Stay22, a travel tech company, is transforming the event travel industry. The company recently raised $750K in a seed round led by Vancouver-based 7 Gate Ventures with the participation of Real Venture. Stay22 was founded in October 2016 and grew with the help of Travelport, its first investor and incubator.
Seed Round:
Stay22 is an embeddable accommodation map solution for organizations and platforms in the events, entertainment and transportation industries to helps attendees and travelers find ideal lodging. The interactive map aggregates the best prices available online, with access to over 6.5M listings worldwide across 200 countries.
The company intends to use the funding to grow its team and further develop its product. With the help of new technologies with leading edge predictive booking pattern algorithms, Stay22 will bring the product to its next brilliant iteration.
In Q1 of 2018, Stay22 has already accumulated over $600K in accommodation bookings. The company achieved a conversion rate of up to 4.48%, approximately twice as high as the next leading online travel agency (2.4%), a remarkable achievement.
“The necessity to allow event organizers to focus on putting out the best show to their audience quickly and efficiently is highly important. Stay22 has made a notably valuable product for event organizers that leapfrogs the cumbersome arrangements that came before it,” says Ali Saheli, Partner at 7 Gates Venture and new board member at Stay22.
Key Partnerships:
That value is being recognized. Stay22’s major partners include Evenko, Weezevent, and Pearl Jam.
Evenko, a Quebec company and Canada’s top independent event promoter and producer, is partnering with Stay22 to offer an accommodation solution to its customers. As the creator of Osheaga and exclusive manager of Montreal’s Bell Centre, host to the Montreal Canadiens and the world’s top performers, Evenko presents over 1200 events annually.
Weezevent, the first self-service ticketing and RFID solution based in France, recognizes the value Stay22’s lodging widget brings to their event organizers and end-users alike. As a service platform, Weezevent’s software boasts over 200,000 events in Europe, with increasing numbers in Canada as well.
Using Stay22’s maps, Pearl Jam’s fan club members have been able to efficiently search for and book accommodation for the band’s upcoming HOME & AWAY US Summer 2018 tour. Stay22’s comprehensive booking platform offers Pearl Jam’s fans an array of accommodation options that meet a range of budgets, all on one map, along with a “lowest public price guarantee.”
“Event organizers have been using costly room blocks for decades,” says Stay22 CEO, Andrew Lockhead. “But the majority of the event organizers around the globe have not yet tried a map-based accommodation system. With no solution made for their needs to save time and money, they were disadvantaged in a function that’s critical for every multi-day event”.
Stay22 is an innovative travel solution for organizations and platforms in the events, entertainment and transportation industries. The embedded and interactive map aggregates the best prices available online, with access to over 6.5M listings worldwide across 200 countries. Pricing, neighborhood, and commute are key aspects that Stay22’s solution takes into consideration, enabling attendees to stay close to the action.
