Raphaël Zier and Laurent Curutchet, co-founders of PerfectStay, chat with Phillipe Collombel and Claire Godron from Partech

Today, PerfectStay is raising a €15 million round of funds from Partech and Felix Capital. An opportunity for Philippe Collombel, Managing Partner of Partech, Claire Godron, Principal at Partech, and the two PerfectStay co-founders Raphaël Zier and Laurent Curutchet to look back on their partnership.

Can you briefly tell us about PerfectStay?

Laurent Curutchet: Founded in 2016, PerfectStay provides travel package management and promotion services to B2B players with a large customer audience. We are not just another actor on the already very crowded B2C travel market, but the first and only exclusively B2B player. We develop and operate a pre-packaged offer for powerful brands on their behalf, built on a selection of top hotels at exclusive rates combined with a complete offer of available flights. We target leading brands, who we believe have the vocation to successfully develop a package offering. Our scope goes far beyond that of specialized travel industry brands as we also target retailers, e-tailers and banks. Prestigious players such as Air France, Vente-Privée, Corsair and Emirates have already trusted us with their business.

Raphael Zier: Before launching PerfectStay, we considered entering the B2C market, but we soon realized the B2B market was not being addressed and that it offers tremendous opportunities. Today, travel industry players use the principle of white-labelling: they resell an existing offer under their own brand, but customers aren’t fooled and quickly understand that it is in their best interest to buy at the source. On the other hand, if you offer them a dedicated exclusive selection under the umbrella of a brand like Air France, they won’t hesitate for a second. For example, with La Collection Air France, we offer clients exclusive and attractive deals with quality hotels selected specifically for them. Our positioning is unique and disrupts the travel distribution market for large brands. We provide them with a turn-key solution: we supply the hotel selection included in the packages, the technology, the customer service, the merchandising, the marketing… We are changing the game.

What drew you to PerfectStay?

Claire Godron: First of all, the team, their solid experience and their understanding of the travel market that enabled them to have a different positioning to existing offerings. Secondly, their execution capacity, the strong growth of their activity in Year 1, with revenues of 13.4 million euros, and real sale successes on which to build their deployment in France and internationally. Lastly, their unique positioning: their business model enables them to leverage their partner brand’s existing client base and use it to make money. It is one of the best business models.

Philippe Collombel: We have been at the team’s side since the project launch and we really appreciate their capacity to challenge themselves quickly, to reflect on a new market dynamic and to change their business model. Their positioning in relation to a saturated market is very interesting, because it is at the crossroads of several needs: on one hand, large retailers or e-retailers with huge customer bases who are looking to provide new offerings, to reinforce their activity and increase their revenue; on the other, the travel market that spends a lot to acquire traffic and customers. PerfectStay has found the perfect internal mechanism for acquiring traffic at the lowest possible cost.

What is PerfectStay’s success built on?

Laurent Curutchet: It is built on the three components that we provide as a turnkey solution to our customers. First, our proprietary technology developed by our CTO, Ludovic Bailly, who has more than 10 years’ experience on the French travel market, enabling us to deliver quality service to partner brands and to the end-customer with hyper-flexible offers and an inspirational dimension; second, our offers, in other words our sourcing capacity, with dedicated teams that travel the world to negotiate the best deals with the hotel industry; last our capacity to offer a turnkey solution to our partner brands, without calling on their internal resources. For example, the activation of customers who have become members of the Air France collection is managed by our teams. The Air France teams have just one thing to do: promote and give visibility to our products.

Can you tell us more about PerfectStay team?

Laurent Curutchet: In the beginning, there were two associate founders, Raphael and myself. When we decided to position ourselves on the B2B market, we understood that we didn’t have the necessary skills to deliver our project. We grew the team with Ludovic Bailly for the technology and Stéphane Libre for sourcing, and that’s the best decision that we ever made.

For the moment, you are alone in your market, but are you protected by barriers to entry?

Raphael Zier: Yes, we are alone; the first barrier is our proprietary technology that is the result of nearly 10 years of work and reflection driven by Ludovic Bailly. Our B2B positioning is another asset, as most new brands focus on the B2C market. It’s a virtuous circle: the faster we capture this market, the harder it will be for new arrivals to push us out. In terms of sourcing, size is also a factor in negotiating attractive deals with hotels. We are the only ones who offer more than just good deals; we offer hotels a better visibility with prestigious customers such as Air France or Emirates.

Philippe Collombel: The aspect of scalability is key. PerfectStay offers hotels a sustained flow. While other sites offer commonplace travel packages, both less attractive for the client and less protective of professional margins, PerfectStay provides exclusive offers that correspond to the expectations of Air France customers, which are different to those of Emirates customers.

Laurent Curutchet: Our platform enables hotels to distribute their offers to different brands and on different markets. We are a true business facilitator for the hotels.

Raphael Zier: Working with leading brands is a key asset for our international development. Their trust and recognition enable us to rapidly and cost-effectively build brand awareness and client trust in new countries.

How do you intend to use the 15 M€ of fundraising?

Laurent Curutchet: Our market plan is to scale and deploy our activity overseas. France is the №3 European country in terms of package deal sales, after Germany and the United Kingdom. We would like to be operational in these two countries as quickly as possible. We will also need to seize opportunities where they arise, which is why we will open in Benelux in July, as we are just about to sign a deal with a new partner.

Claire Godron: We always look very carefully at a startup’s capacity for international development. Far from being a sub-market, Europe offers considerable perspectives in the travel world. It is a huge ticket issuing market, with high average travel spending and a tendency to take long-haul flights, in line with the PerfectStay offering.

What do you expect from Partech?

Raphael Zier: We are really happy with our partnership. We have known Partech for a long time and really appreciate their capacity to support us, to challenge us and to be at our side for our international development. Through its extensive network, Partech can help us accelerate our search for partners, which is key for us. We also like the fund’s prestige and their understanding of our model.

Philippe Collombel: We too are pleased with our investment and are very impressed by the PerfectStay team. A good team is an insurance. Personally, I did have some doubts about the travel sector mainly because of the acquisition costs, and it is always interesting to be surprised by a team of entrepreneurs who question your convictions. Entrepreneurs are smarter than analysts.