COMPANY HISTORY
A company’s history can sometimes be a good indicator of their future, and Uniguest is a great example of how it can. You may ask, “Where did Uniguest come from and what is their story?” This is where you begin to learn what makes Uniguest the only one of its kind.
Uniguest was founded by Shawn Thomas, our current president and CEO, in a spare room in his house. Shawn has lived the distinctive “entrepreneur” life meaning he left his career and started a new company, in an industry he knew nothing about, and has built it to what is has become today. See the October 2006 Nashville
Business Journal article for more details on this transition. But there were bumps along the way.
How it all began: In 1999, (before the popularity of today’s broadband) dial-up Internet access was all we had as Internet users. Finding access while staying in a hotel was a difficult task especially if you were in a town where you did not know the local access numbers for AOL or whatever provider you had. Shawn and a few associates had the idea to take a home application, WebTV, and install it in hotel guest rooms so users could access the Internet in the room through the television; every hotel room has a phone and a TV, right? After several successful installations with this product, broadband Internet hit the world. A dramatic shift was about to take place.
Early broadband adopters marketing to the hotel industry approached the market with a business model that has since been turned 180 degrees. That is another story in itself and has been written about many times by many others. Needless to say though, Shawn’s early company, WebTV in the guest rooms, was finished. However, instead of hanging up his coat, Shawn dusted himself off, did a little researching, and found a new problem hitting the industry - Automated Public PC Workstations. In the hotel industry this meant a PC made available to hotel guests and visitors for Internet access and maybe some office computing. Boy have these systems come a long way.
In 2002, after ending the other product line, Shawn incorporated Uniguest with leftover savings and a loan from one of Uniguest’s current shareholders, Jason Stoltenberg. Jason is an ex-professional tennis player, once being ranked 14th in the world and later coached popular Australian tennis player Lleyton Hewitt. Jason resides in Australia with his family.
Jason’s decision to invest in Uniguest for the pilot test was based on a decision of trust. Any entrepreneur who has ever tried to raise money based on an idea understands the challenge. That trust has extended to every customer since our beginning - the trust in Shawn and Uniguest to provide service and support for what has become one of the most popular guest technology amenities.
By the end of 2004, Uniguest was servicing 111 hotel properties throughout the U.S. and had become the largest supplier and servicing company for free-to-guest public PCs in the hotel industry. It was still being run out of one room, and it was growing too large for a one-man operation. Between selling, installing and servicing all of Uniguest’s customers from a room in his house, Shawn searched for a business partner that could relate to his business and help take Uniguest to the next level. He found that in Mark Oldham, owner and founder of U.S. Hospitality Corporation (USHC). USHC was and continues to be the largest supplier of in-room guest directories to the hotel industry. It was Mark’s business acumen and desire to take Uniguest under his wing that has given Shawn and Uniguest the opportunity to become what it is today.
In early 2005, with a large contract about to be executed with a major hotel brand, Mark purchased 51 percent of Uniguest. Shawn sold his corporate headquarters in Memphis, his house, and moved to Nashville, Tenn. Uniguest found its home at 1940 Elm Hill Pike, the corporate headquarters of USHC, and Shawn moved into his first office. Uniguest immediately invested in its employee infrastructure by hiring several technicians and call center representatives.
In the summer of 2005, Uniguest executed an “industry-first” contract with Embassy Suites hotels in which Uniguest would sell and install the newly created BusinessLink™ by Embassy Suites business center solution in all Embassy Suites hotels. This announcement sparked interest by many brands and individual hotels and Uniguest ended 2005 servicing over 279 hotels throughout the U.S, a 251 percent increase in year-to-year growth. Uniguest secured its position as the leading supplier and servicing provider for free-to-guest automated public PC workstations in the United States.
During 2006, Uniguest continued to invest in its infrastructure and now
employes more than 13 full-time employees. Uniguest has become the preferred
vendor for many hotel brands, implemented many industry first features,
and continues to set the mark for high levels of customer service. Currently,
3,226 PC systems in all 50 states and four countries trust Uniguest to provide
their Automated Public PC Workstations. And these stations have become
much more than just an Internet-access station. These days, users print
boarding passes, check into hotels, airline flights and car rentals, use
external hard drives, burn CDs, find local information, print maps and
directions, and with the Internet, the future possibilities are endless.
As you look at Uniguest’s history, we hope you see a pattern, a pattern of constant evolution designed to meet the needs of our customers. Our customers dictate our growth and our business model. We will continue to listen.
