AGA Member Spotlight: rezStream
rezStream specializes in reservation software, online booking engines, digital marketing services, and lodging websites for independent resorts, campgrounds, and glamping owners. By using one or all of our services, rezStream empowers its clients with superior and personalized service. With over two decades of lodging industry experience, having served 1000s of properties in the US, we are passionate about making Better Lodging Simplified at a great value! Let us help bring automation to life, find you more guests, and generate more bookings for your property!
Q: Tell us a bit more about why you started a company in the industry.
Christian Holmsen is Chief Executive Officer of rezStream where he provides strategic vision, executive leadership, and operational tactics to the company. Christian is committed to grow and enhance rezStream as a leading provider of technology solutions to independent lodging operators.
“I love running a business that has a direct impact on its customers. At rezStream we make better lodging simplified. I balance long-term strategy with shorter-term activities to generate specific results for our clients. We automate their day-to-day operations, bring them closer to their guests, and make them more money. At rezStream I have the honor of doing so with a group of very smart and talented people who are seriously dedicated to their profession.”
On a day-to-day basis in the office, Christian works closely with rezStream’s management team on initiatives in sales and marketing, product development, and customer service. As CEO he also assumes a variety of business tasks from hiring and developing personnel to managing the finances.
His diverse background and expertise make him a great fit for this role. “By developing mission critical products, systems, and procedures, we are setting the stage for rezStream to scale up and serve its lodging customers for decades to come.”
At rezStream Christian gets to combine two passions: entrepreneurial business management with travel and tourism. He has been engaged in the hospitality industry off and on for two decades through his exposure and direct participation in three of his family’s businesses; a travel agency, a US and European hotel and travel review company, and a 50-room boutique hotel and long-time rezStream customer.
Christian brings 20 years of varied business strategy, financial management, and personnel leadership to the company. Prior to buying rezStream in 2012, he served for eight years as CFO, President and co-owner of two Colorado based service companies where he led successful turn-around and growth initiatives. Earlier in his career, Christian spent five years as an investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He also spent another five years in financial and operational roles for several entrepreneurial businesses in Colorado and California.
“I am passionate about business and am a serial entrepreneur at heart.”
Christian holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and two master’s degrees (MBA and Master of Accountancy) from the University of Denver and has earned the Colorado Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation. Christian grew up in Oslo, Norway and is a Second Lieutenant from the Royal Norwegian Navy. He lives in the suburbs of Denver with his wife, four children, and two dogs where he enjoys an active lifestyle capitalizing on Colorado’s great weather and outdoor opportunities. Christian also loves travel, exercise, and wine.
Fun fact: I hand-dug a wine cellar under my house with a pickax and buckets over a period of 10 years, then built it out to a finished room. A fun place to gather with friends and drink some wine.
Q: Tell us a bit about your business and where it is today?
Originally started as RezOvation in the late 1990s, rezStream focuses on independently owned properties with 5-50 rooms in key segments like bed and breakfasts, inns, boutique hotels, motels, resorts, vacation rentals, dude ranches, and campgrounds.
rezStream’s reservation software includes a modern user interface, a daily dashboard for quick operations, a customizable occupancy chart, a guest management system with people tagging, and time saving tools like automatic letters, yield management, and group functionality. The robust online booking engine, guest messaging capabilities, OTA/GDS channel connections, and secure payment processing completes the software offering. rezStream’s digital marketing services include turnkey content management websites and a variety of internet marketing services (SEO, PPC, Email, Social, Blogging, etc.).
In 2012 Christian Holmsen purchased rezStream. Christian’s family had been a long-term client of rezStream through their ownership and management of a 50-room boutique hotel in Mexico, and Christian had some earlier experience from the travel industry. More importantly, Christian saw an opportunity to modernize and advance rezStream replacing its legacy software with a true Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution (rezStream Cloud).
rezStream hosts the entire property management and booking engine software in the Cloud (Microsoft Azure) and makes it accessible to lodging clients from any web browser on any device. Since the public launch of rezStream Cloud, the team has worked tirelessly on building out and enhancing the functionality of rezStream Cloud to support existing users and help more owners simplify operations and increase their revenue online.
With the software converted to the SaaS model, the remaining part of the vision was to integrate websites and internet marketing services into one suite of lodging solutions. For example, the Company has developed a true SaaS website solution that is connected to the PMS and continues to integrate its marketing services. In Summary, rezStream offers a tightly integrated suite of technology products and services that complement each other and become a must-have tool for its lodging clients.
Q: Where do you see your business in the future, what's on the horizon?
See vision on Suite of integrated lodging tools and this blog 🡪 https://www.rezstream.com/blog/thank-you-for-a-great-2022/
Q: What are you most excited about within the glamping industry moving forward and your glamping business specifically?
The expected growth rate of 10.2% (23-30) and seeing new owners and locations established.
The ability to help them simplify operations with automation and contactless technology.
The ways technology will involve overtime with the growing needs of campers.
What new unique ways glamping business will want to run their operations with technology.
5. Do you have any advice for those that are just starting out?
Pick a location the allows for year-round availability.
Offer creativity and variety for glampers to select from.
Don’t wait until you’re open to start your marketing. Build the list now, and they will come!
Social media will be your friend and the best way to promote your unique brand and location.
Make your site a destination location.
Don’t select software you can’t see, touch, and demo first. They’re hiding something!
Q: Anything else you would like us to know about you, your business or your journey.
Educating owners and operators is a big part of our partnership for how we want to build trust with our clients and the hospitality lodging community. Here are free resources we hope all your members can enjoy our 🡪 Blogs, Guides, Webinars
And don’t forget to follow us on social media:
About rezStream
📧 Sales@rezStream.com
🗺️ 3801 E Florida Ave Suite 800, Denver, CO 80210
🧰 Reservation Software | Booking Engine | Website | Marketing
💪 To empower independent lodging, by offering them a suite of integrated technology tools that make them more competitive, more efficient, and more profitable... Better Lodging Simplified.
