7% of U.S. boutique hotel market

Resellers in Australia, UK and Canada

InnQuest Software has long been a company filled with passionate employees with a desire to provide their clients with the solutions they need to increase bookings, deliver superior guest experiences and ultimately, increase their profits. Founded in 1994, InnQuest developed roomMaster, a hotel PMS that has been updated throughout its existence to meet the needs of hoteliers.

The business is full of talented individuals, from its courteous sales team, to its innovative technology team to its leadership team hungry for growth. InnQuest’s mission from day one has been to help hoteliers manage their properties in a cost-effective manner while delivering quality on both their suite of solutions and superior customer service.

While InnQuest enjoyed a steady growth in its 20-plus year period, the company seemed to have hit a glass ceiling as far as its room for growth. From product development, to increasing its client base, the team at InnQuest saw that change was needed for the next stage of growth.  

While the company was still profitable, the lack of next generation technology had resulted in a sales slowdown. It was also seeing a low recurring revenue base due to an outdated perpetual license model. 

Longtime employees felt the way to grow would mean a decentralized management approach with an ownership group that would empower its employees to execute its vision. 

As ownership transferred over, the Aspire group at Valsoft Corp. spent several months with the InnQuest team to learn more about their business and address any concerns the staff may have had. It soon became very clear that the goal was to grow the company and pave the way for staff to advance their careers. 

Kent Howard, part of the sales team as an Account Manager at the time, was excited at the prospect of working alongside Valsoft to take InnQuest to the next level. 

“It was exciting to see their vision for what the company could become and to share that vision with us.” 

Christy Carnley, an 11-year employee and Product Manager at the time, recalls staff being ensured by new ownership in their initial meeting that the goal was to grow. There was also assurance that new ownership wasn’t going to be micromanaging the company, but rather implement a decentralized management structure, that would allow InnQuest employees to advance their careers.

“That was the start of us learning who these new owners were and what their approach would be, they said to us ‘you’re not going to see us every day’.” 

Once Aspire was able to gather information and establish company processes, the groundwork was laid to begin growing InnQuest and its assets. Working alongside the InnQuest team, Aspire’s leadership group was able to establish key performance indicators and evaluate where InnQuest could improve its strategies.  

While the groundwork was laid for InnQuest to grow sustainably, operations were smoothly delegated to InnQuest’s employees. As a result, longtime employees climbed the company ladder, and resources were grown, with an expanded sales team, IT department and assistance from Aspire in extending InnQuest’s international reach. 

Staff are trusted to make decisions and contribute to the company’s growth

A major factor in growing InnQuest proved to be Aspire setting targets and empowering the team with the tools they needed to execute that vision. 

The team also felt that Aspire’s transparency helped managers better assess where the company was and share their goals with staff. The company’s driven employees were trusted to make informed decisions and execute the objectives they were given.  

Keeping their products in line with the market’s demand 

A major objective in improving InnQuest’s line of products was to bring its flagship product roomMaster to the cloud. Rather than build an entirely new web-based product, InnQuest was able to take its existing roomMaster product and adapt it to the cloud. Doing so meant not only offering a cloud based solution to the hotel industry, but also saved the company $2 million in development costs. 

The end result has not only been an extended product life for roomMaster, but a product that’s continuously improving. Doing so has allowed InnQuest’s customers to retain the product they know and trust, while at the same time increasing their capabilities with roomMaster’s new features.

Clear objectives for InnQuest, with a decentralized management structure 

As InnQuest continued to grow and as Aspire increased its presence in the hospitality industry, ownership continued to empower InnQuest’s management team, with Howard moving up the ladder from Director of Sales, to Vice President and eventually President of InnQuest Software. The day-to-day operations are fully entrusted with InnQuest’s local office in Tampa. 

Meanwhile, Carnley also achieved career growth in the product development aspect of InnQuest, and as Aspire added Welcome Systems and CMS Hospitality to its portfolio, Carnley’s role grew as well, fully empowered to meet Aspire’s objectives. 

“Your success is in your hands when you’re acquired by Aspire,” says Carnley, now Vice President of R&D, Hospitality. “You feel that you can expand your role and you’re given that ability.” 

Under Aspire, InnQuest saw a growth of 20% in gross revenue in one year, thanks to its new solution and service offerings and improved sales strategies. Over the first two years post acquisition, InnQuest experienced an organic growth of 32%. The key reasons for this rapid growth were establishing new relationships with third-party vendors and more comprehensive revenue generation strategies.  

In just three years, InnQuest’s customer base grew from 3,500 hotels to over 6,000 and the company experienced a 240% growth in revenue over three years. Aspire adding Welcome Systems (based in the UK) and CMS Hospitality (based in Australia) to its hospitality portfolio also allowed InnQuest to expand into new geographical territories. 

“I think Aspire proved with its vision for InnQuest and where we are today that their goal is to grow companies when taking over, while staying true to the product and the client base,” says Howard.