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<ul><li>With returning consumer confidence, <keyword id="2913812" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Treebo-Hotels">Treebo Hotels</keyword> has witnessed an increase in bookings and has returned to 40%+ average occupancy, with zero marketing budget. </li><li>Now it is aiming to go back to where it was in 2019 before COVID disrupted the world. </li><li>We spoke to Sidharth Gupta, Co-founder, Treebo to understand the market sentiments, its plan to reach before COVID-level occupancy and revenue levels and what makes the brand stand out in the clutter of hospitality firms. </li></ul>With COVID-19 impacting the hospitality industry, bringing its revenues down to almost zero, to the steady recovery of the industry, a lot happened in 2020. Young hospitality brand Treebo, which began its operations only in 2015, was making about Rs 40 crore monthly sales at a near-neutral EBITDA but the grinding halt on travel and tourism brought its revenue to zero. However, after September 2020, people went on workations or took solo trips to snow-capped mountains in Manali or serene beaches in Goa. Today, Treebo is back to 40%+ average occupancy across the portfolio. The hotel chain is now expecting to revive to pre-COVID levels over the next 2-3 quarters. Telling us how the lockdown impacted Treebo and the status of its business today, Sidharth Gupta, Co-founder, Treebo said, “The lockdown brought our business to a screeching halt. From the point where we were doing about 40 Cr of monthly sales at a near-neutral EBITDA, we came down to pretty much zero sales and ballooned up EBITDA losses. We are now at 40%+ average occupancy for the portfolio, with the leisure properties doing 60-90% occupancies. This is a big uptick from where we were 3-4 months back. We expect this trend to continue and we should be at pre-COVID levels over the next 2-3 quarters.” However, once Treebo saw a window to open up its services, it was quick to revive. It executed a 3 point plan: Firstly, Treebo conserved enough cash to ensure that its family survives to see the other side of the crisis. Secondly, it pursued all possible revenue opportunities, no matter how unusual, to bring in some business for its hotel partners and lastly, it made sure the necessary safety measures were followed to give its guests the comfort and win their trust. “We stripped down our expenses by giving up our office altogether and offering people paid voluntary resignation schemes. On the second, we went after COVID-related demand (quarantine facilities, hospital extensions), we found ancillary revenue opportunities like leasing out of kitchens and parking space, we set up offices at our hotels for some of our corporate clients who were not equipped to switch to work-from-home, etc. And finally, we launched a comprehensive hygiene program called Treebo Hygiene Shield in partnership with Dettol to implement strict safety measures at our hotels,” explained Gupta. It also decided to put a halt on its marketing activities completely and shifted its focus to the fundamentals. On how the brand tweaked its marketing strategy after the lockdown, Gupta said, “Our marketing strategy was to not do any marketing at all! Yes we were active on our social media handles and were telling people about the safety measures we had put in place, but beyond that, we weren't doing anything. We decided to rather conserve our marketing monies because no matter how loudly you shout from the rooftop, people were not going to travel at that time. They were either being extra careful (and rightly so!) or they were just under lockdown. As we move forward, we are still being cautious and taking a very hard ROI lens for every single marketing dollar we spend. We have minimum hurdle expectations from each sales &amp; marketing channel and if we don't see that productivity, we pull the spend. We are spending on success-based expense channels, we are offering people incentives on sales, etc. rather than signing up for fixed commitments.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="USP in a room full of hospitality brands" text="USP in a room full of hospitality brands">USP in a room full of hospitality brands</cmsannotation> Treebo has a network of 600+ hotels across 100+ cities in India. Within two years of launch, it became the highest rated brand in the budget segment of hospitality in India. It has been able to retain that position ever since. It is the oodles of love that the brand has received for its customer service that has helped the brand beat its competitors. Gupta said, “We are obsessed about the experience we offer to our customers and we have made some tough decisions to protect that experience. Our company's culture is centered around this customer obsession. Every Treeb knows that customer experience is the holy grail and solves for it in their area of work. No other company has demonstrated that sincerity towards experience. Customers see this. They are smart. For them, the space is not a cluttered one. It just takes them a few quick filters around price and review ratings, and invariably Treebo emerges as a winner on this 'value for money' ask.” In this 5-year-long journey, the brand has also survived many crises, which Gupta said, has made the brand stronger and prepared for the future. “We were the pioneers of the full inventory manachised model in this segment and that turned out to be a win-win for customers and partners alike. Hotel owners have always lauded our model and business ethics. Thanks to the support of these two stakeholders, we have grown relatively quickly from 4 hotels in 2015 to well over 500 now. However, our journey has also seen multiple crises - sudden loss of a large distribution channel, irrational competitive intensity, eleventh hour miscarriage of investment rounds, etc. We wear our scars from these crises with pride because as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We have used each of these challenges to reinvent ourselves as a company and strengthen our fundamentals,” shared Gupta. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Market sentiment today and travel trends to expect this year" text="Market sentiment today and travel trends to expect this year">Market sentiment today and travel trends to expect this year</cmsannotation> After the excruciating lull of March to September, the travel sentiment has improved dramatically in the last 3-4 months. People, exhausted by months of lockdown and staying home, have started venturing out. Telling us about the market sentiment today, Gupta said, “In February, we are seeing business travel opening up as well, which was not the case earlier. I think the expectation around the vaccine becoming available for common citizens soon, combined with the falling number of cases in the country has given people the confidence to travel again. With international travel staying closed for the next 6-9 months in all likelihood, the prospects for the domestic travel sector could look even promising through the rest of this year.” It has seen leisure travel making a steady comeback and Gupta said, the work-from-anywhere travel trend is here to stay for a long time. “Leisure travel has been leading overall business recovery for us. We believe this surge in leisure travel will continue in the foreseeable future. We are therefore ramping our inventory in such markets to be able to serve this demand rush. People are feeling much more confident about traveling now and are giving themselves the much needed break from staying locked up at home. Secondly, smaller leisure destinations in close proximity to big cities are becoming hugely popular. Places like Mahabaleshwar, Lonavala, Coorg, Chikmaglur, etc. have seen tremendous interest from travellers. Thirdly, people are realising what a win-win work-from-anywhere trend is as they get to spend 2/4/6 weeks staying in some getaway town and working from there rather than being in office everyday. This will lead to people doing many more workations and making long stay bookings and hotels and resorts. And finally, customers' inclination to engage with branded suppliers has become even stronger. A bare minimum peace of mind is needed even as you overcome your fear psychosis and decide to make the trip, and established brands provide that much more easily compared to unbranded suppliers,” said Gupta. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Goals for Treebo’s 6th year" text="Goals for Treebo’s 6th year">Goals for Treebo’s 6th year</cmsannotation> Founded by Sidharth Gupta, Rahul Chaudhary, and Kadam Jeet Jain in 2015, the company has been using a technology-enabled ‘manachised’ model to work with owners of existing hotel assets. Hotel owners need to abide by Treebo’s standard operating procedures and maintain quality as desired by the brand, whereas the company takes responsibility for sales and marketing of the property. This year, Gupta and his team will continue to polish its USP, which is good customer service. It will also focus on reducing cash burn. Sharing the two areas Treebo will focus on in 2021, Gupta said, “We will continue to deliver the best-in-class experience to customers so that we keep the brand reputation strong as always and remain the preferred brand for our customers as they step out and look for a new freedom and a breath of fresh air. And remain acutely conscious of our business economics and ensure sustainability of business. While the COVID situation in the country looks promising, we can't lower our guard and we need to have staying power in the company in the medium-to-long term. It is critical to be cash conscious. The external environment is still hugely unpredictable. The best you can do in such times is to solve for foundational success factors, which in our case are guest experience and economics. As long as these two remain strong, revenue will follow. Our vision is centered around what is predictable and what will ALWAYS matter - guest experience and economics.”

Why Treebo decided to put a complete halt on marketing during the lockdown

We Indians have perfected the art of wanting more in less, especially when it comes to deciding which <keyword id="6368036" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Hotels">hotels</keyword> to stay at when we’re going for a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/These-are-the-5-coolest-international-airports-in-the-world/articleshow/56307810.cms">vacation</a> or even, a business trip. 
 
Besides wanting clean and spacious rooms, we also demand amenities. The more, the merrier. 
 
But, there’s a catch. We will only spend so much. Our wallets have budgets, but our wants are unlimited. 
 
As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, the rise of the<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=budget+hotel+chains&amp;sortorder=effectivedate"> budget-hotel chain</a> trend has soared our expectations when it comes to demanding double the value for money. 
 
As was expected, the chains couldn’t live up to its promises. What started out as a great experience soon turned out to be one laden with issues. Either the wifi won't work, booking was cancelled the last minute or worst of it all, the room was unclean and didn't look the same as on the website. 
 At a time when the public perception towards these new-age budget-hotel chains are mostly in the negative, one <keyword id="138263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> is going out of its way to ensure that India gets a quality budget hotel brand. 
 
And, as luck would have it, I managed to get a first-hand experience. 
 
I was visiting<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-twitter-reacted-after-mahendra-singh-dhoni-stepped-down-as-captain/articleshow/56341807.cms"> Chennai</a>, the capital of Tamil Nadu for a work-trip and like everyone else, dedicated a lot of hours going crazy surfing every online booking website there is, trying to find a spacious room that didn’t burn a big hole in my pocket. 
 
If I’d find a place under my budget, there would be an issue with the location or the room. Sometimes, it’d be the opposite, and after a good six hours of browsing among countless tabs, I was about to give up if I hadn’t landed up on the Treebo website. 
 
It took me all of ten minutes to find a property around my preferred location, under my budget and I happily booked my stay for two days. 
 
Safe to say, I was already impressed with the ease of navigating on the website, and judging from the pictures of the room that was up, I was expecting a really comfortable stay. 
 
But given previous experiences, I also couldn’t help but worry, whether the beautiful room shown on the website would actually correspond to what I would get to see once I check in. 
 I reached the property called Treebo Angson which was situated at Kalashektra Road in <keyword id="6375453" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="adyar">Adyar</keyword> and was immediately ushered into my double room that had ‘relaxation written all over it, and looked, even better than the pictures online. 
 
 
 
The property itself was situated on the main road and was both accessible and secluded from the noise of the city life. To sum it up, it was perfect and the fact that the property was gorgeous and had an old-world charm to it, only added to its advantages. 
 
My room had a double bed, wooden flooring and wardrobes and ample amount of space. Additionally, the wifi was fast and the bathroom was stocked with branded essentials. The tastefully done room looked worthy of a 4 star hotel, and yet you’d have to shell out under Rs 2000 to experience the grandeur. 
 
 
 
The incredible stay was heightened by the fact by the impeccable room service, courteous staff, cleanliness and a complementary breakfast that made mornings slightly bearable, not to forget that they took care of every aspect that a budgeted yet demanding Indian traveller would want. 
 So, the next time you’re travelling and want an unmatched value for money- you’d be surprised at how well <keyword id="2913812" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Treebo-Hotels">Treebo hotels</keyword> would live up to your expectations.

I stayed at a Treebo property in Chennai and here's why it is perfect for budget travellers

<ul><li>As a part of the ongoing round, the startup has already raised ₹45 crore from its existing investors.</li><li>The current funding round was led by Parayanken, whose family office owns five hotels in the US, operating under brands like Holiday Inn and Hyatt.</li><li>Sidharth Gupta, Co-founder of Treebo had earlier said that while the pandemic had delayed their prospects of breaking even, the startup is still confident about moving towards profitability. </li></ul>Hotel chain startup Treebo has raised ₹10 crore from Paytm founder <keyword id="198636" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vijay-Shekhar-Sharma">Vijay Shekhar Sharma</keyword>, Deepak Parayanken of Mozambique Holdings, and Jaydeep Barman of Rebel Foods, among other angel investors. As a part of the ongoing round, the startup has already raised ₹45 crore from its existing investors like Matrix Partners India, SAIF Partners, Ward Ferry, and Bertelsmann India Investments. The current funding round was led by Parayanken, whose family office owns five hotels in the US, operating under brands like Holiday Inn and Hyatt. Talking about the investment, Sidharth Gupta, Co-founder of Treebo said, “They are taking a bet on the long term prospects and the strong fundamentals of the business, which is hugely encouraging. We are excited about not just their capital but also the valuable advice and guidance they can offer.” Gupta had earlier said that while the pandemic had delayed their prospects of breaking even, the startup is still confident about moving towards profitability. “Our EBITDA loss in February, for example, was under ₹10 lakh – an improvement of 95% on a year-on-year basis,” Gupta had said earlier. Given that the hospitality industry is one of the worst-hit during the pandemic, the company is also investing heavily in technology. Its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/oyo-ritesh-agarwal-reveals-he-is-spending-most-of-his-time-with-data-scientists-and-techies-to-find-new-business-areas/articleshow/78810122.cms">bigger rival OYO</a> also has been investing in technology in new business areas. The chain currently has over 600 hotels across 100 cities in India. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/after-katrina-kaif-alia-bhatt-invests-in-e-commerce-unicorn-nykaa/articleshow/78888581.cms">After Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt invests in e-commerce unicorn Nykaa</a>

OYO rival Treebo raises ₹10 crore from Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Deepak Parayanken of Mozambique Holdings, and others

<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.bcg.com/__;!!JboVxjCXSME!LxsTTKGGzgv_iT2CbYmDMYScfgU4z-WY4Kadi8mhw8OL2wZZfBTQEIvBZhu43CL2uaXk11deO_w52LFXhFf7w2iR$">Boston Consulting Group (BCG)</a> in association with <keyword id="4519251" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Times-Bridge" source="Orion">Times Bridge</keyword> and the Delhi Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE Delhi-NCR) today, unveiled a report titled, ‘Road to <keyword id="16830748" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hyperscaling" source="Orion">Hyperscaling</keyword> in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>’. The entrepreneurship and startup landscape in India has witnessed breakout growth over the last few years, transforming India into the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, just behind US and China. Last few years witnessed the rise of 100+ unicorns – a valuation milestone, which has often been celebrated by founders, investors, and media. The impact, however, has been much deeper and broader, with 40K+ active start-ups till FY22. In the last decade several late-stage companies managed to ride the coveted ‘hockey stick curve’, while many more failed, while trying to grow too fast too soon. The report shares learnings from hyperscaling journeys of successful late-stage startups in India. In the context of the evolving macroeconomic environment and the resulting funding winter, the report also provides a framework for emerging startups to align their priorities and hyperscaling aspirations to the new realities. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Key highlights from the successful late-stage start-up journeys" comment="subhead" text="Key highlights from the successful late-stage start-up journeys">Key highlights from the successful late-stage start-up journeys</cmsannotation> Leveraging conversations with leading startup founders and investors, the report shares stories of successful Indian and global late-stage startups along eight key themes that helped them hyperscale in India. While there is no one-size-fits-all pathway, the leading founders and investors have uncovered strategies and tactics from setting up the right business model to expanding the target customer groups and harmonizing the unit economics objectives with hypergrowth. For instance, some stories and examples covered in the report include: <ul><li>How Meesho deployed a creative customer acquisition strategy via their reseller business model to target the less trusting and less tech-savvy tier 2/3 city consumers. While many Indian startups struggled to replicate big city success in small towns and had to scale back, Meesho successfully rose with 70% share from Tier 2/3 towns.</li><li>For Policy Bazaar, finding and nurturing mini-founders within an organization was key to unlocking scale and creating leverage for the founders. This allowed them to not just set up and grow new businesses (e.g. Paisa Bazaar), but also build a culture of entrepreneurship, with different business unit owners driving growth and constructive experimentation within their own business scope. </li><li>For the SaaS startup - Icertis, strategic partnerships with top-tier software and professional services players unlock a rapid pace of growth, which they would have never been able to drive alone. Those relationships enabled the start-up to leverage well-established B2B sales ecosystems quickly and, at the same time, add immense value to their partners’ portfolios of offerings.</li><li>Many Indian start-ups have attempted but struggled to scale up businesses successfully in other major international markets. Report also shares inspirations from global leading startups – such as Uber and Airbnb, who managed to successfully adapt their business models to suit the specific local needs of Indian customers. While driving localization, they focused on not just leveraging existing strong global tech platforms, but also exported successful local innovations for India back into the global platforms and playbooks.</li><li>…and many more similar stories that emerging startup founders could learn from!</li></ul>The report not only highlights the success stories of these start-ups but also cautions against the potential pitfalls at the time of hyperscaling. In the euphoria of scaling up, one may attempt to grow too fast too soon, loosen governance and controls, and miss scaling critical tenets that helped them succeed in the first place. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The path forward" comment="subhead" text="The path forward">The path forward</cmsannotation> Overall, while picking up learnings from the good-to-great journey of startups in the last decade, one must adapt them to the new market realities and own context as well. Venture funding for startups suffered a 40% drop in 2022. No new unicorn emerged in the last 6 months. To add to that, only 18 out of 100 start-ups are profitable in India, as per 2021-22 estimates. Silicon Valley Bank failure and associated events have further added to the volatility and uncertainty in the near term. The tendency to ‘scale fast’ by burning cash always backfires, if done without clear sight of long-term customer value and unit economics. Survival and extension of the financial runway must be the top priority for startups in these times. There is however a silver lining. Many India focused funds are sitting on large amounts of unallocated dry powder to be deployed at an opportune moment. The younger promising start-ups will continue to attract capital, and so would the well-run late-stage start-ups. Founders may have to be more flexible on valuation in the near term though, as well as be open to alternative sources of funds, such as venture debt. As a leading venture capitalist expressed “This is the best time to build your business if you have sorted out your basics. The worst thing you can do is to want to keep to your old valuation because of ego and lose your market share.” Rohan Joseph, VP, Head of Global Investments and Corporate at Times Bridge, said, "India’s entrepreneurship and technology landscape has seen enormous growth in recent years, making it the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. This report showcases the innovative strategies deployed by leading startups and global companies as they scale up in India’s dynamic business climate. At Times Bridge, we enable purpose-driven companies to enter India, and this report reaffirms our conviction in the market’s potential for entrepreneurs across all sectors." Sidharth Madaan, a Partner at <keyword id="144900" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BCG" source="Orion">BCG</keyword>, opined, “Time and again, we have seen the well-run start-ups emerge significantly stronger with reduced competition out of a crisis. In the current volatile environment as well, start-ups with stronger business models, unit economics, customer retention, and sharper growth focus will not just be able to stay afloat, but also consolidate their lead and emerge as leaders on the other side of the crisis.” “How ephemeral can time be. When we started our interviews and research for this report late last year, funds were aplenty, valuations were skyrocketing, and growth was the only objective in one’s mind. And within a few months, while growth is still the holy grail, other parameters like strong business models, customer retention and above all, unit economics, have assumed centre stage. Those start-ups that will be able to juggle all of these without dropping any balls through this period of crisis are the ones that will come out stronger and as leaders from the current volatile environment,” says Rajiv Gupta, MD, Senior Partner and Leads Technology, Media and Telecom for BCG India. “The Indian Startups story has entered a new era with a focus on creating scalable yet sustainable startups with a clear path on profitability. Hyperscaling is integral to this journey. For over 2 decades at TiE Delhi-NCR we have witnessed the rise and rise of the startup ecosystem in India and have played a key role in its development. The report shows our commitment to fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship for the new economy," said Alok Mittal, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Indifi Tech and Board Member <keyword id="2555716" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="TiE-Delhi" source="Orion">TiE Delhi</keyword> – NCR. The founders and leaders need to ensure survival as well as keep one eye on the future. While managing burn will be critical on one end, one must capture opportunities smartly to invest and grow in the long term. <a href="https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/road-to-hyperscaling-in-india">A copy of the report can be downloaded here.</a>

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