Hotspot

Marketplace connecting hotels with travel influencers for collaborations.

TravelInfluencer marketingMarketplace

Status unknown^{Source [1]}Last verified Oct 2, 2026

About Hotspot

Hotspot was a platform to help hotels connect with travel influencers and set up collaborations. The idea came from a trip to Mexico in October 2018, and the founders validated it by reaching out to hotels on Instagram until 100 had expressed interest.^{Source [1]}

In early 2020 the founders committed to it full time and left to work as digital nomads in Asia, but the pandemic forced them back to Belgium within two weeks. As customers churned or paused subscriptions, they decided in August 2020 to pivot to a form builder, Tally, which grew out of their frustration with form tools while running Hotspot.^{Source [1]}

What happened

Marie Martens and Filip Minev began building Hotspot in June 2019 and won early hotel and influencer sign-ups, mostly from Asia. COVID-19 hit the travel industry in 2020 and the startup lost half its customers by July 2020, after which the founders pivoted to building Tally. No later activity under the Hotspot name was found.^{Source [1]}

Timeline

2020-08Founders pivot to building Tally.^{Source [1]}
2020-07Has lost half its customers as COVID-19 hits travel.^{Source [1]}
2020-03Founders leave for Asia, then return to Belgium after two weeks as the pandemic spreads.^{Source [1]}
2020-01Marie Martens quits her job to work on Hotspot full time.^{Source [1]}
2019-06Building starts.^{Source [1]}
2018-10Idea conceived while traveling in Mexico.^{Source [1]}

Products and brands

Hotspot: Marketplace for hotels and travel influencers.^{Source [2]}^{Source [1]}

How it makes money: Subscriptions paid by hotels (customers paused or churned subscriptions during the pandemic).^{Source [1]}

People on Founded, and where they went next

1 person on record, connected to 1 other company.

Person	Here	Also built
Marie Martens	Founder2019 to 2020	Tally2020 to nowActive

Sources

How we ended up building the simplest way to create forms, Tally blog (Marie Martens), 2021-04-08. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
Marie Martens, Co-Founder of Tally, IdeaMensch, 2022-03-11. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.

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