable us to offer our partners and customers even more comprehensive solutions.” Charles Kao of TravelMole, added: “We are excited to join forces with Hotelplanner.com, a company that shares our commitment to innovation and excellence in the travel industry.” “Together, we will be able to provide our customers with even more valuable content, insights, and tools to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace.” Jean-Francois Pieri, , CEO of Cleverdis. said the addition of Travelmole will further enable Cleverdis, one of the largest publishers for global trade shows, to engage more meaningfully with the travel industry. “The potential synergies between Hotelplanner's publishing brands will drive mutual growth.” The acquisition will bring together Hotelplanner.com’s extensive network of hoteliers, 300,000 group travel planners and travellers with TravelMole’s  industry news, features, analysis, and data. This combination will enable Hotelplanner.com to offer a more comprehensive suite of products and services, including: * Enhanced content offerings: Hotelplanner.com and its hotel partners’ extensive knowledge and content related to group hotel bookings will be integrated into the TravelMole platform, to help travel agents better sell group travel. * Expanded global reach: TravelMole’s global network of industry contacts will help Hotelplanner.com to reach a wider range of travel providers and destination marketing organizations (DMO) worldwide. * Synergies in technology and operations: Hotelplanner.com and Travelmole will leverage complementary strengths in technology and operations to create a more efficient and effective organization. The acquisition of TravelMole represents a major milestone for both companies and marks a major step forward in Hotelplanner.com’s strategy to become a leading global provider of online group hotel booking solutions.   About Hotelplanner.com HotelPlanner is a leading travel technology company and hotel booking platform that combines proprietary artificial intelligence and a 24/7 global gig-based reservations and customer service network. Founded in 2003, HotelPlanner has partnerships with online travel agencies, global hotel chains, independent hotels, online wedding providers, ancillary lodging providers and more. HotelPlanner's brand portfolio includes flagship site, HotelPlanner.com; meetings & events-focused sites, Meetings.com; EventConnect.com; and VenueExplorer.com; Lucid Travel, which focuses on sports team travel; Eventsquid, which focuses on corporate and association event registration; and Cleverdis, the trade show media brand. https://www.hotelplanner.com

Related News Stories:  Partner News - TravelMole

  HotelPlanner, a leading travel technology platform and hotel booking engine, is excited to announce the integration of Cleverdis, the content provider for more than 17 international trade shows. Cleverdis is active across a range of industries including food, defense, consumer electronics, logistics, wine and spirits, and retail, all of which bolster the company’s global footprint in the trade show ecosystem and multimedia space.   Established in 1997 in France, Cleverdis has earned its reputation as a comprehensive content factory for trade shows. Beyond producing daily magazines, the company offers official newsrooms and bespoke podcasts for various events. With a team of experts committed to delivering intelligent content and insights, Cleverdis enables buyers to make informed purchasing decisions while amplifying brand visibility. The company collaborates with more than 400 advertising partners and generates in excess of 3,500 pages of original content annually. Their extensive multimedia services encompass video and podcast production, photography, newsroom, and press services, which contributes to a vibrant and impactful trade show experience.   Operating as an independent entity within the HotelPlanner family of brands, Cleverdis will maintain its current client relationships and uphold its standing as a leader in content production and media services.   “We believe strongly in the power of collaboration and lasting partnerships. Becoming a part of the HotelPlanner family of brands allows us to offer additional value to trade show organisers and attendees, while enhancing our global reach and capacity to connect and serve trade show buyers and influencers worldwide,” says Jean-Francois Pieri, President & CEO, Cleverdis.   “Having attended hundreds of trade shows over the past two decades, I can unequivocally state that quality content is a game-changer. A well-told brand story forms lasting impressions on buyers and attendees, and can make the difference in generating new business. Partnering with Cleverdis, a leader in the trade show ecosystem, is a strategic and exciting move for us. We are thrilled to work together to help trade show buyers maximise their brand presence while providing a state-of-the-art media experience for all attendees,” says Tim Hentschel, Co-founder & CEO, HotelPlanner.