Presenting yourself as a Booking-com-killer might seem a bit over-ambitious. But while they are not quite there yet, travel-startup Bidroom is still going strong, and growing fast. Today the company, based in The Hague, announces it raised €1 million from informal investors.
Bidding on guests
Bidroom is the alternative to the current ruling travel marketplaces like Booking, Tripadvisor and Expedia. The startup doesn’t compare prices and spits out search results. Instead it lets the user fill in his or her holiday wishes, and lets hotels bid on their guest. The company contacts hotels and makes an offer for the stay. According to the startup itself, this results in better offers for lower prices.
Also homes, apartments and B&B’s
Those lower prices are a result of the commission Bidroom charges. The startup claims that sites like Booking.com charge 15 to 25 percent extra per booking. Bidroom only charges 2 percent, which results in prices of at least 5 percent lower than the bigger travel marketplaces. Bidroom not only offers hotelrooms. By popular demand they also offer apartments, holiday homes and bed and breakfasts in their database.
Back-end development and expansion
The new investors are not named by the startup. They do reveal what they’ll be using their new million for. The startup will invest in their booking-technology on the back end. They’ll also expand their sales team as well as the local teams in Berlin, Athens, Barcelona and other European cities. These teams usually consist of one or two persons to stay in touch with hotels and media. Meanwhile Bidroom has also opened a second office in Polish Kraków, mostly for programmers and a salesteam.
Bidroom goes global in 2016
The road doesn’t end there, if the startup is concerned. Their Dutch team currently consists of ten people. The site attracts 200.000 active users and grows 23 percent every month. After making a deal with hotelchains Sandton and Bastion, expanding the offer with thousands of hotels over Europe, they grew further. Currently they have 14.000 accommodations in 21 countries their database. Those are all European destinations. Going global is the next step. One that Bidroom is convinced they’ll make this year.
