Interview: David Lebée, CEO and founder of Dayuse.com

it is a interview with David Lebée, CEO and founder of Dayuse.com, a platform that claims to allow hoteliers to rent their rooms twice on the same day.

· Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?

"I am David Lebée, CEO and founder of Dayuse.com. I studied hotel management at Ferrandi, one of France's leading schools in the culinary arts, before working as vice manager of Hotel Amour for a number of years. After that I was head of corporate sales at the Millennium Hotel Paris Opéra and marketing & commercial director at H?tel Costes. It was during this time that I spotted the opportunity to offer daytime hotel bookings for customers, something there was demand for but no service to provide it. In late 2010, Dayuse.com was launched! We were the first booking platform for daytime hotels and success came quickly. Our platform is now available in 14 countries across the world, with hotels available in over 100 cities."

· Describe the business, core products and services?

"It's a booking platform, website and an app, that offer the possibility to book a room during the daytime enabling hotels to rent their rooms twice a day. This innovative concept is adapted to modern life and spontaneous consumer habits. We offer the possibility of booking hotel rooms during the day at reduced rates, with up to 75 per cent off."

· What problem are you trying to solve?

"Dayuse.com was born from a desire to optimise unused hotel resources. It was built by hoteliers for hoteliers. We also answer an existing demand in daytime hotel bookings matching needs for various usages: a second office, a place to rest for a power nap or a daycation…"

· Who are your key customers and users?

"About 40 per cent of our customers are business travellers looking for a daytime base where they can recharge, use the business centre of a hotel (print documents, quality Wi-Fi…), get work done remotely, unwind between meetings, hold meetings throughout the day or have a power nap. 20 per cent are travellers in transit wanting to refresh, rest or even work during a long stopover. 40 per cent are leisure clientele: it involves couples wanting a romantic escape or a break from the daily routine, day trippers willing to enjoy a daycation using the hotel facilities, people needing time out for themselves or getting ready for a musical, after work!"

· What have you learnt since launch?

"One of the things that we have learnt is that each country is really different; there truly are specificities per country, especially in terms of communication. But in the end, our hotels are all fans of our service!"

· What attracted the recent venture capital investment from Idinvest and Partech Ventures?

"Dayuse.com's partners and investors have always been convinced by the strong and innovative concept since day one, believing that we are revolutionising the hospitality industry. As a new player in the on-demand economy, our ambition is to disrupt a previously untapped market. These investments from highly-respected hospitality industry professionals confirm the strength of the business model, and the trust given to Dayuse as the leader of the market."

· What is the business and revenue model, and are you profitable at the moment?

"Our business model is an online booking platform, but we also have an app and a booking reservation team. Our revenue model is based on a commission basis per booking. We've been profitable since the first day! We reached a business volume of ￡10 million in 2015."

· What is your success metric for the future?

"The success metric is the number of users and reservations on the platform. This is increasing daily, and we are very excited for the future."

· How do you see the short term rental and hotel OTA marketplace maturing?

"We are not a regular OTA as we sell hotel rooms for the daytime: although clients can also book for overnight stays, this is not at all our core business. We allow the hotels to generate 100% additional revenue and have a unique place in our marketplace owing to our singularity. Our goal is to increase our visibility globally. To do so, we will be opening new markets in order to be present in 60 countries by 2020."

· Are you looking to add other forms of accommodation to your offering - eg. serviced apartments?

"Yes, we already have some services-apartments on the platform. We are also working on introducing hotel spas, hotel meeting rooms etc…allowing our clientele to benefit from not only the rooms. Hoteliers will also be happy to optimise their different outlets."