by Vijaylakshmi
Among the top hospitality companies in the villa rental space, StayVista, which was set up eight years ago, has seen a remarkable surge in business, helped by the bump up seen during the pandemic years. ET HospitalityWorld spoke with Amit Damani, co-founder, StayVista about their impact on their very specialised hospitality rental market.
The company, with around 800 villas and over 3,000 rooms, is the biggest player in their segment and has seen 70 percent growth over the last year, according to its co-founder.
With a retention rate of over 90 percent among its owners, the company last year saw 8,00,000 visitors over 1,00,000 stays. “The average ticket cost was around INR 25,000, which worked out to about INR 6,000 to 7,000 per night, at par with four-star rates,” said Damani, adding, “The company aimed to have two distinct levels of villa product, one in the upscale segment selling at 4-star levels and the other in the luxury villa market where we would be at par with five star and luxury properties.”
Having begun in Mumbai and with a strong presence in both the north, west and south market—with customer hubs in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, StayVista’s growth in the southern market was considerable in recent times.
Speaking of the future, Damani says, “The burgeoning pilgrimage circuit with the company already has a presence in Varanasi and we are exploring possibilities in Ayodhya and beyond. We, at StayVista, are not an aggregator but a hospitality company who also stress on the experiential part of the guest stay. We have a strong team at the property level—at least three people—who are trained and continue to be skilled in the growing demands of the customer. We are diversifying our portfolio to include a wide array of accommodations. From luxury villas to sustainable container homes, A-framed cottages, heritage havelis, glamping destinations, and even hobbit homes, As a brand, we want to be at the forefront of offering unique and immersive stay experiences for our guests & become their go-to travel brand.”The company wants to add 600 plus properties in the next year and are looking across the country as well as abroad to go where Indians like to travel for holidays.
StayVista will be profitable in FY 24-25 and is planning for their IPO within the next three years, Damani said adding that they still had plenty of funds after their last round of fundraise where they got INR 42 crore.
