A year ago we introduced you to Veronica Nobbs, the AUT graduate and entrepreneur behind mobile app Get a Room. She had a vision for shaking up the hotel booking industry—having noticed that customers were increasingly booking on the same day as their stay—and devised an app for reserving rooms at super short notice. That vision continued as the business rebranded as Stay Today a few months ago and added features like a unique price-drop engine that reduces room costs throughout the day from noon onwards.
Stay Today already has partnerships with hotels across Australasia, and is set for even bigger things having just signed a deal with Fairfax Australia. The contract is a revenue-sharing agreement in which Fairfax will provide media coverage across its mobile networks in exchange for an exclusive territory licence and an undisclosed percentage of all revenue generated by the Stay Today service in Australia.
“Australia is just the start for Stay Today,” said Nobbs, who has aspirations for wider Asia Pacific expansion.
“The explosion in smartphone penetration throughout Asia Pacific will see mobile become a major booking channel for hotels over the next two years. We’re poised to leverage that trend.”
Stay Today managing director Matthew Mayne said the Fairfax partnership paves the way for a strong route to market in Australia.
This is a great deal for Stay Today, as Fairfax has backed us as a credible source of new revenues. Equally, we will benefit significantly from our place on the Fairfax mobile media platform. The opportunity for Stay Today is immense in Australia, as it has the second highest penetration of iPhones per capita in the world”.
Stay Today is also in discussions with New Zealand partners for a similar licence deal here. It’s projecting revenues of more $10 million in its third year, largely from international markets.
- This post originally appeared in idealog.co.nz
