Start-Up Spotlight: nooon Brings Hotels and Influencers Together to Drive Direct Revenue
In an increasingly digital world, the ability to manage and optimize influencer collaborations has become a key differentiator for hotels looking to expand and strengthen their brand through UGC marketing. Enter nooon, a Finnish startup founded in 2023, which offers a groundbreaking solution for hotels through its innovative workflow tool. Designed to simplify and streamline the process of managing influencer partnerships, nooon is set to disrupt the hospitality sector by giving hotels more control over their marketing efforts and reducing reliance on third-party booking platforms.
nooon’s CEO and founder, Nooah Riijärvi, came up with the idea for the platform after an eye-opening conversation with the general manager of Hotel AX in Helsinki. "The GM was frustrated with how time-consuming and inefficient it was to manage influencer collaborations," said Riijärvi. "That’s when I realized there was an opportunity to create a solution that would allow hotels to work directly with influencers in a much more effective way - one that would generate measurable results, like increased bookings and direct revenue."
The nooon platform can be described as “Tinder for hotels and influencers,” a nod to its ability to match hotels with the right influencers based on campaign criteria such as target audience, influencer location, and stay dates. Hotels using nooon can create campaigns by selecting specific rooms, benefits, and perks they wish to offer influencers, then publish the campaign on the platform. Influencers can apply, and the hotel selects the best fit from a pool of applicants. nooon’s tool even calculates the number of content pieces an influencer must create based on the value of their stay, ensuring both sides get fair value from the partnership.
Empowering Hotels to Boost Direct Bookings
One of the major advantages that nooon provides is cost-effective access to influencers, reducing the need for expensive agency fees and enabling direct engagement without intermediaries, optimizing marketing budgets. Its user-friendly tools simplify and streamline the process of selecting and managing influencer collaborations, minimizing the time and effort required for coordination.
nooon provides an all-in-one influencer workflow where hotels, and hotel groups, have full control, making it super efficient, in addition to its cost efficiency. Instead of relying on platforms like Expedia or Booking.com, which often take a hefty commission, hotels can use influencer-generated content to attract guests and book directly through the hotel’s own channels.
"We wanted to build something that not only simplifies the process but also gives hotels more control over their own revenue streams," Riijärvi added. The result is a more strategic approach to influencer marketing that focuses on measurable outcomes, such as increased occupancy and enhanced guest experiences.
The platform enables hotels to track key performance metrics of their influencer campaigns, making it easy for managers to understand and present the impact of their marketing efforts. nooon aims to empower hotels with the ability to track the return on investment (ROI) of their influencer campaigns in real time, with plans to implement this feature in the near future.
Since launching, nooon has rapidly gained traction in the European market, currently serving more than 40 hotels. The platform is well on its way to surpassing 100 hotel partners, with ambitions to further extend its global reach. To fuel its growth, nooon recently completed a successful angel funding round, attracting high-profile investors including Peter Vesterbacka, the creator of Angry Birds, and Janne Majaniemi from WOLT. In addition to its platform relaunch and expansion, nooon recently won the Arctic 15 competition, securing additional funding. The competition win is a testament to the platform’s potential to become a key player in the hotel technology space.
Looking Ahead: Scaling and Evolving
As nooon prepares for its next funding round and expands its footprint globally, the company’s trajectory signals a promising future, not only for the startup itself but also for the broader hospitality industry, which stands to benefit from a more streamlined and effective approach to influencer collaborations.