Hospitality technology company, Loftspace, is seeking to transform the way hotels and restaurants manage guest services by bringing ordering, payments, check-in and customer interactions into a single digital platform.

Founded by Israel Ohue and Samuel Iweibo, Loftspace enables guests to access hospitality services from their mobile phones, while providing businesses with a central system to manage orders, payments, guest requests and operational activities.

The platform is designed to address some of the challenges associated with manual processes in the hospitality industry, where customers often have to rely on waiters, telephone calls or front-desk visits to make routine requests.

For restaurant customers, Loftspace allows guests to scan a QR code at their table, view an available menu, place orders, request additional items and make payments from their phones without downloading an application.

Hotel guests can similarly use the platform for services including check-in requests, identification submission, eligible payments and access to other services provided by participating hotels.

According to the company, the system is designed to complement existing hotel and restaurant operations rather than force businesses to replace their current infrastructure.

Israel Ohue, Co-founder of Loftspace, said the company developed the platform after identifying a gap between the convenience consumers experience in digital commerce and the often manual nature of hospitality services.

“We kept looking at hospitality and seeing the same problem from different angles. The guest wants something simple, while the business is often coordinating that request manually behind the scenes. We wanted to create a layer that makes those interactions easier for both sides without asking the business to throw away the infrastructure it already has,” Ohue said.

On the business side, orders placed through the platform are received through a central dashboard, where staff can manage incoming requests, monitor order status, update preparation times and track running tabs.

The platform also provides businesses with access to information on revenue, order volumes, popular products, transaction history and returning customers.

The company said the availability of such information could help hospitality operators understand customer behaviour and make better decisions about their products and services.

For hotels, the system provides tools for managing incoming guests, confirming payments, viewing room availability and assigning guests to vacant rooms.

Food and beverage services can also be incorporated into the hotel experience, creating opportunities for digital room service and other guest requests.

Samuel Iweibo, Co-founder of Loftspace, said the platform was designed to ensure that digitisation goes beyond simply replacing paper-based processes with electronic ones.

“Digitisation should do more than move a paper process onto a screen. When these interactions happen through one platform, businesses can start understanding how guests use their services, where demand is coming from and how they can improve the experience,” Iweibo said.

Loftspace also provides role-based access, enabling hospitality businesses to determine the level of access available to different categories of staff, including front-desk and restaurant personnel.

The company said restaurants can import their existing menus and convert them into digital catalogues containing product information, prices, images and availability.

Hotels can also configure room categories, amenities, pricing and physical room inventory through the platform.

The approach, according to the company, is intended to provide hospitality businesses with a gradual and less disruptive route to digitisation.

Guests are not required to download a separate application, while businesses can introduce the technology around specific areas of their operations without immediately replacing their existing systems.

Payments are also integrated into the platform, allowing customers to complete transactions as part of the same service journey.

Restaurant customers can pay for individual orders or settle an open tab, while hotels can support prepaid stays and payments confirmed by front-desk staff.

The payment infrastructure is supported by Tripplex, a financial automation platform also co-founded by Ohue and Iweibo, with Paystack providing payment processing capabilities.

The integration of payments with guest activity also allows businesses to associate transactions with specific orders, stays or customers, providing a more comprehensive view of their operations.

Ohue said the company’s broader objective was to make technology less visible to guests while improving efficiency behind the scenes.

“We want technology to disappear into the hospitality experience. The guest should not have to think about the software. They should simply be able to get what they need with less friction, while the business has better tools and visibility behind the scenes,” he said.

The development comes as consumers increasingly expect businesses to provide faster and more convenient digital services, including in physical environments such as hotels and restaurants.

For Loftspace, the focus is not necessarily on adding more technology to the customer experience, but on reducing the number of steps required to access existing hospitality services.

The company is currently focused on hotels and restaurants, with its platform bringing together guest management, food and beverage operations, payments, customer insights and staff workflows.

Loftspace said its objective is to help hospitality businesses improve service delivery while giving guests a more convenient way to interact with hotels and restaurants.