Circa 2019. Hotel-booking startup RedDoorz had just raised $70 million in a Series C funding round in July, less than five months after closing its $45-million Series B round. The company was growing 4-5 times year-on-year in occupied room nights, with occupancy levels averaging 65-70% across some 1,500 hotels in Southeast Asia.
But then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and suddenly it was a question of survival against growth. “In March [2020], the occupancy levels [at our hotels] dipped from 70% to 10% within 10 days. It was a dramatic drop,” RedDoorz founder and CEO Amit Saberwal recalled in an exclusive chat with DealStreetAsia. He added that the company was forced to rethink its business model and quickly transition from growth mode to focusing on survival.