ZUZU Hospitality is a tech-enabled revenue platform helping independent hotels digitise, optimise, and compete in a travel ecosystem dominated by big brands and OTAs. With over 2,500 hotels onboarded across Southeast Asia and India, and US$30 million raised to date, the startup is taking on a global challenge: making tech work for small players in a highly fragmented, competitive industry.

In this episode of Open For Business, co-founder and CEO Vikram Malhi, formerly Managing Director at Expedia Asia, shares how ZUZU helps hotels level up through a performance-based model that bundles tech, channel optimization, and OTA expertise. He reflects on building during a pandemic, near-term profitability, and his vision to help 10,000 hotels scale in the AI era.

We also dive into:

• The staggering size of the independent hotel market

• Why most small hotels struggle with OTA (online travel agent) optimization

• ZUZU’s automation-first approach to revenue and operations

• How AI powers guest comms, reviews, and pricing decisions

• Growth plans and what it’ll take to scale beyond 8 figures