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

News

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.