How has MagicStay's business evolved in the face of the crisis?
Valéry Linÿer - The Covid effect was immediate: everything froze on the short stay, and the real halt came when the United States blocked the arrival of Europeans, because we had a lot of rentals planned, especially at New York. On the other hand, we had to manage repatriations employees in France. Over the last three weeks, things have been moving in the right direction: we're at Approximately 50% of our business from 10% before the crisis. These are mainly domestic journeys, but all over the world.
How do you see demand for business travel rentals in the longer term?
Valéry Linÿer - From my point of view, nothing will happen between now and the end of the year, and we don't expect a return to "normal" before then. 2022. Nevertheless, in the midst of this business travel slump, we are fairly confident, for the simple reason that the flat is rather well placed in relation to the problems associated with Covid-19. It's an offer with a lot of intrinsic strengths, not least theautonomy offered by the kitchen: no need to go to the hotel restaurant for breakfast or to dine there in the evening, which is now feared. And since we're going out less in these times of crisis, having more space is also an appreciable advantage. The other advantage of a flat in terms of health securityThe main thing is that once the traveller has taken possession of the property, if they don't want to, no-one will come in during their stay. Cleaning is only an option: travellers can remain completely autonomous if it makes them feel more secure. In a hotel, you can never be sure that no-one will enter your room during your absence.
What about the competitive environment, at a time when Airbnb seems to be losing ground on the business market?
Valéry Linÿer - For us, this has never been a major constraint, because it's very rare for major accounts to pit us against Airbnb. That's not to say that we're chosen every time: there's always some hesitation, the travel managers are very cautious. But on the whole, when there's a need for flats, we're the preferred choice because we meet all the criteria, with the possibility of sending the contents directly to the SBTto respond to security issuesof centralisationThese are things that only we can offer. We are not present on the VSE market because all the work we have done does not concern them, so to speak. They are insensitive to all the problems associated with security, integration into complex systems and virtual cards. The people who travel with EFTPOS machines reproduce their leisure booking habits, contenting themselves with an invoice with no real security or integration constraints. We are not in this market, and the effort required to be present in it would be so great, given Airbnb's reputation, that it would be suicidal to devote ourselves to it. The whole point of MagicStay over the last six years has been to go after very large groups by responding to all their constraints - and there are many - which is something Airbnb has never done. The first of these constraints is the often complex travel policy, and the need for centralisation in order to apply this policy. travel policy and ensure passenger safety. This centralisation, whether we like it or not, always goes through the SBTs. What the major groups want is to have the full range of services offered by the SBTs, which is what we do. We are connected to their security operators, financial players and payment solutions, and we are able to offer very detailed reporting. And for those who want to do without this and prefer to have a direct link to book with us, we have specific software. So we have all the technology we need to reach the major groups, and we have a very good understanding of their constraints.
A number of major hotel and apartment-hotel brands have approached thelabel support to reassure business customers: what about MagicStay?
Valéry Linÿer - This is mentioned on the advertisements, and we are currently working on selection grids to highlight this criterion. In fact, today, half of our offer is made up of apartment-hotels, which can be chains, independents, entire buildings reconfigured as flats...
Will your offering change as we emerge from the crisis?
Valéry Linÿer - We have just opened the Extend The new service will be operational in mid-July. It's a sort of simplified SBT, exclusively for long stayswhich are not accessible in SBT. Everything to do with business travel is more the domain of travel managers, whereas everything to do with long stays is more the domain of human resources, who do not use the same tools as those used for business travel, which are not designed to manage property leases, for example. We have noticed with our key account customers that there are very big differences between these two activities, particularly in terms of the tools used, and sometimes even a difference in the way they are managed. no tools for long stays. We target expatriates and impatriates, long assignments and consultants. All the accommodation linked to these activities is booked by many different players within the company, and in a very scattered way. For example, it may be the subsidiary that is going to receive the employee who looks after his accommodation, or the one that sends him, or the parent company or the traveller's assistant... Everyone manages this accommodation in their own corner, which implies two major constraints for the company: there is no centralisation, so there is no real visibility of what is being done. And the lack of centralisation poses a major security problem, because there is no transmission of information to the security operator.
In concrete terms, what does this new tool do?
Valéry Linÿer - First of all, you can create a file that corresponds to the need: Mr X has to go to Limoges for a month to replace a maternity leave, accompanied by his wife and children. All the people concerned within the company are also involved in this file, which is created in specific software: HR at the departure and arrival subsidiaries, the person in charge of finding accommodation, the traveller and his or her spouse, etc. This is essential: the spouse plays a key role in expatriation, and must be involved in the process because he or she is the number one cause of failure. Involving them in the process from the outset is a good way of scoring points. Once the file has been created, it's time for the housing search. Our innovation is based on completely open softwarecompatible with all platforms, right down to local estate agents. None of the platforms, including MagicStay, can list all the flats available worldwide at the time you are looking for, with the surface area you are looking for. ad hocetc. So companies use multiple suppliers. The user then carries out their search, and when they have found the accommodation that matches their criteria, all they have to do is copy the URL, enter it into Extendeez, and we will automatically enter the entire advert into the software. The mobility manager can then offer the expatriate or consultant several flats that match their requirements, without having to specify the origin of the advert. We then retrieve the traveller's choice, and there are two possibilities: either the booking is made completely automatically if it's MagicStay or a partner platform that has agreed to link up via an API, or it's made on a platform with which we don't have a partnership, Airbnb for example. The person makes the booking, then simply sends the confirmation email to a specific address. Our technology then automatically retrieves the information received and integrates it into Extendeez. The tool centralises all the data relating to the different leases and the different types of accommodation: the date of cancellation of the lease, deposits paid, entry and exit inventories, etc. This gives you a complete overview of all the data in one place. Extendeez also automatically transmits this information to the security operator, International SOS or SSF for example.
Why have you created a separate platform from MagicStay?
Valéry Linÿer - For the company, you need completely open software. Despite the fact that we've just passed the million flatsFor example, if an employee has to spend two months in the suburbs of Metz or in the immediate vicinity of the parent company, and we are likely to have 500,000 more by the end of the year, the most important thing is not that the traveller books on MagicStay, Airbnb or Booking. What matters is that they find the right flat that meets all their criteria. And this is sometimes the responsibility of theestate agency around the corner, because it has local expertise in supply and demand. So what we wanted to do was to add a layer on top of the MagicStay offering, which is completely open, because we know that there are requests that we can't meet. In any case, no platform meets all needs, and no company is a single platform: it's impossible. Our tool also facilitates communication between the mobility manager and the expatriate, with a single tool that brings together all the information and a messaging system linking the various parties involved. We've been working on Extendeez for over a year, and we've already won several awards. The crisis has enabled us to speed up developments.
Should we expect the management of the " duty of care "How is this health crisis evolving?
Valéry Linÿer - Companies will of course want to rely on labels to reassure themselves in the face of Covid-19. But I think that, above all, they have identified "holes in the system", which mainly concern long stays. Hence the launch of Extendeez. For short breaks, tolerance towards the reimbursement of services booked outside the company's tools should diminish significantly. Companies should impose more constraints and be more vigilant.
Some hotel chains are exploring new ways of optimising their occupancy rates, such as converting rooms into offices. Are you also looking at new formats?
Valéry Linÿer - I have my doubts on this point, in the sense that we're already going to have to fill all the coworking that exist. Many self-employed people and start-ups are used to working from home, and have found that it works very well. On the other hand, hotels seem to be more interested in long staysThis is synonymous with staff savings for the establishment, as there is less turnover and catering, and the rooms are occupied. For the past three weeks we've been receiving requests from hoteliers who are now offering price per month for their rooms, to compete with the property market. Of course, there's no catering, but there's a bed, 14 m², and that's going to give a huge boost to selling prices because the hotel is going to do away with a number of services, while filling the rooms with long-term guests. This type of long-term guest may be of interest, for example, to maintenance operators on sites where catering is already available. The hotel can then offer a service and a price that are well positioned compared with traditional property leases. One hotel, for example, offered us its rooms at €750 a month. At €25 a night, that's very competitive for people who just need a bed to sleep in. So we can see that some hoteliers are starting to rethink their offer.
