And budget accommodation sector is getting more money now. While Oyo and Zostel are already fighting it out for the top spot in India, another such startup, named RedDoorz with a SE-Asian focus has now nabbed undisclosed amount in a pre-series A round from Jungle Ventures.
RedDoorz has further announced that Philip Wolf, Founder PhoCusWright and Ajay Bakaya, Executive Director at Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, both travel and hospitality industry veterans have joined the company’s Strategic Advisory Board to help accelerate it’s growth and product success in its segment.
RedDoorz claims to be South East Asia’s first asset light budget accommodation brand and service offering for hotels, resorts, inns, service apartments, B&Bs and guesthouses.
Amit Saberwal, CEO & Founder said in a statement,
Today budget accommodations have fragmented and non-uniform experiences that affects the consumer satisfaction which can lead to negative reviews on social media and declining footfalls.
This is where RedDoorz has a strong value proposition. We not only help consumers receive standardized services across all RedDoorz enabled budget accommodations but also help the budget hotel owners with technology to distribute across multiple digital platforms. It’s a win-win for both the consumer and the hotel owner.
It provides budget accommodation owners access to expert advice and assistance to standardize their offering and directly distribute online via RedDoorz technology platform. Under the RedDoorz brand and service umbrella, these properties will also receive continued guidance to build repeat business and see higher online occupancies of up to 50 percent.
Redoorz is launched by Commeasure, one of the biggest technology platforms, that helps hotels distribute and manage their digital presence thereby lowering their cost of distribution and increasing direct reservations. Since its launch in July 2014, Commeasure has been working with 500+ Hotels across India and Asia.
Commeasure received funding in April 2015 led by Jungle Ventures , a Singapore venture firm which is known to have backed leading travel technology startups in Asia including travelmob (acquired by NASDAQ listed HomeAway) and Voyagin (acquired by Japan’s leading OTA Rakuten)
The South East Asia travel market today has a size of US$60.6 Bn. Its prominent tourism and business hubs include Thailand, Bali, Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, etc. During many periods in the year, the demand for accommodation far exceeds supply in the region.
However, a large number of properties are offline. Further, the market is highly fragmented with low adoption of online distribution technology. Hotel owners are unable to realize the full monetary potential of their assets and have to make do with lower average daily rates.
