The key to having an engaged workforce is building/ maintaining healthy habits among that workforce. ODYSSEY is a HR development program consisting of a customized internal hospitality exchange platform for employees within multinational companies (with big workforce, distributed across countries or continents). Employees will travel the world for less, in their free time. The key to it will be sharing own resources and cooperation, with colleagues and employer. The Odyssey program helps them to build/ maintain healthy habits: sharing, cooperation, cultural awareness, learning languages, learning about themselves, improving social skills etc.

2. ODYSSEY IS ABOUT HOW TO TAKE
ADVANTAGE OF YOUR COMPANY’S
“SILOS” AND TRANSFORM THEM INTO
SCOIAL CAPITAL, AS A VALUABLE ASSET
Social capital refers to the connections between individuals, connections that can
be economically valuable. Social networks that include people who trust and assist
each other become a powerful asset.
“Social capital has been used to explain the improved performance of diverse
groups, the growth of entrepreneurial firms, superior managerial performance,
enhanced supply chain relations, the value derived from strategic alliances, and
the evolution of communities.” Wikipedia
Along with economic capital, social capital is a valuable mechanism for growth.

3. Close the gap between your
human resources and your social
capital!
1. Mission
2. Problem
3. Solution
4. Market Size
5. Business Model
6. Proprietary Tech
7. Competitors
8. Marketing Plan
9. Team
10. Financing

4. Strategy:
help
employees
share their
homes with
colleagues
from other
cities/
countries!
ODYSSEY will be an internal hospitality
exchange platform for big companies
willing to support low cost travelling
for their employees.
Access on the platform is a BENEFIT
offered by the employer. The
employees’ enrollment is voluntarily.
Odyssey will be “The new HR fashion”.
The mission:
◦ help companies with inter/national
presence create a great work place
benefit - by offering the Odyssey
program for employees, and
strengthen their brand as a valuable
employer

5. Odyssey promises
• Odyssey makes your HR data work for you and your
employees.
• Odyssey delivers the safest and most engaging
customized hospitality exchange platform for the
employees to pursue sharing their own resources (their
homes) and developing, at personal level.
• It helps increase cultural awareness capability/ skills
within the company and makes learning a great
experience!

6. Problem: increasing percent of employee
disengagement at workplace.
“Employee engagement, like culture, has become a CEO-level issue.
Companies now compete to win “BEST PLACE TO WORK” surveys and
monitor social media carefully. There is an escalating war to design great
workspaces, provide flexible benefits, and create great corporate cultures
in an effort to drive higher engagement.”
Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2016
Company
How much did I spend on developing
my employees? What can I do more to
inspire my employees and help them
stay more with the company? What can
I do more to increase their engagement
and productivity? Is remote/ flexible
working an issue in my company?
Employee
I would like more flexibility. I wonder if
I could start working remote, for
some days/month…
“Quit and travel” is not for me
but I would really like to travel more, to
meet new people and see new places.

7. Maintaining/building new HEALTHY HABITS for
your employees – this is also development!
Spark their interest in learning NEW LANGUAGES.
Help them try being GREAT HOSTS/ VISITORS; improve their
sensitiveness and knowledge about other cultures.
Create the context in which they exercise tolerance,
understanding, collaboration and … expect SOCIAL SKILLS &
MENTAL HEALTH improvement .
Help them TOUCH THEIR DREAMS of travelling the world
(at least parts of it).
… through Odyssey!

8. Inside hospitality exchange - the
Couchsurfing.com example

10. Inside hospitality exchange - the
Airbnb.com example

11. Inside hospitality exchange - the
Airbnb.com example

12. Is traveling a real need?
Is the thirst for knowing other
cultures a real need?
Is the drive for becoming a
global person a real need?

13. Do we need more data?

14. A list of the 100 most searched
for non-branded keywords on Google,
in the United States, as of 25 Oct. 2015

15. Size of Market
Top Down
“HR technology landscape is now more than a $15 billion market” Forbes.com
Bottom up:
1.2 billion people traveled outside their countries' borders for at least one night in
2015 (increasing, says UNWTO)
A lot of people actively search for ways to increase the amount of travel and
decrease the amount of costs – explaining the rise of Couchsurfing.com and
AirBnB.com
“76 percent of global travelers say PRICE is an important decision making factor
when choosing an accommodation.” TripAdvisor (reaching 350 million unique
monthly visitors in 2015), the world's largest travel site.
Available Total Market Size: Today, some 50,000 multinational enterprises and
their 450,000 affiliates employ over 200 million people throughout the world.
(International Labor Organization) Let alone some governments which are very
large employers (for. ex. National Health Service in UK employs 1.7 mil.)

16. Odyssey Business Model
Transactional:
◦ Initial charge for tailoring of the service for every client company
◦ Monthly or annually charge for maintenance of the platform and
animating the network – based on an internal marketing &
communication plan agreed with the customer
◦ Free basic hospitality exchange service for employees
Advertising:
◦ charge employees a small fee for additional services offered within the
platform - for example holiday house swaps for longer periods or
exchanging holidays for their children
◦ charge other companies for sponsored listings (air tickets, insurance
companies, travel shops etc.)

17. Uniquness
INCREASED SAFETY - EMPLOYERS hold DATA/records of their EMPLOYEES and thus Odyssey
as an internal, closed, network will have a perceived increased safety in comparison with
any other open network (note that all other existing online hospitality exchange networks
have some issues regarding safety)
CUSTOMIZED INTERNAL MARKETING & COMMUNICATION PLAN (upon agreement) to
stimulate exchanges within the Odyssey network: EPIC and AWESOME content pouring in
from users| Build a thriving community around the idea of hospitality exchange| Prizes for
sharing the experience, writing contests | Establishing groups/forums on passions etc.
Odyssey must develop a proprietary matching algorithm for guests & hosts with the aim of
helping users to choose the best match between the exchange requests from other users.
Spin off services:
1 - assisting the client company with implementing research aiming at understanding how
employees develop/ consolidate their skills through this new type of experience
2 - assisting with the implementation of (long/ short term) personnel rotation or remote
working projects – if the case … For example employees could swap homes and work from
another country for a number of days agreed with the employer (and depending on the
merits of the employee).
Would that be motivating? No, it would not…

18. FANTASTIC!
It would just be

19. Competitors:
Online possible competition
None!
Airbnb.com, Couchsurfing.com and
other hospitality exchange network are
not on the B2B market.
Offline
International Association of
Policemen and some banking
organizations – they have a limited
hotel infrastructure build for their
users.
MENSA, Jehovah Witnesses, SERVAS and some other organizations
with inter/national presence have hospitality exchange services only
for their members – it is a very small niche but it is worth noting
that people come together based on interests and passions.

20. Financing
“HR technology landscape, which is now more than a $15 billion
market in software, is exploding with growth and innovation.
Fueled by this new cycle of innovation, private equity and venture
capital firms are investing heavily in the space.
The top 50 HR technology investment deals this year were over $560
million and the top 50 learning and educational tech deals were over
$800 million” Forbes.com

22. OOPS!
This is not a new idea. Hospitality exchange is around for decades.
But it is an idea whose value is increasing on the market and it suits
the emerging complexity of the still unfolding sharing economy.
Love it? Improve it!
Mail to: loredana.niculae@gmail.com