October 31, 2022
31st October 2022 ⎟Paris
Paris-based hotel tech startup Namastay - who raised 2.1 million in seed round funding in March 2022 - announces the launch of its direct booking technology in the UK and Irish markets. The Namastay seamless booking experience is already live on the website of Henrietta Hotel, a 4-star boutique hotel located in Covent Garden.
While the British hospitality industry has largely recovered from the pandemic, hotel revenues remain 2% below their pre-pandemic levels. Namastay’s goal is to help hoteliers increase direct online conversion rate. Hotels which have implemented Namastay already report an increase in conversion rates of up to 3.5x.
Direct bookings are crucial for hotels in a post-pandemic context. In 2020, OTAs (Online Travel Agents such as Expedia or Booking.com) captured roughly 64% of online bookings in Europe. Because OTAs charge commissions of up to 25% to hotels for each booking, hotels are eager to boost direct bookings through their website. In addition, online direct bookings are also the guests’ preferred booking channel as they value a closer relationship with the hotel and are generally guaranteed the best available price.
“UK and Ireland are particularly important markets especially given their appetite for new technologies and the pressure on margins faced by hoteliers. By investing in dedicated teams for these markets, we are confident that Namastay will have a positive impact on the industry in this region,” says Frédéric Robles, CEO and co-founder of Namastay.
In 2021, 49% of online payments were made with digital wallets (such as Apple Pay or Google Pay), yet this payment method is almost non-existent in the hotel sector today.
Namastay enables ultra-fast bookings and payments directly on the hotel’s website without any redirections. This technology is supercharged with a variety of payment options including Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit or debit cards, as well as a Pay Now/Pay Later option, that have already driven a marked increase in prepaid bookings. On average, 70% of bookings made with Namastay are prepaid, which unlocks up to 5 weeks of cash flow for hotels.
Namastay can be implemented in less than a week on hotels’ existing technology stack. Joanna Tutak, Henrietta Hotel’s General Manager explains: “Namastay was implemented in 4 days, the tech team started work on Monday and the booking engine was live on our website by Thursday. It was implemented easily, without any shut down of our website, so we did not lose any bookings during the implementation process.” Currently, Namastay is compatible with SynXis channel manager, and is currently being certified with other major channel managers to allow more properties to offer the best booking experience to their guests.
ABOUT NAMASTAY
Namastay is a hotel tech startup founded by four technology and hospitality entrepreneurs: hotelier Romée de Goriainoff, Fintech founder Alain Falys, tech and hospitality investor Axel Wehr and former tech and antitrust lawyer Frédéric Robles.
Through its cutting-edge technology, the company enables hotels to offer their guests the best direct booking experience on their own website. Namastay operates at the intersection of hospitality and fintech with the ambition to become the preferred online direct booking solution for hotels globally.
