As part of our quest to find compelling startup stories that really stand out in the startup ecosystem, we found another one for our readers. Meet Sumit Anand – Founder and CEO at LuvStay. LuvStay is a hotel booking website in India for both married and unmarried couples. The site allows booking hotel rooms in 40+ Indian cities. Let’s read more about Sumit’s Journey as an entrepreneur and his way forward!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your startup, please;
Breaking the old age tradition & changing the rule of hospitality to make travel flexible and fair to a traveler. Started in 2016 After Sumit faced humiliation by some of the hoteliers by denying the room to him and giving him an indigestible reason as his partner was from a different religion. Then he spent lots of time on the ground speaking with various lawyers and hotel owners he came up with the idea of micro stay and couple friendly tag hotel chains.
How do you find the industry/niche that you’re in?
The average hotel occupancy rate in India is 60%. This concept of couple-friendly & micro stay not only benefits to customers but also gives hotels a new line of business. Hotels can increase their revenue by tapping into a new customer segment.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
Good Question. I would say not just in but at night, it usually happens. am always fond of figuring out something niche or new, which may create a proposition for me and the public at large. I usually keep this mode on all the times and it serves the source of my motivation all the time. By GOD grace, have been able to do that as well, where either has created it or worked on something related to it. Also, I am currently in the process of developing something niche on lines.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Needs of a couple are different & we have adapted our hotel room to cater to them. Initially, we faced a lot of opposition from the hoteliers. The owners were worried that people in the society would judge them if they started accepting unmarried couples. They were confused and unsure about the laws and rules regarding hotels to couples. We had cleared all their doubts. We had converted one or two out of ten which we approached. To overcome their fears, we started explaining to them about the depth of problems faced by couples & opportunity that we can create to become market leaders. Hotels profit scale increased 4 times after partnering with us. This progress was enough to facilitate our process of onboarding other hotels. Now more than 50% of hotels approach us by own.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
I am an emotional person. Business needs to have emotions, not personal, obviously, but business ones like concern for quality deliverables, client satisfaction, targets & roadmaps, you planned & how you will achieve it, etc. Money is obviously the priority but I believe if your value creation process is right for others, money will automatically come as an outcome of it.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I have successfully carried out Pre IPO advisory for a Government undertaking under the supervision of great mentors I have. It was a challenging task as the sector for which we were executing it, was complicated. Even, parallel hired consultants were not that effective as compared to our work and Organisation fired them. But due to the continuous trust of my immediate supervisor in me, I have been able to carry out successfully.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
In my journey so far what has helped me immensely is the lean methodology.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
There are a few and you can learn it on your way up. As long as you have growth mindset it is not a problem.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
I always work on a tag line ‘add value to get value’. Don’t focus primarily on money or investments but keep your focus on creating a sustainable venture & value creation. I believe, rest things will automatically set with time. Also, if you are starting up a venture, feel free to reach out to us. You will find us a great partner or mentor to you with innovative means.
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Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
