Hotel Urbano operates a hotel search and booking platform that aggregates inventory and drives bookings for Brazilian hotels. The company leverages user behavior (30 million users) and push notifications/retargeting to generate demand and currently reports 65% year‑over‑year growth. It aims to boost occupancy for fragmented, seasonally affected hotels in Brazil, where off‑season occupancy outside major cities averages about 35%. Hotel Urbano says 45% of rooms booked are user‑driven and is building tech to increase conversion and occupancy within its local hotel network. The company previously raised $75 million from Tiger Global and Insight Venture Partners and was launched in 2011. Management plans to expand across Latin America and pursue a U.S. IPO within the next three years. Hotel Urbano operates an online travel platform and two concept stores, with its core revenue coming from hotel bookings (about 65%) and the remainder from package bookings. Founded in 2011, the company has grown from 5 employees to more than 500 and maintains a large online following (10 million Facebook fans). Revenues were expected to reach nearly R$1 billion (roughly $427.4 million) by the end of the year, up from R$90 million ($38.5 million) in 2011. The company is pushing to conduct direct negotiations with Brazil's predominantly individually owned hotels to expand inventory. It plans to expand sales and marketing internationally and views the upcoming World Cup and Olympics as catalysts for increasing tourist traffic. Hotel Urbano has positioned its product and operations to capture growth from Brazil's expanding middle class and surging travel demand. HotelUrbano is a Rio-based online travel agency that offers hotel bookings and vacation packages across 35,000 destinations in 83 countries to a Brazilian user base of over 15 million registered users and 7.8 million Facebook fans. The company closed 1.6 million travel bookings last year, generated over $120 million in revenue, and expected to double revenue in 2013. It reached breakeven in Q1, turned a profit in Q2, and projected full-year profitability for 2013. Hotel bookings account for more than 60% of revenue, while travel packages make up the remainder (about 80% of package sales are to international destinations; ~90% of hotel bookings are domestic). The business reports gross margins above 30% (32–34% on over 95% of top-line revenue) and offers customers interest-free payment in up to 10 installments (average 5.2 installments). HotelUrbano plans product launches in dynamic travel packages, mobile and social apps, a TripAdvisor-style reviews product, retail concept stores expansion, and geographic expansion into other Latin American markets.

Total raised

$131M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Jul 2015