Stella Stays - Achievement in Sales or Revenue Generation
Company: Stella Stays, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Company Description: Stella Stays is a technology-powered hospitality start-up that offers homes and apartments to the modern resident and traveller. With a rapidly growing portfolio of properties in the Middle East and North America, our vision is to redefine the rental experience and leverage the power of technology to deliver outstanding experiences, services, comfort and style.
Nomination Category: Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Innovative Achievement in Sales or Revenue Generation
Nomination Title: Stella Stays' Innovative Revenue Generation Strategy
Stella Stays redefines the hospitality experience by using the power of technology to deliver outstanding experiences, services, comfort and style. Our tech-enabled brand merges traditional hotel experiences with the flexibility and privacy of a fully-functioning home, where guests can relax, unwind and explore the surrounding area.
In the early stages of the pandemic, we adapted to the changes taking place in the market by diversifying our offering, targeting new audiences and strengthening our portfolio of additional services. Given the challenges faced by the short-term rental sector, we took the decision to reduce our dependency on traditional vacation rental channels, such as Property Finder, Airbnb and Booking.com, and began approaching landlords to sign agreements with reduced rent and longer fixed periods. We also began to target new customer niches, such as local residents and business travellers, that were looking for staycations, remote working options and extended furnished stays. As a result, we grew our internal sales team, formed corporate partnerships with international agencies, embassies and global firms and boosted our social media presence via giveaways and influencer partnerships. This has led to a large number of booking requests on Instagram and Facebook, which has become new sales channels for us to focus on. As a result of these changes, we were able to beat our Q3 and Q4 revenue targets in 2020 that were set pre-COVID. It also helped us achieve an average occupancy rate of 85% despite a market average of below 60% for many areas in Dubai and Montréal.
In order to provide outstanding guest experiences, we strengthened our portfolio of additional services. From private chefs to our in-house masseuse, event planner, personal trainer and housekeeping services, all can be arranged in a few clicks via the Stella Stays guest app. Additionally, we partnered with various kayak and paddle boarding services across to Dubai to provide family-friendly activities at our villas located on the Palm Jumeirah. These services were, and continue to be, a huge hit with our guests, generating over AED 50,000 in revenue for the last quarter of 2020.
From our innovative booking platform to Stella Stays guest app, our devotion to delivering exceptional guest experiences has led to a significant increase in the number of repeat bookings, forming a strong basis for generating greater customer loyalty. Furthermore, we have introduced several social media strategies to encourage repeat bookings, such as’#TheStellaWay’ contest where our guests can win vouchers for their next stay by posting a photo at our homes. As a result of these innovations, we have grown our monthly revenues by a factor of 28, reaching AED 1.3 million in January 2021.