Have you ever looked at a hotel's website and wondered if you could hang out there?
That might not be out of reach thanks to ResortPass.
People can purchase day passes to more than 900 hotels and resorts around the world through the company. The passes give users access to amenities such as pools, spas and fitness centers without having to spend a lot of money.
ResortPass is a marketplace that pairs users with hotels and takes a cut of each booking. The company says it has seen a surge in business with a 100% increase in gross booking volume so far in the year 2022. It has doubled the number of people using it.
The startup works with the properties to help determine prices, which usually reflect the level of service and amenities that a hotel offers Depending on the hotel, a day pass to access a pool can cost from $25 to $100. Children are usually free.
ResortPass has built software that makes it easier for hotels to support day guest access. ResortPass gives these hotels a new revenue stream by allowing for more guests per day. ResortPass says it has delivered over $1 million in new booking revenue to its individual hotel partners. The startup says it has collaborated with over 1.5 million guests. ResortPass is free for hotels to join, but many do subscribe to its access management and booking software tools, which allow overnight guests to book amenities on the premises.
In 35 states, ResortPass is available, including Florida, California, New York, Hawaii, Oklahoma and Arizona. It plans to eventually expand into new markets such as Europe and the Asia-Pacific region as it sees good traction in recently entered markets outside the U.S. ResortPass raised $26 million in a Series B funding round led by Declaration Partners and 14W, bringing its total raised to $37 million. Early backer CRV was involved in the financing along with new investors such as William Morris Endeavor, Adam Grant and Brian Kelly.
AirAngels was also invested in byAirbnb. It makes sense that these two companies want to create new markets out of unused inventory.
Michael Wolf is the new CEO of ResortPass, a New York-based company. ResortPass was founded in 2016 and had a CEO until late in the third quarter. Szabo decided that it would be beneficial to have a leader with experience in working with marketplaces to help it scale. She will work in an advisory capacity in the future.
Wolf said that she was a zero to one person. I am a one- to- many person. The company had built a strong business without much capital.
He said it was the most excited he had ever been about a company.
ResortPass is looking to expand throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean.
Wolf said in an interview that their hotels outside the U.S. are doing well. There are some top performing hotels in Puerto Rico.
Longer term, ResortPass will add more markets such as Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
The majority of ResortPass users want to experience the amenities of hotels in their own city. Local users didn't have the chance to access the industry locally. They thought they had to go on a plane.
Travelers who stay at anAirbnb in a city for the extra space but still want access to amenities such as a nice pool or fitness center are part of ResortPass's customers. A popular use case is for cruise passengers who want to disembark from their cruise ship and get to a nice property just for the day, or for passengers who don't want to stay in an airport all day.
Wolf says ResortPass aims to "emulate the normal operating flow of a hotel."
Wolf said that most of ResortPass's users come across its offering through word of mouth.
The company's new capital will allow it to increase its team in all departments. The company has about 50 employees and 20 of them are engineers. Wolf says that the company's user growth is reflected in almost all of its metrics.
The company raised $9 million in a Series A round in August of 2019. Wolf wouldn't say which valuation was raised, only that it was over 2.5 times the valuation of the last round.
CRV led ResortPass's seed and Series A rounds based on its belief that the company "delivered a unique and delightful experience to consumers, while adding significant incremental profits to their hotel partners with no additional cost."
Ryan Ackell is bullish as well. He said thatResortPass was the pioneer of a new segment of the lodging industry. ResortPass is aligning the industry with how people are choosing to take time off with shorter, more frequent experiences closer to home.
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