Providing safe, affordable spaces for couples through micro-renting hotel rooms removes social taboos to be successful
Starting in 2016 with claims to lead a social movement and breaking a major taboo—offering a hotel room for couples for a very short stay—StayUncle has been on course.
The startup’s name, a play on the then-dominant internet hosting service, Go Daddy, and perhaps, a nod to the ‘uncles and aunts’ who have been at the fore of upholding middle-class morality, StayUncle, is considering a name change. It reflects its anti-patriarchal, anti-caste, gender-neutral and inter-religious beliefs.
Amit Sharma, CEO of StayUncle said, “While the name was just a sort of thing, it’s time to change the name.” ‘.
Today with operations in 40 cities and associations with 1,800 5-star, 4-star and 3-star hotels, the start-up is the first to offer ‘no questions asked’ stays in any way in the hospitality business. OYO started its relationship mode a few years back.
But with the brand’s aggressive positioning and single-minded focus on couples, and a cheeky tagline post-COVID—”We’re clean to get you dirty”—the startup’s managers aren’t worried about comparisons. Nor are they apologizing for their tagline.
“We are only focusing on couples,” reminds Sanchit Sethi, co-founder of the startup. For this, the entire process of booking a room is literally a phone call and an app away. No questions asked except preferences as per the budget of the client. However, an identity document, driving license or Aadhaar is required while booking a hotel.
obstacle course
Couples of different religions or castes in India have long faced obstacles – from family protests to death threats, some even costing their lives – for daring to fall in love. Come 2020 and complaints were filed against OTT platform Netflix for showing the story of a young Hindu woman in love with a Muslim man and exchanging a kiss near a temple. This was also the year BJP ruled states resolved to enact laws to stop such marriages by repeatedly pretending to be “love-jihad”. Moral policing has reared its head in major cities of North India, making it almost impossible for couples to show up even in public places.
However, StayUncle has managed to avoid such controversies, which he calls ‘sensitizing’ his partners.
Mr. Sethi, a BITS Pilani graduate, said, “We do sensitization exercises with hotels and tell them that interfering in caste and religion is not their business.” The first two years saw phone threats and strange demonstrations by people expressing their concern about the corrupting influence of StayUncle.
“The real challenge before us was to persuade hotels to be LGBT-friendly. It took us a long time to win them with the help of an NGO,” he recalled.
And after initially managing a short stay of business professionals, business really wasn’t easy for the odd group of fresh graduates who preferred themselves as relationship managers.
“In the first 20 hotels we arrived at a flat saying ‘no’. The 21st hotel in Greater Kailash said ‘yes’ and there was no way to turn back,” Mr. Sethi said.
Five years later, nearly 1,800 hotels, big and small, have now tied up with StayUncle.
post covid reforms
And hotels are also making changes to their business plans. Hotels have been forced to change their traditional bookings after the economy opened up post-COVID to cover short and very short stays to make up for their losses – previously unimaginable. Time slots were created.
And over the years, interesting facts have emerged that show just how far startups can go. While cities like Nagpur refused to host StayUncle, Thiruvananthapuram, which was initially reluctant to partner, gradually went ahead with other cities in Kerala, which had its share of tensions over the so-called “love jihad”.
Then, there are cities in the north of the country that have been marked as vulnerable and ‘no go’ for start-ups.
Kolkata, not surprisingly, has emerged as the most progressive city where Stay Uncle’s social media campaign went viral and was embraced. Bangalore has also said ‘yes’ emphatically. And across the country, Guwahati requests at least 30 bookings in a month.
Sikander Yadav, group owner of Orion Hotels, said, “Initially, our employees were reluctant to go with StayUncle; We had to sensitize them. The couple was also uncertain. Now they feel that they are not doing anything wrong. We just ask for an identity card.”
Business is slowly gaining momentum after the pandemic. With a pre-COVID turnover of ₹12 crore, the startup’s managers say they have achieved 50% of the target. Presence on Instagram and Facebook has helped her reach her young audience.
With good music, clean and safe surroundings and now practicing safe sex, StayUncle aims to bring romance back in relationships, even if it’s only for a short time. Any comparison with Love Hotels in Japan, which is now an organized industry, was rejected by Amit, who said, “We are in the business of managing relationships.”
We have clean hands, the team insists.
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