The five-month-old, Delhi-headquartered, budget hospitality chain Zo Rooms is on the verge of closing a fresh round of funding of $10-$15 million next week.
Co-founded by seven IIM and IIT alumni, who also founded backpacker hostel chain Zostel; Zo Rooms has already received $1 million from Malaysian early stage investment fund, Sol Primero and is raising fresh funds to beef up on technology and marketing, said a source on condition of anonymity.
Asked about the development, Paavan Nanda, co-founder & head of sales and marketing, Zo Rooms, confirmed that the company is closing a fresh round of funding next week, however he refused to divulge any other details.
Catering to budget travellers with rooms priced at ₹1,000 to ₹3,000 depending on the location, Zo Rooms is present in 13 cities with 1,500 branded rooms in 150 hotels.
Travellers can book a room by calling, through the Zo Room website or via the Zo Room mobile app. Like rival, OYO Rooms which raised ₹150 crore in funding recently, Zo Rooms offers free Wi-fi, complimentary breakfast, air-conditioning, LCD TV, personal locker and a 24/7-travel and concierge service.
Tablets have been installed in the reception desks of each hotel which helps to manage live room inventory, record instant feedback, redress grievances and enable one-click check-ins.
“The country is short of 2,00,000-3,00,000 budget rooms in the price range of ₹1,000-₹3,000. We partner with small 15-20 room independently run hotels across the country and convert them into standardised, branded Zo Rooms, so that the budget traveller has a consistent experience at all of our properties,” said Nanda.
“Although we are a late entrant into the market, we are the first to launch a one-stop travel app that takes care of everything that a traveller needs, including stay, transport and food. We have partnered with Uber and Food Panda and when a traveller books a Zo Room on our app, they will have the option to get dropped to our hotel by booking an Uber cab and also order food via Food Panda,” added Nanda.
Zo Rooms is expanding its presence rapidly at the rate of adding five properties a day and one new city every week.
“We are targeting to end the year with 25,000 rooms in 1,500 hotels in 40 cities and achieve 15,000 room nights per day,” said Nanda.