In this episode of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur, host Jim James interviews Bart‑Jan Leyts, the founder of Lareca, a startup that offers an algorithmic “booking‑engine optimization” service for hotels and B&Bs. Lareca’s technology works like SEO for online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia and Trip.com, boosting a property’s ranking and thereby increasing bookings. Leyts explains how he initially reached out to hotels via cold‑email when he was 20, leading to a rapid influx of interest. He describes the company’s current presence in six European markets (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Montenegro, Albania) and how word‑of‑mouth, media coverage, podcasts, and speaking engagements have helped build the brand. The conversation also touches on how Lareca’s approach disrupts traditional hotel revenue‑management practices, and Leyts shares his LinkedIn and website contact details for listeners who want to learn more.
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Today we're going to meet Bart-Jan Leijts, who is a young entrepreneur. He's got a company called Lareca in the hotel and hospitality industry.
We build an algorithm that enhances or enforces the position on an OTA. And an OTA is like an online travel agency, like a Booking.com, an Airbnb, Expedia, Trip.com. So we put a hotel or a bed and breakfast or client, we put them higher in the rank and we call it booking engine optimization. It's like SEO for Google. And we start from this perspective, like if you are being found, if you're being seen, you're getting booked. But this changes the whole dynamic of how revenue management for hotels are done. We are active in 6 countries where it's most of the root of our clients are in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. that we have in Montenegro and Albania. So I just wrote an email to them. I found like some email addresses online of hotels in our neighborhood and I said, hey, I'm a 20-year-old guy at the time. I'm working at 15 hours per hour. I can do this. Do you want to work with me? And suddenly my inbox started like, yeah, exploding. So it was not always a fun conversation to be like harsh and tell them, okay, the way you're working, it's The thing about the industry is that it's a lot of word of mouth. So like hoteliers are very familiar with each other, but regarding brand building, we had a lot of articles, some podcasts actually, and a lot of speaking gigs. I love to speak in front of crowds and also because we were in a way disrupting the way revenue management is done for hoteliers. We will give you one hotel and if it works, we'll endorse you. So it's www. www.loreca.be. So it's .be from Belgium or on LinkedIn. So we are on LinkedIn. It's Loreca on LinkedIn. Or if anyone wants to ask me like a personal question on LinkedIn, it's Bart-Jan Leijts on LinkedIn.
Now this was just a 2-minute trailer for a full 20-minute show. The show will be dropping into your feed in the next day or so. So do look out for it and do enjoy it, share it, and review it. Thanks for listening to this trailer of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur. The Unnoticed Entrepreneur podcast is sponsored by a company called Prowly. Prowly is an all-in-one software for leveraging your public relations activities. Find media contacts, send out press releases, and get more coverage while saving time and money on everyday tasks. Check it out, prowly.com.
