Vista Rooms plans to add 1,300 hotels, expand to 65 cities this year

Online budget hotels aggregator Vista Rooms is looking to add around 1,300 hotels and 65 new cities in its network to expand the companys presence in the country during the year. The company, at present has 700 hotels in around 85 cities across India.

"We are planning to add 1,300 hotels in 2016 and 65 new cities to our existing network in 2016. This will take our room strength to 10,000 rooms from the present around 2,500 rooms," Vista Rooms Co-Founder Amit Damani told PTI. Apart from strengthening presence in metros and big cities the company will focus on the new tier-II and tier-III cities, he added.

When asked about the locations the company is looking at for the expansion, Damani said: "Destinations in north, northeast and east are the focus areas for us as we already have a strong presence in south, central and western parts of the country."

The company is also looking at raising next round of funding for expansion plans. "We are looking to raise around USD 10 million in the next round of funding. We are looking for strategic investors focused on the travel and hospitality space and also at Venture Capital funds for this," Damani said.

The company has already had a series A round of funding, he added. Elaborating on the benefits to the hotels on tie ups with Vista Rooms, Damani said: "We work closely with partner hotels in creating operational efficiency and improving customer service apart from marketing the properties."

Launched in April, Vista Rooms was co-founded by Amit Damani, Ankita Sheth and Pranav Maheshwari is also considering to double number of its employees from 75 during the year as it enters new cities.