Homestay aggregator StayVista plans to increase the number of properties under its umbrella after its recent funding round in which it has raised Rs 40 crore.
The funds raised will be used for – expansion and growth acceleration, brand building, and technology, said the company’s co-founder Amit Damani.
The Series B funding round was led by DSG Consumer Partners and Capri Global and CA Holdings. “DSG is doubling down in their investments (in the company). One of our home owners CA Holdings has invested in StayVista. While we have more or less been breaking even in the last 2-5 years, this capital is to accelerate the pace at which we grow,” he told Moneycontrol.
He said the company today is clocking an annualised revenue of Rs 120 crore and wants to scale it to Rs 1,000 crore in the next 3-4 years. “For this, we need to increase supply from 500 to 2,500 properties in next 3-4 years.”
Damani added that the focus is on two types of markets including getaways and holiday destinations. “Getaways which are destinations that are 2-4 hour driving distance from key metro cities, is 70 percent of our business and the rest comes from holiday. We want to go deeper in these getaway destinations like around Delhi, Kasauli is a big market and we manage 35 properties there. We want to scale that to 75 odd properties. Similarly, in the holidays markets like Goa we want to expand our presence from around 50 homes currently to 200 villas because it is a large market.”
The hospitality brand which ties up with home owners is seeing traction from them as the returns are strong, said Damani. “The yield in residential properties in cities is an average of 2-3 percent versus for holiday homes which is 6-8 percent.”
With increase in supply, the company is targeting to double its revenue this year. “In FY21, we clocked around Rs 43 crore and in FY22 it was Rs 100 crore. This year looking to double our revenues at Rs 200 crore,” he said.
The StayVista co-founder pointed out that traction for villas amid Indian travelers increased due to COVID-19 impact with group travelers opting for villa stays over hotels.
“In the first few months when COVID-19 hit the country traction was zero but when things started opening up during pandemic period and also post COVID, we saw occupancies rise by 25 percent and pricing rise by 30 percent (over pre-COVID times),” he said.
While the peak in demand has stabalised, weekend travel has increased in the length of stay because of work flexibility and also due to work from home, said Damani. “Instead of 1 to 1.5 nights it has increased to 2-3 nights over weekends. Currently, the weekday occupancy which had risen significantly has come down to normal levels which is 30 percent during weekdays and 80 percent during weekends,” he added.
For the festive period, he said the advance booking enquiries has started even for Christmas holiday. Damani expects around 100 percent occupancy during Dussehra and Diwali.
While the focus is India market for the next 18-24 months, post that the company will focus on international destinations, such as Bali, UAE, Dubai.
