Safestay: More business travellers choosing hostels fails to boost chain’s profit
Losses have continued to mount for hostel chain Safestay, despite the company saying it had seen an increased number of business travellers checking in to its properties.
The business, which owns 18 boutique hostels across Europe, saw pre-tax losses hit £1.3m in the year ending December 31, 2024, an increase of £1.2m on the previous year.
Despite this, the company saw its revenue increase to £22.5m, which was up 16 per cent year-on-year, and occupancy rates hitting 71.4 per cent – a rise from 63 per cent.
Forward bookings as at January 1, 2024, are “significantly up on last year” at £3.7m, with reservations from large school and college groups accounting for £2.7m of that.
Safestay also said it was seeing more bookings coming in from business travellers, who had been showing increased interest in the chain’s city centre locations.
The company is set to open new hostels in Edinburgh, Brighton, and Spain in coming months.
Chairman Larry Lipman said:”Our collection of premium hostels continues to resonate with our core client base and our popularity and appeal is growing, resulting in us selling 848,633 bed nights in 2023.
“I am delighted to see that our pipeline is a strong as ever, with forward bookings up significantly at the beginning of the year.
“We are in a strong position to grow the business organically and there is a huge opportunity to grow our group bookings. Acquisitions will also play their part in driving growth.
“We have three new hostels due to come on stream this summer and I have no doubt that they will prove to be fantastic additions to our portfolio.”