Smart Access for Legacy Buildings: How Hospitality Modernises Without Losing the Human Touch, with Jack Bowcott

Some hospitality “innovation” is just shiny tech. The true shift occurs when buildings themselves start to behave like software.In this episode of Minute by MÎNUT, host Nils Mattisson sits down with Jack Bowcott (Founder of Portal and CEO of Goki) to explore what it takes to modernise access and check-in across legacy buildings, without losing the human side of hospitality. Jack shares the journey from building a dating site for travellers and early mobile check-in tools to tackling a much bigger challenge: making existing “dumb” building infrastructure work in a digital-first world.  They dig into the trade-offs between automation and human connection, why integrations still break most rollouts, what “boring but bulletproof” design really means in hardware, and where keyless, identity, and privacy are heading next.  Chapters00:00 A hotel chain took a sledgehammer to every reception00:55 Show intro01:25 Meet Jack02:36 The origin story: a dating app for travellers03:55 The real problem was behind the reception desk04:56 Goki vs Portal: what changed and why07:37 AI bookings vs physical access: the missing link09:53 The real blockers: sunk costs, CapEx, and integrations12:21 The “Square reader” analogy for legacy locks13:21 Invisible access, guest psychology, and optionality16:21 When automation goes too far18:07 Tech should free staff, not remove hospitality22:25 Designing locks: security, reliability, then aesthetics24:42 The Iron Man battery idea that failed in the real world27:04 Manufacturing, pandemics, and anti-microbial coatings31:57 Three shifts ahead: keyless default, portable credentials, privacy34:19 Who owns identity: PMS, platforms, and government40:25 If Jack started again: hardware vs software separation42:46 The wildest story: the sledgehammer rollout45:17 Final thoughts and wrap