Nigerian startup Homely has developed a platform that helps hospitality rental hosts optimise earnings and productivity by integrating booking channels like Airbnb, Expedia, and Booking.com into one simple, easy-to-use solution.
Founded in February 2021, Homely allows hosts to seamlessly manage guest communications, calendar, payments, pricing and real-time performance tracking across booking channels using APIs.
The idea for the platform came about after co-founder Hanson Nnadi listed his spare room in his two-bedroom apartment on Airbnb, following a friend’s suggestion. To his surprise, within a year, the income from that room was not only enough to cover the rent but also left him with extra cash.
Inspired by this success, Nnadi launched Homely, with CTO McDavid Obioha, to help other holiday rental hosts maximise their rental income while ensuring seamless, stress-free operations.
“At Homely, we don’t just connect hosts and guests, we provide the tools and insights hosts need to unlock their property’s full earning potential,” said Nnadi.
“One billion guests a year are projected to be booking vacation rentals by 2028. Hosts are taking advantage of this rapid growth in demand for guest bookings and supplying properties to the market at a growth rate of 96 per cent year-on-year. However, there is no solution available that helps them easily manage marketing, operations and payments.”
Homely does just that, and, backed by angel investors and Startupbootcamp, has already processed over US$200,000 in reservations.
“Since our launch, we have onboarded over 215 rooms and are growing 80 per cent year-on-year,” Nnadi said.
The startup is currently raising a pre-seed round of funding, with Nnadi saying its expansion strategy prioritises city-centric growth by focusing on markets with high demand for travel bookings, both from guests and hosts.
“We aim to increase our market share in the cities where we currently operate while strategically expanding into key EMEA destinations with robust travel demand, such as Dubai, Istanbul, Paris, Zanzibar and Cape Town. This approach ensures we target vibrant markets where our platform can deliver the greatest impact,” he said.
Homely charges a fee on each booking it processes for hosts, as well as a monthly subscription fee for hosts using its bookings management platform.
