SME Times News Bureau | 11 Jul, 2019
India is currently brimming with new startups, SMEs and
MSMEs every year and this offers a great opportunity to B2B travel aggregators
for growth, said Rahul Chauhan, CEO and Founder, RoomsXpert.
An increasing number of businesses have realized the
importance of business travels and networking in order for the development of
the company, he added.
Excerpts of the interview…
Please tell our readers about RoomsXpert.
Rahul Chauhan: RoomsXpert is a B2B travel website that enables users to
book hotels in 87500+ cities in 190+ countries across the globe. RoomsXpert
serve the role of an aggregator that delivers a straightforward and effortless
hotel reservation system. The platform is a hotel booking online portal for
corporates, in its endeavour to present the most cost-efficient options, brings
countless 'value-for-money' properties to the fore that may remain undiscovered
otherwise. Normally, Retail customers have multiple options while choosing a
hotel while corporate customers are not given the luxury to choose from a range
of hotels. In order to bridge this gap, we came up with the idea of an online
hotels booking platform that is exclusively served for corporate clients. At
RoomsXpert, we ensure that a corporate gets the best quality hotel in
approximately across the globe, by offering you over 10 lakh hotel choices. We
provide you with a common booking platform wherein corporates can find around
70 websites of the same hotel in a single screen. You can analyze and compare
the prices of each website and book the best hotels at cheaper rates, promising
you upto 30% saving in your annual hotel costs. Our primary goal is to provide
users with what they need, and we believe in continuous innovation in business
till the customers accept it. Apart from Hotel booking we provide a range of
services to make corporate travel convenient for travelers.
What type of services do you provide?
Rahul Chauhan: RoomsXpert is a travel aggregator which provides end to end
solution for corporate travel such as booking hotels, flights, private jets,
cabs and also help you in taking the right travel insurance and help in
arranging currency exchange at your request. So, as a whole, RoomsXpert makes
sure your travel is safe, comfortable and pleasant by helping you get the best
services at your budget. We value our customers and hence, customer
satisfaction is our highest priority. With a number of aggregators in the
market, RoomsXpert stands out from others by offering the best, concerning
pricing, service and the depth of inventory.
What is the scope and opportunity in this field in
India?
Rahul Chauhan: Most of the aggregators in India focus on the retail
market by developing technologies with retail customers as their prime focus.
We, at RoomsXpert, only caters to business travel, which is a large segment
that is left untapped in the Indian market. We are currently living in a
country which is brimming with new startups, SMEs and MSMEs every year and it
is expected to elevate to 15% year over year until 2030 based on the
statistics. An increasing number of businesses have realized the importance of
business travels and networking in order for the development of the
company. Today travel expenditure costs are one of the key components of
business expenditure reflecting the speed of growth of the business travel
industry. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has carried out a study
which predicts that the business travel industry is estimated to grow to $63
billion by 2022. Hence, we believe with our services we will be able to cater
to large masses in an effective way.
Please tell us on your funding plans, business module
and BNB changing the face of corporate travel.
Rahul Chauhan: RoomsXpert has been bootstrapped since day one till now.
We have been performing well through self-funding and revenues that have been
channelized back into the business. However, we are actively looking for
funding that will enable us to grow at a much faster pace. Our business module
is transaction based that incorporates a login-based aggregator platform aimed
at building the largest sustainable travel ecosystem with a large number of
national and international hotels connected to our platform. With the majority
of business-to-business transactions being made online and constant rise in
business travels, we provide a technology-based business travel solution that
can change the face of business travel.
The concept of BnB is creeping into business travel
industry and more and more business travellers are choosing BnB options over
hotels. With flexible timings, considerably cheaper rates and a change from
stale hotel rooms, BnB are coming up as a great alternative accommodation
option. The concept got prevalent in 2014 and became increasingly popular. Many
popular brands like Dominos Pizza and Google along with a quite a few Fortune
500 companies are now opting for BnB instead of hotels.
Please share your future plans with our readers.
Rahul Chauhan: We understand that technology is a key player and
therefore, will work towards technology adoption and innovation as our
priority. With considerable growth in the past few years, we are planning to
grow 10X level this year. Also, we are trying to expand our business all across
India. We are currently building an App that should be ready for launch in the
Indian market soon. We are also planning to provide a full-service travel
management platform for business travellers, thereby optimizing online travel
solutions for corporate members.
