SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Domicile announced today financing of $5 million, $3.6 million of which is new money for the current round, from VCs and several angel investors, including Crosscut Ventures, Madrona Venture Group, Spencer Rascoff (CEO, Zillow Group), Jeff Wilke (CEO, Amazon Worldwide Consumer), Erik Blachford (ex-CEO, Expedia) and Greg Schwartz (President, Zillow Group). The company will use the funds to invest in their technology platform and expand to new markets.
Blending the best of alternative lodging and hotels, Domicile is a new way to stay for business. Domicile partners with corporate customers to provide all their hospitality needs, whether it be transient accommodation or longer-term stays. Domicile’s fully furnished premium apartments are custom designed with modern, stylish high-end furnishings and decoration and conveniently located near business centers while also offering the consistent, high-quality experience and 24x7 customer support that you expect from leading business hotels.
Incubated within Madrona Venture Labs, Domicile was co-founded by Simon Tam, Ross Saario and Eve Vashkus who collectively have extensive technology, operations, and consumer service business experience. The CEO, Ross Saario, spent several years at Amazon, where he oversaw several last-mile delivery programs, including Amazon Lockers. The CTO, Simon Tam, was one of the founders of Expedia and Egencia and brings deep technology and travel experience.
“The Domicile team can earn a big share of the more than hundred billion dollar corporate hospitality market. Travelers don't want to stay in outdated corporate apartments or cookie cutter hotel chains. Companies can save millions by partnering with Domicile, and business travelers love the modern apartments with all the comforts of home, steps away from their office,” said Clinton Foy, Managing Director of Crosscut Ventures who led the latest round.
In addition to paying per stay, companies can pay a fixed monthly rate for a Domicile managed apartment for their exclusive use and utilize it for both short-term and long-term stays. This is the most economical option as companies can avoid paying the extremely high rates during the peak season as well as have guaranteed availability which is challenging in hot markets. In off-peak months with fewer long-term stays, companies still save money by reducing spend on hotels.
To be able to offer this, Domicile has invested heavily in technology to integrate their inventory with the travel industry’s global distribution systems which are widely leveraged by corporate booking tools like Concur or Egencia. “With our technology, company managers and employees are able to search, reserve and book their corporate housing, relocation and transient travel using the same tools against the same inventory in real-time, with negotiated rates and in compliance with booking policies,” commented Tam.
“Historically the hospitality industry has been bifurcated. Companies have used hotels for their short-term or transient accommodations and corporate housing firms for their longer-term stay needs. Domicile’s innovative and comprehensive approach allows global mobility and relocation managers to team up with their travel manager counterparts to collectively reduce lodging costs overall and provide a much better experience for their employees and travel arrangers from the start of the searching and booking process to the completion of the stay,” explained Saario.
Domicile will soon be launching a mobile app focused on making the self-service check-in experience even easier, integrating services such as ordering food or groceries that will be pre-stocked prior to a guest’s arrival, rolling out in-room technology and creating a more powerful personalization platform. Domicile is creating a technology-forward experience that will allow business travelers to live and work as if they were locals and be as productive as if they had never left home.
For more information please visit www.bookdomicile.com.