Christian Rodríguez (left) and Guillermo Gaspart (right), founders of ByHoursMicrostays booking platform ByHours has closed a new international funding round at EUR 8 million to consolidate its presence in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and begin operations in the US.
ByHours, founded by Christian Rodríguez and Guillermo Gaspart, is a booking platform that allows microstay bookings in more than 3,000 hotels around the world in packs of 3, 6 and 12 hours, where the user chooses the check-in and check-out time, 24 hours a day.
Since its creation in 2012, the company has been supported by national and international investors with a total value of EUR 18 million. New international investors have participated in this new funding round, including lead investors such as Angel Ventures and DILA Capital, both from Mexico, as well as current partners such as Howzat Partners.
"Our goal for 2020 is, in addition to continuing to grow in our current markets and to start operations in the United States, to be able to develop the B2B market and improve our connectivity with other players in the tourism sector," said Gaspart, CEO and co-founder of ByHours.
"We bring flexibility"
"We bring flexibility to a sector that until now has been very limited to its traditional rules and operations and we provide additional income to the hotel sector," explained co-founder Rodriguez. "Frequent travellers, whether business or family, can stay for a few hours in hotels near airports, train stations, business areas or in the city centre. We also offer hotels near hospitals, football stadiums, theatres and leisure areas."
The platform already has more than 250,000 users and has sold more than one million hotel hours, generating more than EUR 20 million in turnover for the hotel industry.
By 2020, the company expects to increase its turnover by more than 150% with the addition of more than 2,000 hotels to its portfolio. The platform also expects that next year 75% of its revenue will come from international bookings.
