A typical venue runs a reservation tool, a website, a till, an email list and an ad account, and none of them talk to each other. The operator becomes the integration layer. Monday morning goes on reconciling the weekend, and guests wait for confirmations a system could have sent on Saturday. This report describes the connected version, layer by layer, and where we have built it.
The four-layer model
Incontro is one bar and Dreilokale is a booking platform, and both run the same four layers. What changes with scale is how much of each layer is shared.
- Layer 01CommunicationPhone, form, messages, email.
Broken whenMessages reach the wrong person, standard enquiries wait more than a day, and the same request arrives on three channels.
- Layer 02ConversionReservations, events, gift cards.
Broken whenGuests drop out of the booking form, or a reservation is only confirmed after someone on the team copies an email.
- Layer 03OperationsCalendar, capacity, staffing, deposits.
Broken whenMore than one tab is open during service, and the week ends with a spreadsheet reconciliation.
- Layer 04MemoryGuest history, preferences, return cadence.
Broken whenA guest is treated as new on their fifth visit, and nobody can say how often a regular comes back.
Layer 01Communication
Everything that handles inbound contact. For one venue that is a phone and a form. For a group it is a routing step that sends each message to the right venue. For a platform it is one structured request, plus the loop that gets a venue to answer it.
Layer 02Conversion
The step that turns intent into a booking. It has to work on a phone, show the room's real availability, and confirm without anyone pressing a button. A guest should be able to finish it in under thirty seconds.
Layer 03Operations
What the team uses to run the shift and the week: calendar, capacity rules, staffing, deposits, prep lists, follow-ups. Most hospitality software in this layer was built for chains, which is why it feels heaviest in a single room.
Layer 04Memory
Guest history, preferences, how often someone comes back, the anniversary they mentioned in March. A good maître d' keeps this in their head. The memory layer keeps it when that person changes jobs.
Three scales, one table
The layers stay the same from a single bar to a platform. The table shows what each one looks like at three sizes, what we charge to build it, and where it runs today.
| Layer | Single venueScale 01 | Multi-venue groupScale 02 | Event-location platformScale 03 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Communication | One phone and one web form | An inbox per venue, plus a group routing step | One structured request, matched to venues |
| Conversion | Reservation and events flow on the site | Booking per venue, gift cards across the group | Tailored proposals from the matched venues |
| Operations | One-screen ops view, automatic confirmations | Shared dashboard with a view per venue | Two dashboards: organiser and venue |
| Memory | Lightweight CRM with visit history | One CRM for the group, with consent boundaries | Trust signals: response rate, reviews, a named operator |
| Cost band | CHF 8,000 to 12,000 | CHF 12,000 to 18,000 | CHF 15,000 to 25,000 |
| Build time | A focused MVP can be ready in two weeks. A scoped product can launch in around two months. We agree the timeline after reviewing your requirements. | A focused MVP can be ready in two weeks. A scoped product can launch in around two months. We agree the timeline after reviewing your requirements. | A focused MVP can be ready in two weeks. A scoped product can launch in around two months. We agree the timeline after reviewing your requirements. |
| Live example | Incontro Bar (live) | None yet | Dreilokale (live) |
Hospitality stack at three scales
Scale 01Single venue
- Communication
- One phone and one web form
- Conversion
- Reservation and events flow on the site
- Operations
- One-screen ops view, automatic confirmations
- Memory
- Lightweight CRM with visit history
- Cost band
- CHF 8,000 to 12,000
- Build time
- A focused MVP can be ready in two weeks. A scoped product can launch in around two months. We agree the timeline after reviewing your requirements.
- Live example
- Incontro Bar (live)
Scale 02Multi-venue group
- Communication
- An inbox per venue, plus a group routing step
- Conversion
- Booking per venue, gift cards across the group
- Operations
- Shared dashboard with a view per venue
- Memory
- One CRM for the group, with consent boundaries
- Cost band
- CHF 12,000 to 18,000
- Build time
- A focused MVP can be ready in two weeks. A scoped product can launch in around two months. We agree the timeline after reviewing your requirements.
- Live example
- None yet
Scale 03Event-location platform
- Communication
- One structured request, matched to venues
- Conversion
- Tailored proposals from the matched venues
- Operations
- Two dashboards: organiser and venue
- Memory
- Trust signals: response rate, reviews, a named operator
- Cost band
- CHF 15,000 to 25,000
- Build time
- A focused MVP can be ready in two weeks. A scoped product can launch in around two months. We agree the timeline after reviewing your requirements.
- Live example
- Dreilokale (live)
What not to build
The request we turn down most often in hospitality is a loyalty app. Guests come back for the room. The stack should make the room work better, not pull the guest out of it.
- A branded loyalty app for a venue without a large base of regulars. An install is a big ask for someone who visits once a month; email and well-timed messages do the same job.
- NFT or web3 loyalty. Your guests are not asking for it.
- An AI concierge chatbot on the website. It spends guest trust faster than it saves staff time. AI earns its place in the operations layer, drafting replies the team approves.
- A multi-venue super-app for a single venue. Every feature built for a group you do not have is paid for by the person who opens it on a Friday night.
Incontro and Dreilokale
Scale 01 · LiveIncontro Bar, Zürich
Incontro Bar is an aperitivo and afterwork venue in Zürich, and its stack is live. We built the reservation flow, the events form, the email automation, and a lightweight CRM and CMS the team runs without us. Confirmations go out on their own, and the visit history sits in the same place the bookings do.
Scale 03 · LiveDreilokale
Dreilokale is a Swiss platform that matches event organisers with locations. It has not launched yet. We built the matching engine, the CRM, the CMS and the email automation: an organiser sends one structured request and matched venues reply with proposals. No AI workflow runs in production there. Because Dreilokale is a two-sided platform, its six layers are covered in the Marketplace Stack Report.
Self-audit
Twelve questions for the stack you run today. The score updates as you tick; what the bands mean is explained once on the stacks index.
Method and pricing
How the layer model is built, how to read the cost bands, the notes on Swiss and EU data protection, languages and payments, and how these reports are versioned are the same for all five stack reports, so they live on one page: how we write the stack reports. If an AI layer is in scope, the test method is in the Eval Spec.