The Zipper Hotel: 80% Less Staff, Better Guest Experience
Düsseldorf/Zurich, April, 2025 – Since its opening in November 2023, The Zipper Hotel & Apartments in Düsseldorf has relied on the employee and guest experience platform Like Magic. A six-person team runs the 168-room property smoothly and efficiently – after just one and a half days of onboarding. Despite the ultra-lean setup, the hotel scores 4.6 out of 5 on Google and over 8.8 on Booking.com.
A 168-room hotel in Düsseldorf is demonstrating what’s possible with the right technology: seamless, efficient operations with a very small team. Since opening in November 2023, The Zipper Hotel & Apartments has been operating with just six employees, thanks to the power of Like Magic, a next-gen platform designed for both team and guest experience.
According to co-founders Otto Konstantin Lindner and Tobias Sebastian Oberdieck, the Zipper’s team is 80% smaller than what’s typical for a hotel of this size – yet it operates with the same efficiency and service quality, made possible by Like Magic.
The platform enables staff to handle 80% of their daily tasks within a single, unified system. Guests can independently manage a wide range of services, including check-in, food ordering, requests for extra linens or pillows, and generating mobile room keys – all from their smartphones.
Otto Konstantin Lindner, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Zipper Hotel & Apartments, states: "Without Like Magic, we couldn’t have achieved what we’ve achieved at Zipper. From the moment my co-founder Tobias and I met Markus at a conference, we knew he was onto something special. Like Magic allowed us to build a small, lean, but incredibly effective team that shares the same passion we do. It’s given us the mental bandwidth to focus on what truly matters – the guest experience."
The platform also enables rapid onboarding. Each team member was fully trained in just 1.5 days. Despite the extremely lean structure, guest feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from day one – with a 4.6-star rating on Google and over 8.8 on Booking.com.
Like Magic serves as the central command center for all hotel operations – combining a booking engine, guest platform, employee tools, and 24/7 monitoring into one intuitive solution, enabling a fully digital guest journey. An integrated notification and action-recommendation system supports staff across customer service and property management. All processes are monitored in real time, and any disruptions along the guest journey are flagged and resolved proactively. This enables the team to act both remotely and in real time.
Tobias Sebastian Oberdieck adds: "The fact that around 70% of our guests choose WhatsApp as their preferred communication channel shows clearly that people now expect seamless, real-time service. We're proud that smart tech enables us to meet that expectation and simplify our guests’ lives. We may be running on what used to be called a 'skeleton crew', but with Like Magic, we operate just as efficiently and productively as a team of 30. What’s more, the platform is incredibly intuitive – easy to learn, easy to use."
Markus Feller, CEO of Like Magic, comments: "Zipper Hotel & Apartments offers a real-world look into the future of hotel operations. Soon, platforms like Like Magic will all but eliminate the staffing crisis by automating tasks that were once strictly human-dependent. What’s truly impressive in this case is how Otto and Tobias have built a highly professional, deeply committed team. Like Magic helped them find and empower talent that shares their drive to deliver excellence. And this is only the beginning. As Like Magic unlocks the full potential of AI, hotel process automation will reach the next level. Smart tools will not only streamline hotel operations and serviced apartments – they’ll redefine the guest experience and set new service standards. Zipper’s success story shows, firsthand, how technology is reshaping every facet of the hospitality sector – from the teams we hire to the experiences we deliver."
About Like Magic: Like Magic is a hospitality technology platform built by hoteliers for hoteliers, designed to optimize hotel operations through a fully digital guest journey, AI-powered automation, and real-time task management. The platform was created to eliminate inefficiencies across the industry, enabling hotels to automate up to 80% of routine tasks, deliver higher service quality with fewer staff, and reduce operating costs by up to 50%.
https://likemagic.tech
