Our operational base · South Lasithi
NovAI runs a permanent base in Ierapetra, the southernmost town in Europe. We work with SMBs across south-east Crete, from Sitia to Makrigialos, in English, French and Greek.
Ierapetra is our operational base in Crete. NovAI runs a permanent physical presence here, which lets us work on the ground with SMBs across south-east Crete, from Sitia in the east to Mirtos in the west, including Makrigialos, Koutsounari and Schinokapsala. This setup is not symbolic. It gives us time to walk into restaurants, guesthouses and shops across south Lasithi, to understand the real seasonality of an area that lives off tourism between April and October, and to answer a phone call within two hours during the morning. We invoice from France through NovAI SASU with French VAT, which simplifies the contractual relationship for English-speaking and French-speaking clients living in Crete. Our local references include Kairos Guest Management whose offices are in Ierapetra, and several qualified prospects along the south coast across hospitality and short-stay rentals.
South-east Crete SMBs face specific challenges where AI delivers an unusually favourable cost-to-impact ratio. First challenge, tourism seasonality. A taverna in Makrigialos, a rental in Mirtos, a studio in Schinokapsala lives from May to October, with a quiet winter. Automating repetitive tasks, menu translation, availability management, payment reminders, frees up hours per week in high season and still works when the owner is alone in November. A Stripe integration with automatic balance reminders, a QR menu auto-translated into four languages, an Airbnb-Booking calendar sync, all save several hours per week at peak. Second challenge, multilingual coverage. South Lasithi welcomes German, British and French tourists, with growing Scandinavian and Dutch presence, alongside the local Greek community and a French-speaking diaspora settling in the area. A site, menu or product sheet must serve at least four languages without recurring human translation costs. With a controlled AI layer, translation stays consistent, updates automatically and remains reviewable. Third challenge, retail visibility against major tourist hubs. South-east Crete sees less traffic than Heraklion or Chania. Digital visibility offsets that geographical handicap. A simple e-commerce, an optimised Google Business listing, presence on multilingual guides like Crete Direct, all tip the decision of a visitor hesitating between two restaurants or two shops. Fourth challenge, proximity. For a client in Sitia or Makrigialos, hiring a studio fifteen minutes away rather than an Athens agency changes the nature of the relationship. On-site visit to understand the business, physical product demo, in-person team training. A simple but decisive argument for SMB owners who prefer a handshake before signing a quote.
Short-term rental platform based in Ierapetra, live on kairosguest.com. AI-driven dynamic pricing on more than 11000 scraped Airbnb listings, ADR simulator for owners, DocuSeal electronic signature, native EN FR EL multilingual support. Stack Next.js 16, Supabase, Vercel, Stripe Connect. Geographic proximity lets us iterate fast on field needs from the Kairos team and test under real conditions across the Lasithi area.
Example of a project we take on for a taverna or restaurant in Makrigialos, direct neighbour of Ierapetra. QR menu auto-translated into EN, FR, EL and DE by AI, kitchen KDS, hybrid P3 payment, Epsilon Smart Restaurant integration for AADE myDATA compliance mandatory since December 2025, Nova chatbot to answer guest questions on dishes and allergens. Typical scope 1500 to 4000 EUR for the site, 2000 to 8000 EUR for the AI layer depending on hardware integrations. Delivery planned to make the tool usable before the summer high season.
Example of a project we take on across south Lasithi, inspired by recent enquiries. E-commerce shop for Cretan craft or art objects shipping to France, Germany and the UK, with Stripe Checkout, simple stock management, product sheets auto-translated into four languages, Resend integration for confirmation emails, and Vercel deployment. Typical scope 4000 to 6000 EUR, delivery in 8 to 10 weeks, owner training included for daily catalogue management.
Yes, we travel free of charge across Lasithi for first meetings, including Sitia, Makrigialos, Mirtos and Agios Nikolaos. Permanent presence in Ierapetra. For projects in Heraklion or Chania, we factor travel costs into the quote, but the bulk of work is remote after scoping.
We work in English, French and Greek on every project. Francois Kerjean is fluent in English and French. We handle written Greek for content, contracts and local administrative exchanges, with native review. Most south-east Cretan SMBs operate in at least two of these three languages.
NovAI is a boutique studio. Each project mobilises 1 to 3 people maximum, which guarantees direct accountability and a fast cadence. No intermediate project manager. You speak directly with the person who codes and ships. This size keeps us nimble on SMB budgets.
A multilingual professional site ranges from 1500 to 4000 EUR, an e-commerce from 4000 to 12000 EUR, a dedicated AI automation from 2000 to 8000 EUR. For local shops on a tight budget, we offer the Site Pro entry offer at 1500 EUR with multilingual support, Vercel hosting and content training included.
Professional showcase site in 4 to 6 weeks, e-commerce in 8 to 12 weeks, restaurant ordering system in 4 to 6 weeks depending on integrations. Weekly cadence with Monday scoping call and Friday demo. Firm quote within 72 hours of the first call.
Tourism, short-term rental management, hospitality, local retail, services, real estate. Our platforms in production cover Kairos Guest Management for rentals, IEUF for spirits retail and Crete Direct for editorial tourism. For Cretan hospitality, we design ordering systems with auto-translated QR menus FR/EN/EL/DE, kitchen KDS, hybrid P3 payment and Epsilon Smart integration for AADE myDATA. We review every SMB enquiry that has a real need around AI, payments, multilingual coverage or automation.
Describe in a few lines what you want to build. Even if it's fuzzy. Reply within 24 hours with an honest answer: if the studio can help, how, and at what budget.