International hostel company increases revenue 26% after adding new locations

An international hostel brand has today announced that its revenue increased by 26 per cent in 2019.

Safestay, which is headquartered in London, saw revenues for the year rise from £14.6m to £18.4m, with like for like sales up 7 per cent.

During the period, the company expanded its portfolio to twenty hostels, adding an additional seven locations.

It also said that a contributing factor could be the 5.4 per cent increase in average bed rate to £21.40.

Larry Lipman, chairman of Safestay, commented: “2019 was a transformational year for Safestay.

“We added 7 new hostels increasing our number of sites to 20 making us a leading premium hostel operator in Europe.

“Our financial performance reflected this expansion with revenues up 26 per cent and while we also made a good start to trading in 2020, the sudden spread of COVID-19 has meant we have had to adapt quickly to an unexpected phase.

“We secured the financial stability of the business and we are now working on our plans to re-open our hostels on a staggered basis, over the course of 2020, as and when we believe they can be profitable.

“Our focus is on ensuring the safety of our guests, initially targeting the domestic markets in each country, and then looking to gradually return to normal trading patterns.

“Navigating the re-engagement of the business will require us to be highly flexible as we test and match demand in individual markets, however, we are confident of being able to do this and making sure that we balance increased operational cost with increased income.

“From an industry perspective, the hostel market is highly fragmented with a large number of small operators who are under pressure as a result of the pandemic and this may well create unique opportunities for Safestay.”