"Make room for something new" says Stayzilla's new campaign

Stayzilla,  hybrid managed marketplace for Stays in India announced that it has unveiled a new brand campaign, ‘Make Room for Something New’, along with the launch of their mobile app, to bring alive the concept of alternate stays in the country. The campaign which went live today across digital media channels emphasizes the company’s focus on widening the quality stay choices for travelers in India who are looking at unique and differentiated stay experiences.

Talking about the idea behind the concept Yogendra Vasupal, Founder & CEO, Stayzilla, says, “We are trying to solve a problem of supply and demand. There is a demand in the market for accommodation with the rise of tourism and we are just fulfilling those needs. While initiating this concept, we never thought that we will get so many senior citizens trying out the idea. But it is actually happening with the kids moving out and people seeking more company. Today, India’s stay market is large and fragmented with shortage of close to 1,000,000 rooms in the country, creating a huge opportunity for expansion and growth. Keeping this in mind, we have decided to strengthen our play in the alternate stay segment. With the launch of our new communication, we aim to encourage hosts to open up their vacant rooms with Stayzilla.”

They have experienced a rise in people who are adapting the concept. He elaborates, “We have 1800 new hosts opening their doors for people; out of them 25% people are retired couples. It’s an opportunity for them to do something different. For example, there was a Punjabi lady who was taking cooking classes, but now her kids have gone abroad and she is too old to take classes now but she doesn’t mind hosting people. Just like her, a lot of retired couples are looking at a way to make money but a way to have company.”

With such concepts rising, the question of security comes first. While Yogendra feels that security is secondary, even with people you are and can be secured, you need to be comfortable. He states, “Realistically speaking, security is the second aspect. Even if security is served, comfort cannot be served. We serve a platform where you can select the kind of guests that you want. You can select a family with kids, or someone who is interested in classical music etc. you can choose your own preferences.  For the platform of security, the very first tool is to understand the community or the language of your guest. Choosing the guest from your community not only makes you comfortable but also safer. We have hosts in the religious cities who say people come in only for religious purpose, it might be a home open to them and their languages. My guest should know at least these languages, as I am comfortable with it, plus you can add your own criteria. You can verify who you call in to your house; you can chat with them once you decide to invite them. You can chat with the guests before calling them in. Those are the tools we are giving; now it’s up to you how you want to use them.”

Considering in the west, the BnB culture is quite common and a tremendous source of income, Indian market is still quite new and unexplored so it may seem a little conflicting for the hosts to open their house for the guests. Yogendra elaborates, “In India too, like the west, kids move out and live in different cities which leaves enough room for the hosts to welcome the tourists. On the macro level, we also have a lot of unoccupied real estate in our hand and people have a shortage of rooms on the other hand. We are just trying to find a balance between the situations. In India, the government is also quite encouraging the home stays more because travel is no longer the bottleneck of tourism. Rooms and accommodation are harder to find, so providing this to our consumers will also help in increasing the traction in tourism.”

As for the market size, he is expecting 1.5 billion dollars out of which 50% would be on home-stays, only in India in three years. They have opened 750 rooms in the past two months. He also says that 80% of their business comes from the non-metro cities. Since they are handling the media and creative in-house, the marketing spends will be to the tune of one million. The host is the entrepreneur in this situation while they provide the platform with 15% commission. He elaborates, “In metros, we see more of a structured alternate stay. In Tier II and Tier III, we not only look at hill-stations but also the religious cities where there is tourist traction.”

There new campaign is targeted specifically at hosts and aims to revive the culture of hosting guests at homes through the new mobile app which will cater to both homeowners and travelers alike. The app, which will enable hosts to open up their vacant rooms faster, has selective filters which will help them choose the kind of travelers they would like to host. It will allow users to look for stays that match their own requirements such as food preferences, travel type and much more. A special ‘Build your tribe’ feature on the app will also enable one to host and befriends with  travelers basis their passion - be it a specific interest, their institution or even to explore something new, thus giving people yet another reason to travel.

They have also done a print campaign which ran in metros pan India which ran in main newspapers. They have also advertised a lot on the FM channels as well as the theatre advertising. They have also experienced more traction in the Tier II – Tier III cities than the Tier 1 cities.
They are also high on ambient marketing.

Speaking about the response received, Yogendra says, “The campaign has been quite helpful in building our brand. Stayzilla’s recall is very high, so we wanted to associate the concept of “Make room for something new” with Stayzilla more and more. Being an online company, we always have the data and we have experienced a co-relation between marketing and direct visitors to our site.”