The operating system for hospitality technology decisions

Why we exist?

No one can deny the role technology plays in any industry — and in hospitality, where every experience must be seamless regardless of property category, the stakes are even higher. Guest needs and expectations are rising, and that pressure is not slowing down. It demands continuous innovation and differentiation from an industry whose forte is service — not technology. And in today's economy, where efficiency is the name of the game, building the internal resources to navigate that complexity is a privilege few can still afford.

Working and serving this industry for a collective 100+ years, we lived the pain points of the technology decision-making journey. We have seen the mistakes — and made some ourselves. Decisions taken under pressure, with an incomplete view of what was available, and too often influenced by whoever had the loudest sales voice in the room or simply the most familiar name. We watched talented hospitality professionals waste weeks — sometimes months — trying to make sense of a landscape nobody had bothered to structure. We saw hotels choose the wrong technology not because they made bad decisions, but because they never had the right intelligence to make good ones.

ExploreTECH was built to change that — not from the outside looking in, but from inside an industry we deeply belong to. We are not technologists who discovered hospitality, we are hospitality professionals who decided that the industry we are passionate about deserved better — a structured, intelligent, and trustworthy ecosystem where every decision is informed, every vendor is visible, and no buyer is left navigating alone.

Three and a half years of relentless building later, that ecosystem exists. And we are only getting started.
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Vision

To transform hospitality's relationship with technology — building the intelligence infrastructure that makes every decision informed, every vendor visible, and every brand future-ready.
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Mission

To operate the intelligence infrastructure powering hospitality technology decisions — guiding buyers from ideation to decision through structured data, AI workflows, and enterprise governance.
Hospitality Technology

Enabling hospitality industry professionals

With the intelligence, tools, and connections you need — to make every technology decision with clarity and confidence.

  • Discover with structure, not guesswork. Navigate a verified, living intelligence ecosystem — current, organized, and built to surface what is most relevant to your property and tech stack.
  • Compare with objectivity, not opinion. Evaluate solutions side-by-side using a unified framework where every vendor is measured against the same standard — honest, unbiased, and built for clarity.
  • Connect without barriers. Reach vendors directly, get a facilitated introduction, or tap into independent expert advice — no gates, no hidden agendas.
  • Decide with confidence, not pressure. ExploreTECH structures the entire pre-transaction journey — saving time, reducing costly mistakes, and ensuring no decision is made on incomplete information.

Empowering hospitality technology providers

Whether local or global, established or emerging — visibility without the right audience is just noise. ExploreTECH puts your solution in front of hospitality professionals who are actively in the decision-making journey.

  • Reach buyers who are already looking. Your solution appears at the exact moment they are discovering, evaluating, and comparing — generating qualified demand, not low-quality leads.
  • Stand out in a structured, credible ecosystem. A verified, complete, and current presence positions your solution with the transparency and objectivity today's buyers trust.
  • Expand your reach without expanding your costs. Access a growing global audience and connect with the right decision-makers, cost-effectively.
  • Be part of the intelligence infrastructure. ExploreTECH is where hospitality technology decisions are made — before any transaction happens.
Hospitality Industry

Our Values
We don't display our values. We live them.

Act with integrity

Act with integrity

Strive to be objective

Strive to be objective

Promote connectedness

Promote connectedness

Embrace and respect the industry

Embrace and respect the industry

Be authentic and trustworthy

Be authentic and trustworthy

Represent diversity through choice

Represent diversity through choice

Champion Efficiency

Champion Efficiency

Innovate with Purpose

Innovate with Purpose

Our team

Built by people who refused to accept the status quo

Building something that has never existed before is not for the faint-hearted. In the early stages of any startup, every member of a small team must be a total believer — because without that conviction, the pressure alone will break you. This team has lived every up and every down, navigated the battles, and faced the quiet disbelief of those who wondered "can they actually do it?" They did. And they continue to.

Some have lived the pain points of hospitality technology decision-making firsthand — bringing the industry knowledge and credibility that makes ExploreTECH's intelligence trustworthy. Behind them, a CTO who takes every idea and vision and transforms it into a functioning, living operating ecosystem. And a marketing voice committed to making the complex feel simple — translating what we are building into a message the industry can understand, connect with, and trust.

United by belief. Driven by proof. and nowhere near done.

Team

Meet the Team

Mona Faraj

Mona Faraj

CEO
Ralph Melis

Ralph Melis

COO
Wasiq Ghaznavi

Wasiq Ghaznavi

CTO
Vicky Varfis

Vicky Varfis

Principal Consultant Partnership
Sarah El Nahass

Sarah El Nahass

Marketing & Events Manager
Fiona Mosca

Fiona Mosca

Content Manager

Board Members

Behind every ambitious mission is a group of people who believed before the proof arrived. Our board members are those people — strategic partners who challenge us, guide us, and champion what we are building.

Mona Faraj

Mona Faraj

CEO & Board Member
Antoine Medawar

Antoine Medawar

Chairman of the Board
Alanoud Tahlawi

Alanoud Tahlawi

Board Member
Dani Oneisse

Dani Oneisse

Board Member
Grace El Tayar

Grace El Tayar

Board Member

The ExploreTECH Story

From Vision to Recognition

Since mid-2021, we have not rested a day. Every step measured, every decision deliberate — building something the industry needed but nobody had built. From MVP to incorporation, from launch to recognition, this is the journey of an idea that refused to stay an idea.

We did not build for the industry; we built with it. Hospitality professionals and technology providers on both sides of the ecosystem shaped this solution alongside us. That is not a differentiator. That is our foundation.

Scroll through the milestones that got us here.

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2026

Continued growth & innovation

  • April 2026 Proprietary CRM & CDP launched Deepening ExploreTECH's data and engagement infrastructure across the entire ecosystem — another first-to-market capability, built in-house.
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  • March 2026 Second Enterprise client onboarded: Rotana Hotels Extending Enterprise adoption to one of the region's most respected hospitality groups — and growing proof that the infrastructure is ready for scale.
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2025

Continued growth & innovation

  • November 2025 First Enterprise client onboarded: Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) One of the world's largest alliances of independent hotel brands — adopting ExploreTECH Enterprise across 48 global hospitality brands, becoming the first hotel alliance worldwide to centralize technology governance through a single intelligence platform.
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  • October 2025 Top 10 global semi-finalists — HTNG TechOvation Awards, USA Recognition on the global stage, competing among the world's most innovative hospitality technology solutions.
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  • In May, ExploreTECH CEO and Co-Founder Mona Faraj received the Leading Hospitality Entrepreneur award at the Hotel & Catering - Leaders in Hospitality Awards in Dubai, recognizing her ongoing contributions to the hospitality tech industry.
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  • April saw the debut of ExploreTECH PRO — the first AI assistant purpose-built for hospitality tech discovery and sourcing.
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  • ExploreTECH also rolled out its fully customizable White-label Solution, with Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) as the first partner. GHA — the world’s largest alliance of independent hotel brands — signed an agreement to bring ExploreTECH’s solution to its 45 brands worldwide, streamlining hospitality tech search and discovery.
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2024

A year of Milestones

  • February brought another round of focus groups.
  • In May, ExploreTECH earned two prestigious awards: Best Digital Transformation in Hospitality and Best Stand at ATM 2024.
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  • By June, 50% of the platform’s blueprint was completed.
  • September marked the achievement of 25,000 active users.
  • October, ExploreTECH featured 1,000 brands and 2,000 products.
  • Also in October, we won the "Tech Solution Provider of the Year" award hosted by Entrepreneur Middle East.
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2023

Expansion and Progress

  • In January, ExploreTECH DMCC was incorporated with an operating license, alongside the launch of ET 2.0, expanding the platform’s capabilities.
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2022

Laying the Foundation

  • February saw the launch of ExploreTECH’s MVP, ET 1.0.
  • In April, additional pre-seed funding was raised from angel investors, accompanied by another round of focus groups.
  • By September, ExploreTECH was incorporated in ADGM
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2021

The Idea Takes Shape

  • Co-founders Mona Faraj and Ralph Melis conducted focus groups and a market study in January, identifying a clear need for digital solutions in MEA hospitality.
  • By June, they secured pre-seed funding to bring their vision to life.

Social Proof

ExploreTech’s Tech Matchmaker Series was well-orchestrated. The convenience of participating online saved me a significant amount of travel time, allowing me to focus more on the content. The webinar provided valuable key insights into the products, which were both informative and engaging.
Sanjay YadavSenior IT Applications EngineerJA Resorts & Hotels
It was a great experience attending the ExploreTech webinar series. The participation and selection of tech experts and startups were well-curated and perfectly aligned with the current needs of the hospitality tech landscape. Having been in the industry for over 10 years, I had the opportunity to interact with many creative and knowledgeable industry leaders, for which I am grateful to ExploreTech for this initiative. I look forward to more engaging and innovative events like this in the future. Thank you, and I wish the team all the best.
Hasnain RazaDirector of Revenue & SalesRadisson Blu Hotel, Riyadh
The Tech Matchmaker Webinar series organized by ExploreTECH was highly beneficial for hoteliers seeking specific products that deliver business value. The online convenience, the focused and niche sessions, and the structure of the series made it easy to access the right information, align with our tech strategies, and connect with promising vendors. This was a significant improvement over traditional large conferences, which often required travel and a half or full day out of the office.
Lijeesh RajanCorporate Director of IT Strategy and ServicesRotana Hotel

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