Hotel aggregator startup RoomsTonite plans to enter Dubai

Bangalore based start-up RoomsTonite plans to tap global markets starting with Dubai in September. Founded by serial entrepreneur Suresh John in January, the mobile only RoomsTonite offers hotels under three categories luxury, premium and comfort and currently has 2,500 properties across 275 cities registered with it in the country. A travellor can book for the same-day, and the next-day through this mobile-only last-minute hotel booking app that helps customers book good hotel rooms at great rates.

"We are already the market leader in the last minutes hotel booking space with over 2,500 hotels across 275 cities already registered with our app. We are planning to go global by entering Dubai by September-October," John told PTI. The second leg of overseas expansion will be into the rest of the West Asian markets and later on into other territories in the Western hemisphere. A serial entrepreneur, John set up his first company IDS Next, which is the leading ERP solutions provider to the global hospitality industry, when he was just 21.

IDS where he is the chairman, boasts of clients like IRCTC, Expedia, MakemyTrip, and ClearTrip among other 4,000 clients in the global hospitality and tourism industry. RoomsTonite has almost every five-star hotels like the Taj group, Leela group, Oberoi, Hilton, Lalit, ITC and a host of other properties under its wings, plans to have 10,000 hotels across 500 cities by March, John said.

The start-up, which thrives on discounts, on an average offers 20 per cent rebate to guest, John said, adding the later one books, the higher discount. On the commission he nets from each booking through his app, John said typically he gets 10 per cent of the sold rate as commission. He further said, the earlier the booking, the lower will be the discount. When asked about reaching break-even, John said he should be cash positive over by September 2016. John said business is being driven by corporate sector where last minute travel is more common. Having seen tremendous growth in the past six months, RoomsTonite also plans to add around 30 people to its current workforce of 70.

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