Scaling a B2B2C marketplace through hospitality partners

Context

Staypal sold tours and experiences to guests through the places they were staying — hotels and Airbnb hosts — so every sale depended on a partner choosing to put us in front of their guests. It made money through a SaaS fee and a commission split with those properties, so partners earned from every booking they drove.

The problem

Growth depended on two sides at once: properties that would actively promote the product, and guests who would buy through a channel they didn't expect to buy from.

What I did

• Built and scaled the platform to more than 100 properties across the UK and Ireland, owning product and partner go-to-market.
• Shipped iOS and Android apps in React Native.
• Built a multi-channel guest chat service for hotels that achieved an NPS of 80.
• Added an embedded-finance product integrated into partner SaaS checkouts.
• Secured Enterprise Ireland and angel funding, and was shortlisted for industry awards in Ireland and the US.

Outcome

€500k ARR, and a partner model that scaled beyond Ireland into the UK.

What I'd do differently

I'd have instrumented partner-level activation earlier. Which properties actively promoted us mattered more than how many had signed up.