This spring, a first-of-its-kind tour is kicking off in Austin, Texas at SXSW Festival, a tour designed to showcase the power of small businesses in hospitality through cinema. Using a mobile pop-up vehicle and projector, hospitality software company eviivo Collective plans to spotlight “10 of the world’s best independent properties,” on outdoor screens through eight global cities: Austin, Belfast, Canterbury, London, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Brussels and Belgium via the eviivo Collective 2.0 World Tour.
“The quality of independent accommodations doesn’t always get the limelight it deserves,” says eviivo CEO Michele Fitzpatrick. “So, we will be showcasing some of the world’s best boutique hotels, vacation rentals, Airbnbs, inns and other inspiring getaways. With our tour, we’re excited to bring the spotlight — quite literally — on some of the best independent properties to the world.”
Travelers who take time to watch the film can enter to win a dream getaway at one of the properties in person or via eviivo’s social media accounts.
The hospitality software company best known for its cloud-based booking and property management system, eviivo Suite, an “all-in-one” system that allows property owners, hoteliers and hosts to manage guests, bookings and online travel agencies — such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and Vrbo.
To date, eviivo software powers around 26,000 independent properties ranging from guests houses to cottages, inns, villas, windmills, yurts and castles worldwide.
The short cinema presented around the globe at festivals like SXSW Festival in Austin and Shoreditch in London will celebrate, support and raise awareness for the independent accommodation sector in recognition Independent Accommodations Day on March 24. And it will do so by leveraging — a vintage Volkswagen van that’s part art installation, projection mapping rig, outdoor cinema projector and pop-up space. The van, operated by DRIVEABOUT Projection, is equipped with a unique projector that has the capability to project visuals that scale the size of the Empire State Building.
“As innovators, eviivo is proud to provide our customers the best product in the industry, from eviivo Mobile, our award-winning mobile app with first-of-its-kind features, to the very first Generative-AI guest messaging tool, eviivo Concierge, for property owners to use on their websites,” says eviivo CTO Eric White. “With our global initiatives such as eviivo Collective, we continue to show our commitment to the independent accommodation sector goes beyond our software.”
Global estimates of independent vacation rental properties have soared in recent years, with more than 6.6 million properties spread across multiple popular platforms as of 2023, even as the short-term rental market undergoes a reconstruction analysts attribute to market saturation. Meanwhile, the global hotel industry is experiencing a modest bounce back in the wake of customer dissatisfaction with some short-term rental apps like Airbnb.
