 "HotelBids to invest up to Rs 80 crore for expansion")
Online hospitality firm HotelBids is planning to invest Rs 70-80 crore for expansion within India and overseas next year.
"We are at present building customer base. So far, we have invested around 3-4 crore mainly on technology and operation for this service. Next year, we plan to invest Rs 70-80 crore in expanding our footprint both in domestic as well as overseas market," HotelBids president and CEO Inder Sharma said.
Sharma founded the US-based Hotel.Com and exited it after selling his stake in 2002.
HotelBids allows its users to set budget for a stay in city or locality of his choice. The hotels in the selected area then contacts HotelBids subscriber if the budget suits them.
"We are giving consumers power to negotiate. At present, we have 3,000 hotels on our platform priced in the range of Rs 700-7,000 per stay. Now, we are moving ahead to bring luxury hotels on board. I am a founder member of Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AHOA), hence we are looking to set-up business in the US and also in Sri Lanka by January," Sharma said.
Sharma also said that the company is looking at expansion by raising funds.
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"We have many who are interested in funding our business. Micromax's co-founder Rahul Sharma is on our board. Being a member of AHOA, I am in discussion with potential investors in the US. We are looking to raise about Rs 65-70 crore in our Series A funding round," Sharma said.
The company plans to invest Rs 30 crore in branding its platform.
He said HotelBids is not charging any commission from hotels on board till June 2017.
"We are looking to have our presence in 10 global cities by July 2017. In India, we will start charging 10 per cent commission after June 2017 which is very low compared to industry average of 25-30 per cent. In HotelBids, we expect to start monetizing our platform in 2018-19." Sharma said.