The idea for BidnBooking came when one of its founders wanted to round off a backpacking trip with a nice place to stay and ended up negotiating with a hotel manager for a better price.
Co-founder David Adiel Baissa says he grew up in a family of travellers and entrepreneurs and always knew he would start something on his own.
At university, he launched an import/export business with a classmate and learned valuable lessons when the company didn’t "quite make it off the ground."
BidnBooking is an eight-strong team including co-founder and CEO David Adiel Baissa, co-founder and technology chief, Benjamin Nabet, head of sales Daniel Olsson and head of marketing Fredrik Nilsson.
The startup is currently self-funded and is focusing on improving the platform for users. Next steps include getting investors on board as well as a continued focus on investing in technology with plans to launch IOS and Android applications within the next 6 months.
BidnBooking is going after Europe's total hotel market which is estimated to be worth about Euro 40 billion.
The startup says it's competing with hotel booking sites, last-minute sites, private sales sites and mobile apps but that no other application enables users to bid for a hotel room in Europe.
Revenue will be drawn by applying a low commission fee (compared to competitors) but the strategy is to:
"gain market share and create a win-win environment where hotels can maintain high occupancy rates and travellers find great deals for their holidays."
What problem does the business solve?
For Hotels: Hotels are facing low occupancy rates, combined with high costs of distribution imposed by classic hotel booking websites, plus the arrival of new competitors in the hospitality industry such as AirBnB. This translates to an increase of unsold inventory and a lack of profitability for hotels.
For travellers: Travellers have often the feeling that they are overpaying for their hotel stay. They want the best value and an easy way to book their stay.
BidnBooking allows travelers to decide what to pay for their hotel through a bidding process, where they get an immediate answer from the hotel. For hotels it is a great way to generate extra revenue and create traction about their name by pushing consumers to compete for their rooms.
How did the initial idea evolve and were there changes/any pivots along the way in the early stages?
Our idea has been unchanged since we started working on the project. The progress came from interactions with hotels and our understanding on how we can give them the best extranet interface to make it easy for them to work with us.
We will only offer a limited number of rooms per hotels and make users compete for these rooms.
Why should people or companies use the business?
BidnBooking is a simple and fun way to book their hotel stay with a guarantee of a great deal, there’s nothing to lose.
For hotels it is a complementary distribution channel that gives access to new consumers, with low fee commission model and risk-free revenue stream.
What is the strategy for raising awareness and the customer/user acquisition (apart from PR)?
BidnBooking is a community. We believe that by offering the best user experience to our consumers and our partners, they will spread the word about their experience.
We are planning to participate in online marketing campaigns on a selective basis, and some of our team members have an extensive experience in marketing and digital media.
Where do you see the company in three years time and what specific challenges do you anticipate having to overcome?
The travel industry is changing; BidnBooking hopes to be part of that change by bringing more flexibility and communication between travellers and hotels.
We hope that our service will help hotels increase their occupancy rates and also push people to travel more. The industry is very competitive and keeps innovating and offering the best user experience is key to keep the attention of consumers.
What is wrong with the travel, tourism and hospitality industry that requires another startup to help it out?
Not sure there is something wrong, but there are clearly some improvements that can be made by using innovative platforms and by also thinking more often about the consumers. Supply is increasing but demand is overall stagnating creating a lack of profitability for some hotels; we want to reduce that gap and allow both sides to benefit from each other.
What other technology company would you consider yourselves most closely aligned to in terms of culture and style... and why?
We are a traveller’s start-up with a European team although we are now based in Paris. We like the spirit of start-ups such as TicTail or Spotify.
Tnooz view:
You worry when you see startups like this that there is not enough differentiation.
BidnBooking sees competition from established hotel bookings sites, last-minute services and mobile applications - and what's to stop the likes of booking.com launching a bidding service? After all, when same-day hotel services started making noise Priceline quickly launched its own service.
And, there are many other newer hotel intermediaries some playing in the secondary hotel market such as Cancelon, Roomer and Hall St, some promising to refund the difference such as Tingo and then sites such as bidroom, which enables users to enter their requirements and have hotels offer up their best price.
Is there room in the market for all these players or is it just a question of dividing the pie differently?
Another question is how will BidnBooking gain traction in a market where consumers already suffer from overload, shopping across online booking and metasearch sites and a lot more besides?
The startup's answer is by providing a great user experience, the development of a community to spread the word and its online marketing expertise.
It is also taking a step-by-step approach with London and Paris first followed by other European cities and continues to focus on its technology. Only offering a few rooms in hotels at a time and getting consumers to compete for those rooms should also help it foster engagement.
Time will tell and we look forward to watching BidnBooking as it develops through its beta and launches its mobile apps later this year.
PS: Watch out for some unexpected characters in the Vine :)
Vine clip: