It wasn’t very long ago when checking into a hotel for a few hours may cause a few sideways glances, but these days it has become a possible lifesaver for work-from-homers who need a change of environment, or who cannot work in peace at home due to noisy neighbours or disruptions. Thankfully, booking platforms like Dayuse offer a solution by curating an on-de- mand list of hotel rooms that you can book on the spot, based on your budget and needs.
Dayuse is bucking the traditional “per night” model and booking process to offer “dayscapes” on an on-demand basis, and between 30% and 75% cheaper than an overnight stay. It leads a growing pool of other daycation apps like Stayr, DayAway or DayPass created to meet the needs of time-stretched urbanites looking for unique ways to spend their day. Digital nomads aside, the rooms also cater to pleasure-seekers looking to pamper themselves with the hotel amenities, or travellers-in-transit who need a place to freshen up.
With the flexibility offered by the platform, guests can reserve a room for a few hours from 6am to 11pm, book without a credit card and pay upon check-in with the option to cancel for free up to the very last minute — all on top of access to a medley of upscale and restorative amenities.
Founded in 2010 by French national David Lebée, Dayuse started out as a browser-based booking platform but slowly branched into a mobile app catering to most parts of Europe. Then in 2015, the company raised EUR15 million in a Series A investment round — from venture capitalists Idinvest Partners and Partech Ventures, as well was renowned business angels Paul Dubrule (co-founder of Accor), Cédric Barbier (founder of Lesjeudis.com) and Charles Petruccelli (ex-president of American Express Travel) — sparking off an expansion in the US, Hong Kong and now Singapore.
The seed money helped with overseas expansions and the recruitment of talent around the world. The company currently has 80 employees across four offices in Paris, Montréal, Hong Kong and Taiwan. By the end of 2021, Dayuse had a business volume of $175 million (82% of which was from the US and England), with more than 7,000 partnering hotels across 26 countries in 500 cities.
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“Our y-o-y growth across hotel partners and users is a real testament that Dayuse is a very compelling proposition. We are certain that the daytime hotel concept is poised to become mainstream, and we will continue to evolve our offerings in tandem with consumers’ needs in the new normal,” says 40-year-old Lebée.
This key role in the transformation of today’s hospitality industry has not only made Dayuse a major player in the market, but also accorded Lebée bragging rights for his vision of “paying the right price for the right consumption”. A graduate from renowned Parisian culinary school Ferrandi, Lebée started his career in the kitchens of Méridien Montparnasse and the Marriot. After realising that life as a chef wasn’t for him, he became an in-house wedding and events planner for Hôtel Millenium Paris Opéra. There, he met hotelier Gilbert Costes who invited him to join the trendy Hôtel Costes as sales and marketing director before moving on as general manager of Hôtel Amour in 2008.
During his time with the Costes group, Lebée noticed a slow but quiet evolution in hospitality consumption. Increasingly, guests wished to book a room for just a few hours but traditional structures never had an appropriate service to offer. Seeing this as a lucrative trend, he created Dayuse.com along with his two partners, Eugénie Lebée and Thibaud D’Agrèves.
“I had so many requests from guests looking for a room for just a few hours to unplug, relax with their partner or simply work in a quiet space. There are so many hours between a check-out and check-in where hotel rooms remain empty. I thought it’ll be a great opportunity to capitalise on and plug the gap where demand and supply exist,” he explains.
On average, 70% of hotel rooms are empty most days. By optimising unused inventory, Dayuse enables hoteliers to generate incremental revenue and improve their bottom line — a real game-changer with the current hospitality challenges. Lebée believes this concept will become the de- fault as people yearn for new experiences.
“Cities offer some amazing properties that are totally unknown to their residents. My main motivation was to open up these places for local residents to explore while simultaneously providing a new revenue stream to hoteliers,” he continues.
Naumi Hotel Singapore
Since its Singapore launch in 2018, Dayuse has become a fast-growing player in the “book-by-day” market. It currently lists over 100 top-tier to mid-tier hotels such as The Fullerton Hotel, The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore, Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay, The Scarlett Singapore, Naumi Hotel Singapore and Sofitel Sentosa Resort & Spa.
Not only do guests enjoy preferential rates on meals, beverages, treatments and more, they can also pre-book add-ons or create a bespoke day experience by contacting Dayuse’s dedicated “concierge” available by phone during office hours on weekdays.
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Here, Lebée shares more about Dayuse and its expansion into Asia.
How is Dayuse different from other hotel booking platforms?
Dayuse’s main difference is that it offers day stays for guests. From as early as 7am to late stays until 11pm, we curate the best hotels to enable guests to live an on-demand experience. We offer free cancellation until the last minute and require no upfront payments or card details when booking. These are pretty unique features.
Who would you say Dayuse is targeted at?
Dayuse caters to modern urbanites, 90% of whom are Singapore residents, while the remaining 10% are travellers looking for a place to rest during a layover, before a late departure, or after an early arrival. Of the local customer base, the business category represents 15% of remote workers (or digital nomads) looking to “work from hotel” or just a change in scenery to find new inspiration. The leisure segment represents 75% of our guests looking to rediscover hotels in their city and enjoy services that had, until recently, been reserved for overnight clients.
There’s no need for any complex logistics or planning. You can book a daycation on the day itself, for less than $90, and simply bring along your handbag!
What does it take to grow into a global brand spanning across 500 cities?
It’s definitely not easy. Inevitably, we made some mistakes but we learned from them. There are cultural differences and specificities within each market. We first started expanding in the French-speaking countries like Belgium and Switzerland in the second year of Dayuse’s existence and pretty quickly in other European markets. But after we received funding in 2015 thanks to various investors, expansion really took off, from recruiting more employees to opening up offices overseas.
Which country does fairly well on your app?
Hong Kong and Singapore are the best performers. Consumers in both countries have a strong mobile consumption. At almost 80%, Hong Kong has one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in Asia, with comparable counterparts being South Korea and Singapore.
How is Dayuse Singapore doing so far?
Since our inception in 2018, our hotel partners in Singapore and user base have continued to grow. Compared to November 2020, our hotel portfolio increased by 2.5 times, while bookings have registered a 350% uplift. Dayuse provides a solution for Singapore residents facing space or noise constraints at home, and also for anyone craving a luxury daycation with access to the spa, pool, fitness room or rooftop bar for a quick respite.
How do you work with the hotel partners to get them listed?
We have a business development team that contacts hotels and manages incoming requests. Dayuse carefully curates a selection of three- to five-star hotels based on high-value offering, location and on-site amenities. Many of our properties are highly accessible to airports, main railway hubs, business districts and trendy neighbourhoods.
What was the general reaction by hotels when you pitched this concept to them?
There can be some reluctance at the beginning but hotels understand very quickly the benefits they can gain with Dayuse including attracting a new clientele, developing incremental revenue, optimising unused inventory, and increasing their occupancy rate.
Was Dayuse affected by the pandemic?
The past 18 months have been one of the most turbulent times for the travel and tourism industry. Hotels in Asia Pacific experienced a decline in investment by 43% in 2020 alone with lows in occupancy and revenue per room. Pre-Covid, nearly 70% of hotel rooms were empty during the day, but this was exacerbated with a loss of travel due to the pandemic. Each market was affected differently based on its national restrictions and lockdowns but most were adversely affected to some degree.
However, at Dayuse, we held up pretty well because we cater to locals and urbanites. We offered a service that was the only option to escape the daily grind. Locals were keen to get out of their house for fresh air and were looking for new experiences and places to explore without breaking the bank. Dayuse also catered to remote workers who wanted a change in environment to find renewed motivation after working from home for some time.
What’s next for Dayuse?
Looking ahead, Dayuse will continue to expand on its hotel partnerships and boost its offering with unique, curated experiences as well as multiply our staycations packages and supply by 10 times. Recently, we launched our Staycation Offers in Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan) to cater to clients looking for a new type of micro-stay where they can enjoy an overnight retreat with a dedicated theme: food and beverages, wellness and spa, romantic escape and more.
Ultimately, we want to cement our position as the one-stop go-to platform for hotel experiences. We also want to be the leader in educating people about travelling within their city, living new experiences and enjoying hotels in their neighbourhood.
