Zostel, a hostel chain company, is targeting 500 hostels by the end of FY20, according to Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, CEO and Co-Founder of the company. Currently, the hostel chain has over 200 hostels in India and Nepal.

According to Chouhan, since its inception in 2013, the company has recorded over 80 per cent year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth. In FY 19, the Zostel’s overall bookings accounted for ₹35 crore and the net revenue were close to 20 per cent. The average occupancy rate is approximately 65 per cent, and the average room rates have doubled since 2013.

Currently, Zostel is present in 45 destination with over 2000 beds. With 15 hostels, Zostel’s deepest presence is in the Himachal Pradesh. Speaking to BusinessLine , Chouhan said that Zostel aims to invest in the North East and South India. “We want to open Zostels in remote destinations, and develop those destinations as well.”

Huge potential

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the development of 15 destinations in India. Even though Zostel has received interests from Colombo, Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai, even Pakistan, Chouhan believes that there is a lot of potential in India itself.

“Travellers want newer experiences, and want to explore more destinations. Only one per cent of Indian destinations have been explored. Due to technology like Google Maps, it has now become easier to do so,” said Chouhan.

He said that Zostel will be enter into two joint ventures with two renowned players to invest in properties and explore new modules of travel segments. This venture will be besides its franchise model. “The joint ventures are likely to be formulated by FY21,” he said.

The company wants to offer packages which takes care of the traveller’s end-to-end needs. “We want to get into offering ticket bookings, intracity travel, your inventory with etc besides offering different types of stays.”