Ehouse Launches New Hotshoe Property Platform As Agencies Embrace Digital Transformation

Ehouse an established quality marketing and technology service provider for the residential and commercial property sectors, today announced the general availability of Hotshoe, a proptech platform that facilitates the fulfilment of a variety of marketing services. Either driven through a web portal, or with a simple integration through an API, the Hotshoe platform enables home sellers (vendors) and agents to book professional photography, virtual reality tours, videos, floorplans, and EPC appointments online or by mobile in real-time. For vendors using the Hotshoe platform, the time to organise the appointment has reduced by 72% on average, when compared to traditional bookings.

“Any agent will know that bringing a property to market can involve numerous calls and emails between offices, various suppliers, and vendors to arrange onsite visits. There is time-consuming administration, potential for delay, and a lack of visibility. Hotshoe strips that all away by providing a one-stop platform through which vendors, agents, and landlords can order and arrange a wide range of services that are critical to both sales and lettings in the residential and commercial sectors,” said Michael Doherty, chairman and founder of ehouse.

As soon as a new instruction goes live with the agent, the vendor gets a message by mobile with a diary to choose a timeslot for the production of the photography, plan or other assets that have been ordered. The system ensures the slots are the right length of time according to the size of property and the nature of the work. Once a time is chosen  by a single tap on the screen,  one or more of ehouse’s nationwide network of photographers, floor planners, DEAs, and other specialists are instantly assigned to the job. As soon as the vendor has booked an appointment, the agent is alerted and its internal system is updated. The moment the photographer leaves the property, the vendor can rate him or her online. Photos and other digital assets are uploaded to the agent’s servers the next morning.

Hotshoe, which is easily embedded in to an agency’s workflow, is a digital transformation tool. For vendors it is easy to use, they can make appointments 24/7 and visits are offered seven days per week. For agents, it gives  end-to-end visibility of all their orders in real-time, saving time, admin and money without compromising on the quality of service that ehouse is associated with. Appointments get booked quicker and properties visited faster using the Hotshoe platform, while agency staff have more free time to focus on adding real value by winning business.

“There has already been significant demand for Hotshoe, as agents and their customers want greater flexibility and control over the process from instruction to listing. The traditional model, involving endless calls and admin, confined between 9 – 5 Monday to Friday, is no longer relevant nor desired. Already, we have seen many vendors using our booking tool outside business hours to make their appointments, and Saturdays are now our second busiest day of the week for visits. Hotshoe consolidates a wide range of services, from photography to VR tours, EPCs and plans, as well as sophisticated web2print software into one intelligent platform. It is a perfect fit for agents who are creating portals for interacting with vendors and landlords more widely,” said Ben Fillmore, managing director at ehouse.