Zostel hospitality tying up with aspiring entrepreneurs to open more branded hostels

Online budget accommodation aggregator Zostel Hospitality is planning to launch 14 more branded hostels for backpackers by end of the year across national and international destinations. As far as the business model is concerned, the company ties up with aspiring entrepreneurs through its Zostel Entrepreneurship Development Programme, under which performance linked seed capital of Rs 10 lakh is provided after a property is launched. Launched in August 2013, Zostel Hospitality operates under two brands, ZO Rooms and Zostel.

"We are focusing on growing the Zostel network to 25 properties across national and international destinations. We are focusing on Southeast Asia and Europe for now, having successfully opened our first international Zostel in Vietnam," Zostel Hospitality Co-founder Akhil Malik told PTI.

In India, the new hostels will come up in locations such as Khajuraho, Jaipur, Mysore, Ooty, Manali, Spiti, Leh, Puri, and Kochi, he added. "The new international properties will be launched in Hanoi in Vietnam, Pattaya in Thailand, Mt Lavinia and Ella in Srilanka and Porto in Portugal," Malik said.
The company, at present, has 11 hostels in Rishikesh, Pushkar, Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Agra, Varanasi, Delhi, Goa and Vietnam. Currently, over 20,000 backpackers stay in Zostels every month.

When asked if the company is looking to raise
fund for the expansion, he said: "We are in a comfortable position right now and are not looking at raising any funds for the Zostel expansion. We will be investing heavily in supporting them with marketing and technology."