How LabNul50 Digitized Its Entire Guest Journey with HolidayHero
LabNul50 partnered with HolidayHero to run their 10-room hotel in Groningen as a fully self-service operation, with no reception desk and a minimal on-site team. By combining HolidayHero with their PMS and a digital lock integration, the hotel replaced a costly 24/7 phone concierge with an automated guest journey that takes guests from booking to their room without needing a human in the loop. Since launch, guests have opened their own rooms more than 25,000 times.
LabNul50 is an independent hotel located in the heart of Groningen, sitting inside a multi-purpose building that also houses event halls and a brasserie. With 10 rooms and no reception desk, the hotel serves a steady weekday flow of business guests, including university visitors, UMCG, and municipal and provincial bookings, alongside a weekend mix of leisure travellers. The operating model is lean by design, but the guest journey still has to feel effortless.
Challenge
For years, the only way guests could find their way into LabNul50 was to call a dedicated phone number on arrival. A telephone operator was on standby around the clock, walking each guest through the building (around 7 minutes on average) to their room with a code and a key. The system worked, but it was expensive to maintain and impossible at scale. As staff costs rose and the rest of the operation modernised, the team needed a way to greet, inform, and let in every guest without a human in the loop.
At the same time, guests arriving for the first time at a large, mixed-use building expected clarity, not a phone number taped to a door. Without proactive communication before arrival, every check-in started from zero, and any confusion at the door became a phone call straight back to the team.
Solution
LabNul50 chose to digitise the full guest journey in a single move, pairing HolidayHero with a modern PMS (RoomRaccoon) and digital smart locks (Bold). The setup was completed in just a few days, replacing the manned phone line in one transition.
No reception, no problem: Guests now receive everything they need before arrival via email and WhatsApp: how to find the building, what to expect, and how to access their room. The "call this number on arrival" model is gone.
Digital keys with physical backup: Bold integration delivers room access through the guest app, with a small keylocker kept as a backup for the rare edge case. The end-to-end arrival now takes a fraction of the 7 minutes previously needed for a phone-guided check-in.
One connected stack: HolidayHero connects to RoomRaccoon and Bold, so reservations, guest communications, and room access all flow through a single guest journey. The team doesn't have to stitch three disconnected tools together.
Communications on autopilot: Pre-arrival, arrival-day, and in-stay messages are scheduled once and triggered automatically, freeing the small on-site team to focus on the parts of the operation that genuinely need a human touch.
Built for a lean team: With the on-site manager working three days a week, the platform was chosen specifically for how little day-to-day maintenance it requires.
Results
The shift has reshaped how the property operates and how guests experience it:
24/7 phone concierge eliminated: A full-time around-the-clock phone role was retired, removing a significant fixed cost from the P&L.
Proven at scale: Since launch, guests have opened their own rooms more than 25,000 times through HolidayHero, with no on-site staff needed to let them in.
Faster, quieter arrivals: Guests arrive informed, open their own room, and rarely need to call. The few exceptions are handled as exceptions, not as the default.
Lean operation, intact experience: The hotel runs with minimal on-site presence without compromising on what guests actually experience at check-in or during their stay.
Quick to value: Setup completed in a few days meant the team was running on the new stack within their first week, not months.
Room to grow: With the foundation in place, the team can layer in upsells, AI guest chat, and local itinerary features when they're ready, without changing the core setup.
Customer Perspective
Elsemiek Soekhoe, Manager at LabNul50, shares her experience:
We never had a reception, and for years we relied on someone being available by phone 24/7 to walk guests in. That just isn't sustainable anymore. With HolidayHero we've built a guest journey where everyone arrives knowing exactly what to do, opens their own room, and we don't need a human in the middle. The setup was fast, the integrations with RoomRaccoon and Bold just work, and we can finally run the hotel the way it was designed to be run.
Conclusion
LabNul50's story shows that a small, independent hotel doesn't need a reception desk, or anyone on the phone, to deliver a smooth guest experience. By combining HolidayHero with the right PMS and lock partners, the team replaced a costly manned service with an automated guest journey that fits their reception-free model. Lean and excellent are not trade-offs here, they reinforce each other.
