Furnished Apt. Co. Blueground Leans into Corp. Market

Blueground CEO Alex Chatzieleftheriou discusses:

• Efforts to draw company shoppers
• The impact of inflation on company demand
• Growth plans

Furnished condominium rental supplier Blueground is growing its deal with the enterprise journey market by its Blueground for Enterprise program, which presents enterprise vacationers devoted service and concrete property networks. BTN lodging and conferences editor Angelique Platas spoke with Blueground co-founder and CEO Alex Chatzieleftheriou in regards to the firm’s company choices, monetary efficiency and outlook for 2023 and past. Edited excerpts comply with.

BTN: You’ve launched Blueground for Enterprise. Is {that a} play for a unique shopper within the company market? How are you trying to appeal to and purchase that enterprise?

Chatzieleftheriou: I used to be a enterprise traveler for six-and-a-half years. 5 of these years have been on the street staying in motels—that was sort of the place the unique thought for Blueground got here from. Motels are nice, however in the event you take two or six months engaged on tasks, it is costly and you do not have area. We have been working on enterprise and enterprise clients since we based the enterprise again in 2013. The unique goal marketplace for Blueground was the enterprise traveler, however as we grew, it expanded, so Blueground for Enterprise is sort of a rebranding.

The previous few quarters, [business] scaled considerably. Within the final quarter, we noticed near $35 million of income simply coming from B2B, and our forecast for 2022 on the enterprise degree is to surpass $300 million. I believe the way in which we appeal to [corporates] is having a devoted service for his or her wants whereas additionally having an prolonged world community. These massive firms haven’t got suppliers that may cowl globally with a constant degree of service that’s high-quality, and that is sort of what’s getting all these huge names to work with us.

BTN: What has requests-for-proposals exercise been like within the final 12 months, and what has been your development trajectory?

Chatzieleftheriou: The final 4 months have been nice as a result of there was way more demand from workplaces reopening. The expansion for us like within the final yr has tripled, income has tripled. So with $36 million final quarter and solely $12 million in This fall 2021, that is a major development. And RFP exercise has been robust due to these coming again to the workplace, and in 2023 we anticipate to see somewhat bit extra RFP exercise. 

BTN: Are you anticipating company journey relocations, distant work or different traits to proceed to realize energy? How do you anticipate the present inflationary surroundings will influence the lodging market?

Chatzieleftheriou: Exercise remains to be robust, however that spike goes to go down generally, all the time. We see somewhat little bit of a dip in 2023 in throughout the board—it’s not going to be the strongest yr from an financial standpoint. Inflation is right here, rates of interest are going up, everybody’s sort of tightening the belt somewhat bit. We expect that is going to have an effect additionally in our sector—we do not anticipate any main drop, however there shall be somewhat bit.

BTN: What has been Blueground’s conventional shopper within the company market, and is that altering?

Chatzieleftheriou: Blueground has a B2C and a B2B aspect, and B2B is about 35 p.c of the enterprise. We have now all several types of use circumstances like relocations for tasks, folks transferring into a brand new metropolis for a brand new position, and many others. We work with some greater firms like Google and Apple, however we additionally work with different smaller firms—greater than 2,500 of them. Earlier than and after the pandemic, we’ve seen firms change into extra of a champion for distant working and providing flexibility. We would companion with them to supply Blueground as a perk, or shoppers would possibly “sponsor” and provide advantages to company… and permit folks to work and stay for 2 months or go to a different workplace and work there and the workforce over there. That is what we have seen arising.

BTN: What are your company shoppers’ priorities proper now, and the way are you supporting them?

Chatzieleftheriou: For the large [clients] like Apple and Google, it is loads of internship applications, loads of relocations, and what actually issues for them is a number of the fundamentals—which may be troublesome to get—like having a simple approach to view and e book flats, constant high quality of the buildings, excessive degree of service, properties positioned near the workplaces and ensuring there’s 24/7 help. Blueground brings all that collectively, and the tech side makes it very simple. Prospects can e book themselves with a direct hyperlink—giving workers extra management—they usually can use the app to ask for cleansing and extra companies, and then you definately add that bodily a part of the enterprise and that is actually what makes a distinction. 

BTN: Have you ever observed a development of extra personalized requests out of your shoppers, or was the rebrand thought with buyer management primarily based on buyer suggestions?

Chatzieleftheriou: It is each. We have seen demand on the shopper aspect… the enterprise shopper needs extra flexibility within the phrases—clients have extra particular wants when it comes to the buildings and places. Prospects have particular requests relying on the corporate, which led to the creation of Blueground for Enterprise and the way what we convey is completely different than a lot of the conventional gamers, equivalent to visibility. Our shoppers know precisely what an condominium seems like—that is not one thing that usually supplied by the business.

We’re investing extra on the tech aspect by creating dashboards so folks can actually handle their stays. They’ll spotlight what they need and filter [their search]—It’s extra self-service. 

One other factor we’re prioritizing is sustainability by the way in which we supply our furnishings, the forms of supplies we use and methods to keep this merchandise… We restrict any environmental influence. A number of which is through the use of photo voltaic and suppliers that may assist [with energy] … that is additionally an enormous space we really feel Blueground can have a constructive influence and we’re within the strategy of quantifying that influence. 

BTN: Is there any room for development within the subsequent yr, and the way is Blueground positioned to proceed that development?

Chatzieleftheriou: We anticipate to develop no less than 60 p.c within the subsequent yr. There’s a lack of versatile provide, and we see that in all of the markets. We’re in round 27 markets. Our first market launch was Athens… That is the place the corporate began. We nonetheless can triple our presence over there. We may be in 100 markets globally. So there’s loads of development and since we’re giving a brand new resolution, a greater resolution and [there is a] pent-up demand for that. 

BTN: Are there sure areas you think about your strongest, and the place are you trying to develop?

Chatzieleftheriou: We’re trying to develop everywhere. There’s a restrict, however we have not reached that restrict but. We anticipate to be at about 9,500 flats [by the end of the year], cut up between the U.S. and the remainder of the world. The U.S. is about three-fourths of our income as a result of the costs are increased … comparatively talking, the U.S. is the most important area after which we see the most important development in Europe. We simply launched Asia, additionally Singapore and Hong Kong, and that is going to be an enormous space of development for us as effectively.