Loomzy Suites, a fast-rising boutique hotel chain has today announced its plan to expand its operations to turn around the face of hospitality and hotel management using technology, a post-pandemic necessity. This will see the business expanding some of its hospitality services to cater to its guests and non-guests through its special business units.
Launched in May 2021, Loomy Suites under Loomzy Integrated Resources currently owns three boutique hotels in the highbrow Lekki area of Lagos, Nigeria and has served over 1,300 guests while operating at a capacity of 80-85 per cent. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 in 2020, it became necessary to change the way the hospitality sector operates and this has brought about two basic needs in the hospitality sector; the need for space and the automation of processes.
First floated on the AirBnB model which has drastically changed the face of hospitality around the world, Loomzy Suites has since tweaked its model to ensure that legitimate and verifiable guests are accommodated in its facilities in order to guarantee the safety and security of lives and property.
Having raised approximately N115m informally from friends and family at the beginning of its operations in May 2021, Loomzy Suites is now ready to raise capital for the next growth phase of the business. Loomzy Suites is leveraging investments from its private network and guaranteeing equity through a private placement. This funding will see the business expanding its operations beyond 15 rooms while fine-tuning its technology to deliver top-notch service and quality through contactless processes and operations. The technology will embody an end to end process where booking to checkout can take place on a guest’s mobile device.
According to Uloma Okoro, Loomzy Suites CEO, “Most of my seed capital was raised through friends, family, my network and then people who have followed me closely on social media. The funds were raised as debts with fixed interests, based on agreed terms and conditions with the investors. At the moment, a good number of these investors have decided to become shareholders in the business; thereby turning their loans into equity. To make this possible, we are now ready to register a full-service hospitality firm by selling 40% of the company’s shares through private placement. We are also giving room for new investors who believe in the vision to invest in the business.”
This initial funding generated birthed the ‘Loomzy Suites Brand’ and has also given the startup a lift of valuation to N900M (roughly $1.7M) The company which only started officially this year has received serious commitments for at least 35% of its shares from potential investors and stakeholders.
Speaking to the adoption of technology to aid its processes, Uloma Okoro says, “The COVID 19 Pandemic brought about two basic needs in the hospitality sector – Space and Automation. By space, I mean the need for social distancing and strict observation of Covid-19 Protocols. This is where technology comes in with contactless check-in and full automation of housekeeping services. Automation has become necessary because of how complex the hospitality sector is. It is necessary to compartmentalize and automate processes to avoid leakages and ensure standardization in processes like hotel booking, to food and inventory management, to the use of facilities and amenities within the hotel.”
This business has been structured in a way that its entire revenue does not come from lodging and serving just its guests but also catering to non-guests through its strategic business units which provide competitive yet affordable massages, kitchen and laundry services. In a five-year financial forecast, Loomzy Suites projects to end 2022 with a profit before tax of N133.8M, an amount expected to double by the end of 2023 at N328.1M and by the end of 2026, it projects a profit of N514.7M.
