How Retrod is empowering small hotels across India
Founded in 2021, Bhubaneswar-based Retrod has developed affordable technology to digitise operations of mid and low-segment hotels, thereby bridging the technological gap.
When the world came to a standstill during the pandemic, Pravat Panda’s life took a dramatic turn for the worse. The pandemic brought widespread layoffs in its wake—and Panda, who worked as head of sales in a traveltech company, was among those affected.
To make ends meet, he started Pandamart, an aggregator in the food supply industry. But navigating the uncertainties of a newly-founded company during a global economic crisis proved anything but easy.
The situation turned worse for Panda when his mother suffered a brain stroke. To ensure his mother got the required medical attention, he sold everything he had—his car, bike, etc., and had to eventually shut down Pandamart as well. It was in these desperate times that Panda started , a travel tech startup.
“I had already worked in the industry for about five years before the pandemic hit and changed my life. I went from being the head of sales in a respected traveltech company to selling frozen prawns (a large portion of what Pandamart used to sell) in front of hotels. It was really humiliating. Eventually, I realised that when I have built business for other startups and helped multiply their valuations, why not try doing that for my company?” shares Panda.
With an initial investment of Rs 1 lakh, Retrod was launched in 2021 by Panda and his now wife, Sandhya Panda. Headquartered in Bhubhaneswar with operations in Bengaluru, this 27-member company has amassed a total of approximately 1,500 clients across the country in a short span.
What does it do?
The bootstrapped B2B startup’s primary focus is to digitise and streamline operations of mid and low segment hotels in the country.
“In India, 80% of hotels are in the mid and low segments that have no online presence. It’s the same in Odisha—I could see an obvious need for a company like ours in the market,” says Panda.
According to Rentech Digital’s Smartscraper Business Report, there are about 1,26,012 hotels registered in India. Of them, around 99,352 (78.8%) hotels are single-owner operations belonging to the mid and low spending groups.
Retrod’s primary product is a SaaS-based Property Management System (PMS) that provides full-stack solutions to all operations. It was launched two months ago. “We are involved in the hotel operations right from the booking of the guest, managing their entire experience until they check out. Not just that, we also manage a hotel’s inventory, their housekeeping staff, and all the way to figuring out ways to promote the hotel as well. We do this without diluting the hotel’s brand name. And booking through our engine, hotels don’t have to give us a 40% cut either unlike some of the more established booking engines,” explains Panda.
Panda says the startup has so far acquired over Rs 4.5 crore in bookings and has captured data for over 70,000 guests.
The 30-year-old entrepreneur isn’t just building Retrod, but is also promoting the use of technology in the travel industry.
“When Retrod was finishing its second year, we thought to call some of our clients and celebrate the day. But that has gone to be a much larger yearly tradition now where as many as 300 hoteliers come, all from the mid and the lower segment. We try to promote the use of technology during the celebration. And not just our tech but the use of technology in general. We create a list of hoteliers using tech in their operations and put them in a panel, so the entire community can understand how useful the incorporation of technology can be for their businesses,” he says.
The startup also runs a podcast called the Retrod Podcast on YouTube, where hoteliers tell their stories of working in the industry.
Path to profitability
When Panda first pitched Retrod to various hotel businesses, he was surprised to see his past experience come in handy. “Since I was already a known face in the industry, hotel owners trusted me with their businesses. We managed to get as many as 40 early adopters of our product,” he says.
“Back then, we weren’t providing full-stack solutions and largely operated as a booking engine. I was very happy to have my past hard work paying off so wonderfully,” he adds.
However, the company faced challenges while trying to grow its client base without Panda. Many hotel owners were hesitant and unconvinced. But that changed when Retrod managed to get Vijoya International, a 3-star hotel in Puri, as its first high-segment client. Some of its other prominent clients include Golden Leaf Resort, Hotel IVY, The New Marion, The Charoot, and Lucky India Group.
“When my team was trying to pitch Retrod to hotels, many weren’t taking us seriously. They wouldn’t trust us. After a long stretch of such interactions, we were introduced to the owner of Vijoya International. Our early meeting went well and it was decided that on the day we visited their site, he would pay us Rs 30,000 for our services. When I went there on that day, not only did the owner give me that check but he also surprised me with a check of Rs 3 lakh! I had goosebumps (grins),” shares Panda.
Vijoya International continues to be a client of Retrod to this day, offering Rs 2.7 lakh annually for its services.
Retrod charges an annual base fee of Rs 40,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh for low and mid-segment hotels. A majority of its clientele are in Odisha, with Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jharkhand following suit. Founded five years ago, the startup has since broken even, and claims to be profitable.
Retrod currently competes with various travel tech companies like Surat-based Yonolja Cloud Solutions and Bengaluru-based StayFlexi. What differentiates Retrod, however, is its focus on low and mid-segment hotels—a segment often overlooked by its competitors, who target more established players.
Plans ahead and funding
Panda is now planning to expand Retrod’s presence across the country by growing the team. “I have noticed that in India, at this point, hotel owners tend to trust you more when you pitch your product to them physically rather than in an online setting. So, I would like to hire people from most of the states in the country, so we can keep acquiring more clients.”
“Our immediate plan is to develop our marketing and business development team,” he says.
The startup is also looking to enhance its product, and is actively seeking funding. “We are hoping to raise $1 million by the end of this year, which we would spend largely in developing the business and the technology,” emphasises Panda, adding that Retrod’s current valuation is around Rs 70 crore.
Once this happens, the startup is looking to expand its operations internationally, and venture into Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa by 2026.
Edited by Megha Reddy