Goibibo Ventures Into Budget Accommodation Space; Launches GoStays

Online travel platform Goibibo has launched GoStays, a budget accommodation marketplace. Currently, the platform is live in 72 cities, 862 properties and is translating to 10,000 rooms a day.

One can book rooms via app and website.

GoStays aim is to partner with the property owners to deliver a consistent experience comprising free Wifi, breakfast, AC, television and hygienic washrooms along with a 100% money back guarantee backed by neutral ratings and reviews by the community.

Speaking on the development, Ashish Kashyap, founder & CEO of ibiboGroup said, “We carefully looked at all the problems and pain areas being experienced by budget hotel owners with respect to the online brand partners as well as travellers, on the other hand. Hence we constructed GoStays to solve these pain points, with an aim to create a healthy marketplace of budget accommodations”

GoStays will also be available to book on various Goibibo network comprising: redBus, TBO, SeatSeller, Kotak Bank, HDFC, Citibank Premier Miles, etc.

Goibibo mobile app has more than 7 Mn downloads, growing by 1 Mn new installs per month. Earlier this month, the company had also announced its development of booking “flights + hotels” in a single cart through its mobile app.

The budget accommodations space is dominated by Tiger-backed Zo Rooms and Softbank-backed OYO Rooms. Few other players betting in the budget accommodation space includes Treebo Hotels, which raised $6 Mn from Matrix Partners India and SAIF Partners and Wudstay that has raised $3 Mn from Mangrove Capital Partners and Vikas Saxena.

Other players in this particular space include Zen Rooms, Zip Rooms and FabHotels.