DOWHAT: a B2BC service built for hotel guests and hoteliers alike
"Wait — I know DOWHAT. Used it at St. Johns Hotel! I checked in with my phone, walked into the room, and there was a tablet welcoming me. I thought all hotels were doing this now. Aren't they?"
A few weeks ago, I met a business reporter. I mentioned a startup called DOWHAT that'd impressed me in a recent meeting. Turns out they'd already used the service. And assumed modern hotels all did this.
As of August 2022, DOWHAT is live in 14 hotels and one premium postpartum care center. So no — not everywhere yet :)
Where ONDA's recently launched Ananti PMS helps hoteliers manage rooms and scale online sales (a pure B2B play), DOWHAT targets both hotel operators and guests: a B2BC (Business-to-Business-and-Customer) model.
How do you satisfy both sides? It starts here:
How much can a single tablet change the hotel experience?
These days, restaurants let you order from a tablet and earn points. Some big chains use delivery robots — no need to shout "Excuse me!"
Hotels? You're still calling room service, hunting for the A/C remote, fumbling with light switches. DOWHAT solves all of it with one in-room tablet.
The tablet handles room service, extra amenities, housekeeping requests, plus lighting and climate control via IoT integrations. It's also a content screen: local attraction guides, digital coupons, self-check-in via smartphone sync, and keyless entry.
"When a guest orders via tablet, the request hits the DOWHAT staff app instantly. We dispatch service right away — or send a delivery robot with drinks and meals."
"We also show nearby restaurants, tourist spots, and hotel shop items. The coupon feature is especially useful."
"Most hotels stack paper brochures and physical coupons in the lobby. Nobody uses those anymore. By replacing them digitally, we cut costs and help the environment. Hotels love it."
"Hotels boost per-guest spending. Guests get local info and deals through the tablet and app. Win-win." — Sung Byung-kwon, Co-CEO, DOWHAT
Sung emphasizes that DOWHAT obsesses over UX optimization and detail to ensure a seamless hotel experience.
Example: DOWHAT initially deployed third-party tablets. But they've since designed and manufactured their own camera-free tablet to protect guest privacy. They eliminate problems before they happen.
So why does DOWHAT care this much? Sung puts it this way:
"Plenty of services help you book cheap rooms. We're different. Our goal is to create hotels guests want to return to — by making the experience better through our platform."
"If film is the comprehensive art form of media, hotels are the comprehensive art form of space. If our platform can control check-in, lighting, temperature, curtains — the entire spatial experience — guests can truly enjoy the hotel as an art form."
One-year-old company, four years of dev, 10+ years as a team?
DOWHAT's attention to detail comes from experience. Co-CEOs Kim Ju-young (who ran mobile app studio Nomad for over 10 years, building ~200 apps) and Sung Byung-kwon (veteran of hospitality space design, IoT modular lighting) started prepping DOWHAT four years ago. The team has worked together throughout.
They incorporated last year, but they've been pitching prototypes at offline hotel conferences for four years, refining the product in parallel. I first saw DOWHAT at a hotel conference — huge booth, full check-in-to-checkout experience demo. Very memorable.
To be fair, DOWHAT isn't the only player offering smart IoT hotel systems. You see demos from global platforms (G, S) promising one-touch control.
But actually integrating an entire space — access control, HVAC protocols, lighting APIs — into a single app is extremely hard. Anyone in hospitality knows swapping a check-in desk for a kiosk is a nightmare. Now imagine half your TVs are new and half your A/Cs are 10 years old. Chaos.
Without deep expertise in app dev, space design, and IoT, you get buggy systems and frustrated guests. Creating a seamless physical-digital experience demands high technical sophistication.
To solve this, DOWHAT spent over two years studying business hotels, tourist hotels, residential lodging, lifestyle hotels, and private pool villas — researching operations and workflows, field-testing constantly.
They integrate with 80% of PMS, RMS, and smart door lock vendors in Korea. The interoperability is DOWHAT's killer feature: one interface for all your existing systems.
This fall, they're launching Oracle Opera integration — targeting five-star hotels and international markets.
This is why ONDA and the wider hospitality industry are watching DOWHAT closely.
Why B2BC? The future is personalization
DOWHAT's other defining trait: the unusual B2BC model, serving both hotel operators and guests. They install tablets in hotels and distribute the DOWHAT guest app (18,000 users; 4.4 Google Play / 4.8 App Store ratings).
Why? Because DOWHAT isn't positioning as a "solution" — they're building a platform.
They satisfy two distinct customer groups (hotels and guests) and create the connection point between them. The DOWHAT app is that connective tissue.
CEO Sung: "From day one, we told hotels: we're a platform. If you need a feature, we'll partner with solution vendors and solve it together."
"For guests, you get a consistent spatial experience at every DOWHAT-enabled hotel. Plus exclusive packages and promotions we curate."
I asked Sung: once you nail hotels, what's next?
"I've designed hotels and officetels before. But now we're seeing luxury apartments, even residential complexes, offering hotel-style concierge services. Our next targets: hospitals, care centers, and the exploding lifestyle concierge housing market."
"Of course, perfecting the hotel experience comes first. Hotels are the crown jewel of hospitality. We're focused on connecting guests, spaces, and content to create something delightful."