From a Small Berlin Startup to Industry Leader: Our 10-Year Journey with bookingkit

From a Small Berlin Startup to Industry Leader:
Our 10-Year Journey with bookingkit

10 years of passion and vision, 10 years of challenges, 10 years of solutions and software improvements – but how did our story actually begin?

It all started in 2014, in a small apartment at Rosenthaler Platz in Berlin. That was the humble beginning of bookingkit – a two-room apartment that served as both office and living space. Born out of an innovative idea and a software that didn’t yet exist, our promising vision would evolve into Europe’s leading booking, marketing, and management solution for tour and activity providers just 10 years later.

Our Path to Success

“I remember it like it was yesterday – that two-room apartment with my old student bed and a small kitchen in the back room – that was our office. I’ll never forget the excitement on Lukas’ face when he came into the office with an invitation to pitch at the High-Tech Gründerfonds. They would later become our first investors. And I’ll never forget the countless visits to potential clients, like a restaurant chain that offered cooking classes. Sitting in their back room, seeing the many manual processes in their daily work, and then realizing that this idea could become something very big was a key moment.”
CHRISTOPH KRUSE, Founder

“Our first name was actually ‘Kwango’ – under that name, we tried to win our first customers for the software. The only catch was: we only had PowerPoint slides. After convincing our first 10 customers, we came back to the team with good and bad news: The good news was, we had customers – the bad news: we had one month to actually build the software.”
LUKAS C.C. HEMPEL, Founder & Managing Director

Our Vision: An All-in-One Solution for Experience Providers

Our goal has always been to help tour, activity, and attraction providers increase their sales and streamline their operations – through optimized booking processes and the enhancement of sales, marketing, and management.

What is our success based on? A look at our three key pillars:

Looking back, our success can be attributed to three key factors:

1. A clear and consistent strategy: From the beginning, we had a clear strategy to revolutionize the tours and activities industry. This has been our guiding principle and remains as relevant today as it was back then.
   
2. Continuous product improvement: We have consistently developed our product to stay ahead in our niche. There were undoubtedly tough times, but our commitment to being the best has never wavered.
   
3. Strong partnerships: From the outset, we placed great importance on building strong relationships with providers and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). These partnerships have been crucial to our growth and success over the past decade.

Today, over 6,000 providers in 16 different languages achieve their goals thanks to our integrated booking system for professional European operators for tours, activities and attractions.

The sustainable growth of the company and the software enables experience providers to access a top-tier collection of great functions and features specifically tailored to the industry. Organizing resources and bookings has never been easier.

It’s important to us that our customers overcome current challenges and meet their end customers’ expectations for a seamless booking experience. By continuously improving our software, we enable our customers to adapt to the ever-changing digital world.

That’s why we’ve made it our mission to become Europe’s leading booking software for professional providers. But that’s not all. We envision a future where technology makes operating and marketing attractions, activities, and tours simple and fun, helping providers pursue their passion day by day, bringing joy to both providers and their end customers. We have the unique opportunity and privilege to offer digital solutions for one of the fastest-growing and evolving tourism industries.

When we look at what we’ve achieved, it’s clear: It was a collective effort, with so many different and wonderful people contributing to making bookingkit what it is today. We are deeply grateful to all of them for their contribution to our shared ten-year journey!

The Future: What’s Next?

With our growing, dynamic, and international team of more than 80 employees, we look forward to the future alongside our customers and partners. Only together can we continue to pursue our vision of making life easier for providers in the experience industry and maximizing their success.

“What excites us most is the unique opportunity to develop the standard software stack for this industry. We have the chance to create the ‘Microsoft Word’ or ‘Slack’ of the experience industry – a software solution that becomes indispensable.”
LUKAS C.C. HEMPEL, Founder & CEO

As we continue on our journey, our mission remains clearer than ever, and our future is full of potential. We look forward to another decade full of innovation, growth, and success with bookingkit!