In the eleventh episode of TC Show Off, a weekly show that provides startups a platform to showcase themselves, their business models, the core USP etc., Delhi-based Findmystay.com's co-founder Rohit Khetrapal showcases how the firm helps hotels to sell their unsold inventory, while simultaneously providing customers with the best deals.
The platform is a reverse auctioning hotel booking platform that allows users to bid for hotels through a password protected one-on-one environment, wherein hotels can choose to accept or reject the bid on the basis of their occupancy level.
“The idea is to make best use of the unsold inventory. Hotels are willing to sell their unsold inventory for a cheaper rate but they are unable to do so as they are bound to maintain online rate parity- as dilution of a rate on a public platform could lead to dilution of their brand equity,” said Khetrapal.
“Through our platform, a customer typically gets to save about 25 per cent over and above the best available deal online, while hotels get to sell their unsold inventory without disturbing online rate parity,” he added.
In order to ensure that the hotels do not cancel the confirmed booking, the firm reserves a certain percentage of the inventory along with the 'up to price'. The hotel also keeps updating the static rate of inventory.
In the past four months, the firm claims of having already helped customers save Rs 15 lakh through its partnership with around 3,000 hotels.
However, Girish Shivani, co-founder, YourNest Angel fund noted that the challenge for the startup lies in aggregation at the supply side.