Talktome magazine visited Ukrainian beauty – the fine Lviv city – not long ago. The journalist mentioned not only the love to this magnificent city and its coffee, but Dobovo and the magic apartment she booked as well. It was situated in the 150 years old building and had 3 old-fashioned stoves for perfect selfies. Read more about visiting Lviv and Dobovo experience in the Talktome article.
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Idea, main features and secrets of Dobovo.com – in an interview by Dmytro Malakhov for The People
Dmytro Malakhov, co-founder of the daily apartment booking service Dobovo.com, tells the People how the lack of money and job prompted him to create his own business, about necessity and mechanisms of each owner’s checking, and also about the plans of making the service international.
Dobovo.com reports about launching new functionality of comparison of apartments
Dobovo.com Press Service reports that comparison of apartments was launched on June 3rd, 2014. This functionality allows the customers to compare the chosen apartments by price, location, distance from main tourist attractions, city center, available amenities and helps to choose the best accommodation option in 60 cities of Ukraine and near-abroad fast and easy. The idea to develop this functionality was born as an answer to multiple requests in special feedback tab on the website about difficulties with choosing an apartment. This functionality also helps Dobovo Reservation Team to assist the client with searching for the best fitting accommodation.
“As on June 2014, 6915 apartments for daily rent are offered on the website. On one hand this guarantees everyone can find a perfectly fitting apartment on the website but on the other – sometimes it makes the search process a little difficult. The new functionality of comparison was developed for those who want to compare the apartments on the website and make sure they book the best one. This makes the search and booking process easier.” – according to Dobovo Sales Department Specialist Valeriia Chalenko.
The functionality is very simple to use: you only need to choose up to five apartments with check box “to comparison” and after that to press the bottom “In comparison”. After that, you will be transferred to the page with a table comparing the apartments for multiple criteria’s. After that, you can read the reviews for chosen apartments, view more details, other apartments of the same hotelier and book one of the accommodations. With the functionality of comparison, it is now possible to view and compare different criteria’s of up to five apartments: price, location, reviews of the previous clients, amenities and services.
Dobovo.com Dev and Content teams always attentively improved the quality of the content of the website. Today one of the most important goals is to make the search and booking process easier and faster.
Dobovo is a leading online daily rent booking service, that offers more than 6500 accommodations available for instant booking. Dobovo support team is available 7 days a week to assist the customers to choose and booking the perfect accommodation fast and easy.
The history of Ukrainian daily apartments online booking service Dobovo.com
We have discussed the specifics in online business of daily apartments rent in Ukraine with founders of Dobovo.com Volodymyr Bezlyudnyi and Dmytro Malakhov.
How did you come to online business?
Volodymyr: «I graduated from Physics and Technology department KPI in 2004 and on the third year of study I started web-programming. I worked as a programmer on remote stand only. We got to online daily rent business with Dmytro in 2004. Actually we are still working using the same scheme: IT + daily rent = is our everything».
Dmytro: «In 2003 I graduated from KhAI, I was working at Antonov aircraft factory as an engineer for one year to get a Masters diploma. I was going to learn programming at the same time but I never had a chance to do it as my managing skills were useful in getting first orders for PHP+MySQL websites development. Together with other graduates we made primitive html-pages and earned first money. One of the ordering customer worked in daily rent and it opened new shpere for me».
Tell us about Dobovo.com. What was the big idea who made the first investments?
Dmytro: In 2004 we stared an offline agency Ukraine Apartments and we were among the first to start accepting Pay Pal transfers from foreign clients. Than it was an incredibly exclusive offer to the foreign customers so we attracted a lot of clients from USA who trusted us their money. In five years we realized that offline system is dying and we decided to carve out the online niche. We invested our own finance — together with Volodymyr we handled financing using the funds from our another business.
First we hired software developers from India as Ukrainian specialists attendance costed more. But this experience appeared to be very negative — the amount of bugs in the software written by developers from India was simply way over the limit. After that we hired our own dev team — four developers and tester.
Volodymyr: The idea of Dobovo.com came to us in 2010 as an effort to automatize our daily apartments rent agency. We had a database of some reliable hoteliers in Kiyiv, Odessa, Lviv and some other cities. And we set our sights on turning the daily rent market in Ukraine to a civilized online marketplace where our partners could get much more bookings than from a «manual» agency paying the commission only in case of a succeed deal. The clients in their turn would be able to make the choice based on the hoteliers statistics and reviews of the guests who have already stayed at the apartment. At that time popular today Airbnb service wasn’t present neither on European market nor certainly on Ukrainian. Nobody knew about them here and so we didn’t have an example to follow (unfortunately :). We used booking.com as a guide (they didn’t work with apartments at that time, only with hotels) and our experience on the local market.
Dobovo.com was made as a service where the clients can make an informed choice of accommodation based on the hoteliers statistics and real reviews from the clients.
How would you describe the Ukrainian market of daily rent?
Dmytro: According to our estimates the amount of apartments and houses for daily rent in Ukraine is around 15-20 thousands and 8 thousands from them are already listed at Dobovo.
In convertion to money I would say that the total assets turnover in Kiyiv is around 80 millions UAH per month (around 4 thousands offers with average occupancy for 20 thousands UAH a month per apartment). The volumes on market of Ukraine in total is about 3-5 times higher.
How did the crisis this year influence the market?
Dmytro: The market «shifted» to the central and western part of the country as expected. Beginning from June we can mention a notable growth of demand for rent in Kiyiv — the middle class moves from Donbas and usually people use daily rent services while they are looking for permanent accommodation.
Ofcorce we have totally lost the deals in Crimea but at the expense of refuse to travel to Crimea we notice a record breaking demand in Odessa — it exceeds the offer at several-fold.
In reference to the rates they fell a lot converting to dollars but grew in hryvnias (at least three times in Kiyiv).
Comparing to 2013 the geographical distribution of auditory changed. A year ago we had 65% Ukrainian customers, 20% Russian and 15% from other countries. This year the amount of clients from Russia tends toward zero. Today we have 89% Ukrainian customers and 11% from other countries including the closest neighboring countries.
What is the main distinguishing features of Dobovo.com from business rivals?
Volodymyr: There are two types of daily rent websites — booking systems and listings sites where direct phone numbers of the hoteliers are shown. The listing is usually on a paying basis for the owner. We do not compete to the listings websites, moreover, most of them are our partners. Such websites are popular only due to Ukrainian daily rent market’s specifics. The customers who see thousands of offers with direct telephone numbers of the hoteliers and actually start calling them around keep me wonder with their obstinateness. Especially when there are dates with high demand are required.
Our main rivals are Airbnb and Booking.com services.
Our main distinguishing features from Airbnb is that we are oriented to Ukrainian market. This is not the only difference, more detailed:
– Airbnb requires a full prepayment, we — only the first night.
– There’s no discount system on Aibnb, the hoteliers of Dobovo.com are able to set the automatically calculated discount based on amount of days in booking and special offers for free days between confirmed bookings.
– Our rates and prepayment are set in local currency.
– We cooperate with accustomed by Ukrainians payment systems – Portmone, Liqpay, Privat24 and also we have a direct merchant from Ukrainian bank.
– We cooperate directly with payment terminals.
– We have our in-house call-center with 10 support specialists (and we are increasing the personnel)
– And of course, our pride — 10 thousands real reviews about apartments.
What is so special about your review system?
Volodymyr: From the beginning we decided to make leaving fake reviews impossible. We guarantee this as we only send an e-mail request for review only to the clients who really stayed at the apartment.
We knew that we will be collecting the data base of reviews for long time when we were taking this decision. But we succeed and today we have over 10 thousands real reviews that help the clients make their choice.
Dmytro: I’d like to accent that we do not delete any reviews on hoteliers requests.
How do you monetize the business?
Dmytro: We take commission from the hoteliers — 5 — 15% from the deal. The amount of commission may vary due to the rating in search results on the website that takes to consideration a lot of different criteria of the reliability of the hotelier. The commissions is already included to the price.
The client transfers the deposit to our bank account and we don’t pay it out to the hotelier before the guest receives the service. If the client is not satisfied with the apartment or any unforseen circumstances accure and the client can not be accommodated at the booked apartment we refund the deposit and account 50% from the prepayment more as a compensation. The compensation can be used only for the next bookings via Dobovo.com.
Concerning the revenue I would say that we are not actually trying to make a big profit, most of it is being reinvested to the project: software development, marketing and advertising.
We have another business that dives a stable profit. So we don’t take money from Dobovo.com, we think the time didn’t come yet.
How did the public accept the service?
Volodymyr: Our partners from offline agency, the hoteliers, were really happy when we decided to connect them with the client’s database directly. The commission is very low considering the amount they have to pay to traditional agencies. In return we require high quality of the service and actual availability schedule.
At the beginning we had around 30 owners and about 200 apartments in Kiyiv, Odessa, Lviv and Kharkiv. Today more than 2235 hoteliers work with us and the amount of the apartments listed on the website is close to 8 thousands in 63 cities of Ukraine. The amount of apartments increased on over 50% and reviews — 45% from January to November 2014.
How do you promote the project?
Dmytro: We use various advertising channels: context ads, Google Adwords and Yandex.Direct , CPA-networks, we cooperate with sites for hot-offers and discounts such as Groupon etc. We stake on our partnership program — for example we cooperate with LUN.ua. We use only online promotion, 99% of our ads is in Uanet.
What are the main goals for Dobovo.com?
Dmytro: Our main goal — is to make Dobovo.com an incontestable leader of the sphere in Ukraine (we are already #1 as a local company). We decided not to spread to another countries but to strengthening our positions on the local market, for example with focus on houses in the Carpathians.
Volodymyr: We strive to make the daily rent in Ukraine more civilized and organized. Dobovo.com is build to give the hoteliers a permanent and reliable source of reservations and the clients have an opportunity to choose accommodation basing on the reviews and real experience of previous clients of the hotelier.
2000 apartments for daily rent in Kyiv are listed on Dobovo.com
In October 2014 the amount of apartments for daily rent in Kyiv listed on Dobovo.com website got to the point of 2000. At the end of October hoteliers listed more than 1900 apartments in Kyiv and that means that Dobovo.com has the biggest database of apartments in the Capital of Ukraine. The owners list 2-3 apartments in average but there are companies that offer 30 and more accommodation options. Around 60% of apartments in Kyiv are available for online booking and the customers are free to book the apartments they like straight away from the website without additional confirmation of availability.
Most of the offered on Dobovo.com apartments in Kyiv are located in the city center. Studio apartments are the perfect option to stay at during a trip to Kyiv and make the bigger part of the offers. There are also a lot of accommodation options in such city districts as Podil, Livoberezhna (it’s popular because there is the Exhibition center located), Pozniaky (not far from Boryspol airport) and KPI (good location for students).
The prices vary a lot and are quite flexible. A cozy Studio apartment in the city center will cost around 30$ and Two- or Three-bedroom apartment for a big group in Podyl can be rented for 80 — 100 dollars per night. Such a low prices are caused by a high rivalry so the hoteliers offer very profitable rates.
«During the last few months the rates got much lower due to the situation in Ukraine. Such an affordable prices will hold for a few month more»
– supposes Dobovo.com Sales Leader Valeriia Chalenko.
So October, November and December of this year are going to be the best time to have a money-saving journey to Kyiv. This is caused by the fact that after a big growth of amount of apartments for daily rent before Euro Cup 2012 the demand today is much lower than the offer do a lot of hoteliers are ready to rent their apartments out cheaper.
Dobovo booking service makes finding and choosing an apartment for daily rent much faster and easier. The website offers actual availability schedule for verified and checked by the content team apartments. The maximum information about facilities and services are available for each apartment. The system of real reviews from the guests and prepayment will make the booking secure and guarantee a comfort journey for those who choose Dobovo.com service.
Dobovo booking service takes leading positions in Ukraine in the amount and quality of the presented information about apartments and hoteliers.
Beginning from 2011 Dobovo.com keeps on working to create the most handy and reliable resource for the clients and owners. A lot of tourists from all over the world and most Ukrainians choose Dobovo.com service to book accommodation in Ukraine.
500 apartments for daily rent in Lviv listed on Dobovo.com
October 2014, content department of Dobovo booking service informs that 500 apartments for daily rent in Lviv are listed on the company’s website. On Dobovo.com website are listed over 7500 apartments from more than two thousands hoteliers in 63 cities of Ukraine and the company keeps on growing and intensively widening the database of apartments.
You can reserve daily apartment, house, hostel or hotel suite in different cities of Ukraine. The prices in Lviv vary from 60 UAH per place in hostel in the city center to a spacious apartment and private house for a big company for 3000 UAH per night.
Lviv is one of the most interesting cities for tourists in Ukraine that has its own unforgettable atmosphere. Many hoteliers in Lviv saved vintage elements in their apartments and succeed to make their apartments answer the requirements of the clients, modern household appliances, furniture and facilities. Most of the apartments listed on Dobovo.com have eclectic design which will help to enjoy the city and leave special impression no matterr if you have a business, tourism or romantic journey.
«Lviv — is one of the most popular cities for tourists as every season a lot of different cultural events, shows, festivals and exhibitions take place here. A lot of Ukrainians traditionally celebrate New Year’s Eve, Christmas, Independence Day and May holidays in Lviv. In these periods the city that always has quite a lot of activity gets even more attractive for the travelers. Also a lot of people from Ukraine and from all over the world are attracted by such events as Lviv Fashion Week, Modern Art Week, Alfa Jazz Fest, different thematic events as Wine and Cheese holiday, Chocolate Fest etc. That’s why the demand for daily apartments keeps a tendency to grow» – Tatyana Guligs, Dobovo.com content manager shares her opinion.
In the period of holidays most of the hoteliers increase price at least for 20-30% and the minimum period of stay from 1-2 days to 3-5 days. Reservation department specialists advise to book apartments beforehand — two weeks and more before the check in date to get a bigger offer of apartments that answer all the requirements and avoid any unpleasant situations.
Dobovo.com booking service was found in 2010 and permanently improves the service for hoteliers and guests. Dobovo booking service commands the widest base of daily apartments in Ukraine, listing over 7000 apartments hostels, private houses and hotel suites in 63 cities. The customers can book accommodation directly on the website. The Support team is available 7 days a week to assist with booking for the clients and hoteliers.
Dobovo booking center becomes a partner of NETwork conference
Dobovo became one of the partners of NETwork conference which took place in Lviv on September 19th, 2015. This event was dedicated to Microsoft technologies and oriented particularly on developers. The conference exists from 2011 and 500 participants are expected this year.
Dobovo provides favourable terms of booking to the participants of NETwork and offers 200 UAH discount for daily apartment reservation in Lviv for the period of conference. In order to get the gift certificate you should be a registered event participant.
Today dobovo.com cooperates with more than 2 thousands apartment owners. There are around 8,5 thousands accommodation options offered on the web-site. The company keeps on top of trends and offers convenient conditions for the clients as well as for the partners. Dobovo booking center provides own partnership program and stays open for the new cooperation opportunities. Today Dobovo’s partners are accommodation catalogues, tourism-oriented sites, real-estate portals, tour agencies and a lot of other organizations. Within the program the company offers such partnership options as referral links, vigets and co-brand. Dobovo booking center is constantly improving the functionality of the site and helps making the booking process as fast and easy as possible.
Personal discounts from the owners on Dobovo
June 18th, 2015 Dobovo booking center released new functionality — personal discounts for the guests from hoteliers. Every hotelier henceforward can offer a discount for his potential clients as they may in their discretion think fits. Dobovo keeps on permanently working on updates to help the owners and clients to intercommunicate directly. Openness in communication and possibility to get the best offers — are always in high priority for the hoteliers and customers. Personal discounts is precisely the functionality that will help both sides to communicate directly during the booking process.
How it works?
Every customer who has personal profile on dobovo.com can request a discount for chosen apartment from the hotelier. In order to do that the guest will need to use «Ask owner a question» form, fill in the obliged information and send a request. The owner in his turn after receiving a request can submit a personal proposal for the guest. The owner can also offer a discount for another apartment or dates.
What it gives?
Providing a personal special offer to the guest the owner lays the groundwork for open and mutually beneficial communication even before booking. The guest will appreciate the loyalty which will help him to make his choice to book one or another apartment. Technical Director of IT-department Andriy Bezlyudnyi commented on new functionality:
«It became easier for the client to be identified by the hotelier. The owner will see the potential customer and their communication will be faster and without interference of third parties. The owners will also have an opportunity to reward the regular customers with personal discounts».
More than 8 thousand apartments are listed by over 2,5 thousand hoteliers on dobovo.com website. Thousands of customers visit the website to search for apartments for daily rent in over 50 cities in Ukraine daily. In order to make booking not only secure but also totally autonomous for both sides Dobovo booking center developers new functionality and improves already existing on permanently basis. The future of daily rent is in development of new technologies.
Bank National Credit has started to accept payments for apartments of Dobovo.com booking service
In the month of July, Bank National Credit has switched on the new service in it’s own cash payment terminals network. The new service allows to accept payments for the booking of apartments in Dobovo.com company.