How one idea changed the landscape of hotel operations

A conversation with Juan Abello, the creator of Nuvola

By Laura Spitler | Principal Product Marketing

What did you do professionally before creating Nuvola?

I spent close to a decade working in hotels, most of these years I was part of the Morgans Hotel Group brand, a boutique hotel company that later become part of Accor Hotels. Although I worked in different departments, I spent the bulk of this time leading front-of-house operations. I’ve always been fascinated with delivering exceptional customer service and operational efficiencies, and passionate about front office and guest services. During my time in hospitality, I also worked in back-of-house departments. In particular, housekeeping helped me to paint a clear picture of what it takes to run a successful operation.

Then I switched to tech, joining a startup that leveraged RFID technology to monitor asset management and employee productivity. This role gave me the opportunity to learn about software and hardware at a time when radio frequency technology was just starting to take off. I immediately became intrigued by how software could drive team member productivity and customer engagement. I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart, and I was passionate to see how I could forge my hospitality and technology experience to change the industry that was close and dear to my heart.

How did you get the idea for Nuvola?

I was having lunch with a friend I had worked with as a front desk agent. During our lunch meeting, we laughed while remembering how antiquated the red book was to track incidents every shift. It was a light-bulb moment for me where I realized this is how I can positively impact the industry I love – by optimizing the information communicated or “pass-ed on” from shift to shift. So, it all started with the idea for what would become Nuvola’s “Pass On” Module. Tickets would later become the second and most critical component of the solution, empowering hoteliers to keep track of all activities in a centralized dashboard as a task management solution.

Why should hoteliers consider Nuvola for task management and guest engagement?

First off, the task management and guest engagement solution is very user-friendly, with just one system to train on and integrated modules. Second, the breadth of capabilities available from Nuvola really allows you to streamline your technology instead of using one system for housekeeping, one for guest chat, and another for concierge or lost and found. Third, the relevancy & automation the Nuvola PMS integrations provide. I always recommend looking for tools that require minimal training, are intuitive even for team members new to hospitality, and are guest-centric to ensure every staff/guest touchpoint is more meaningful.

What benefits have come from Sabre’s acquisition of Nuvola?

It’s easier to scale and support hoteliers around the world. We also recently launched a two-way PMS integration between Nuvola and SynXis Property Hub to provide a seamless experience to Property Hub users. Lastly, the ability to offer our customers a more comprehensive suite of products is certainly an area of high demand as hotels continue to search for that one partner that can provide an all-encompassing solution.

What’s next?

Our focus will be on continuing to integrate Nuvola into the rest of the Sabre ecosystem. One area we will be investing our time is strengthening our guest engagement capabilities. We understand hotels need to communicate effectively with their guests in order to improve their customer service ratings, while also allowing them to retail more products that can enhance the guest experience and increase the hotel’s revenues. Lastly, a big theme this year will be around the personalization of our products. We are laser-focused on ensuring hotels from any segment can configure their solution to match their operational needs, including room and linen schedule changes, KPIs for room inspection, and much more.