What ZenHotels.com does

ZenHotels.com is an online travel agency (OTA) operated by Leaside Services Limited, a Cyprus-incorporated company (registration HE342401) headquartered operationally in Limassol with a registered office in Nicosia. The platform aggregates over 2.7 million accommodation options across 220 countries and territories, including hotels, hostels, apartments, villas, and campgrounds, and serves primarily individual leisure travelers with a secondary segment of business travelers. Customers search and book directly through a self-serve website and native mobile applications on iOS, Android, and Huawei AppGallery, with mobile-app-exclusive pricing positioned as a key engagement lever. The corporate group also includes affiliated entities in the United States (Emerging Travel Inc.), the United Kingdom (Emerging Travel UK Limited), and Germany (Emerging Travel Germany ETG GmbH) that support cross-border booking operations, as well as a dedicated corporate travel portal, RoundTrip.travel.

The underlying platform combines a booking engine, a TripAdvisor-integrated review layer, a personalization/recommendation engine that uses browsing signals, and 24/7 customer support delivered via Intercom's AI-powered chatbot and human specialists. Supporting products include a personal account system with wishlists, a travel deals portal, a promo code system, an integrated travel blog (blog.zenhotels.com), a partner extranet for property owners (extranet.emergingtravel.com), and an affiliate program. Technical infrastructure is built on AWS for cloud and data services, Cloudflare for security and CDN, and OVH Hosting as an additional web host; analytics run through Google Analytics, and payments are processed via major credit cards, PayPal, and Apple Pay, with pay-on-arrival also supported. The company is GDPR-compliant, with a privacy policy last updated in August 2025.

ZenHotels generates revenue primarily through booking commissions earned from hotels and accommodation providers on transactions routed through the platform, supplemented by affiliated partner referrals (e.g., directing corporate travel customers to RoundTrip.travel) and its affiliate program. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; commission structures and service fees are private, and individual hotel rates displayed on the site range from budget to luxury depending on property and date. Distribution is product-led and self-serve: acquisition runs through content marketing (travel blog), SEO-optimized destination pages, email newsletter, organic social (Facebook, Instagram), mobile-app install campaigns via QR codes and app store listings, and affiliate/partner channels. The company does not disclose funding history or revenue figures, and its private ownership is centered on Cyprus-incorporated Leaside Services Limited within the broader Emerging Travel corporate group, with Felix Shpilman as CEO and Kirill Makharinsky and Serge Faguet as co-founders and board members.

Name

ZenHotels.com

Legal name

Leaside Services Limited

Website

https://zenhotels.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

ZenHotels.com is a Cyprus-headquartered online travel agency operated by Leaside Services Limited, offering a self-serve booking platform and mobile apps that aggregate over 2.7 million hotels, hostels, apartments, villas, and campgrounds across 220 countries for primarily individual leisure travelers, with a secondary corporate travel offering via RoundTrip.travel.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Travel Agency

NAICS

Travel Agencies (561510)

akta.pro primary industry

Accommodation-Focused OTAs (Hotels & Alternative Stays) (THAKAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Lodging & Vacation Rental Booking Platforms (BPAMAIAC)

Keywords

• Online hotel booking
• Accommodation reservation platform
• Online travel agency
• Hotel aggregation platform
• Travel booking service

Headquarters

HQ city

Limassol

HQ country

Cyprus

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Hotel Booking Commissions: ZenHotels acts as an online travel agency (OTA), earning commissions from hotels and accommodation providers when customers book through the platform. The company works with thousands of hotels and dozens of providers directly to offer competitive pricing.
2. Affiliated Partner Referrals: The platform directs corporate travel customers to RoundTrip.travel, receives referral traffic from partner websites, and offers an affiliate program for partners to earn commissions on referred bookings.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ZenHotels.com operates an online travel agency (OTA) platform aggregating more than 2.7 million accommodation options across 220 countries and territories, including hotels, hostels, apartments, villas, and campgrounds. Customers search, compare prices and reviews, and book accommodations directly through the website or native iOS/Android mobile apps. The company also operates a corporate travel portal (RoundTrip.travel), a partner extranet for property owners, and an affiliate program, earning commissions from hotels and providers on each booking.

Product overview

ZenHotels.com operates as a unified online travel booking platform offering hotel and accommodation aggregation services. The core product is the ZenHotels.com website and mobile application, which provides access to over 2.7 million accommodation options globally including hotels, hostels, apartments, villas, and campgrounds. The platform integrates a booking engine, customer support tools, user review aggregation (including TripAdvisor reviews), flexible payment options (credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, pay-on-arrival), and a wishlist/saved favorites feature. Supporting products include a Travel Blog for content marketing, Travel Deals and Promo Codes for promotional offers, a Personal Account system for user management, a Corporate Travel Portal (Roundtrip) for business travelers, a Partner Extranet for property owners, and an Affiliate Program for revenue-sharing partnerships. The service is provided by Leaside Services Limited, with affiliated entities operating in the USA, UK, and Germany.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ZenHotels.com Online Booking Platform

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• RoundTrip.travelcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDedicated corporate travel platform linked from ZenHotels.com main site. ZenHotels directs business travelers to RoundTrip.travel for corporate travel needs. The partnership extends ZenHotels' reach into the B2B corporate travel segment.
• RateHawkminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTravel agency platform referenced as a partner for travel agencies. Provides booking tools for travel agency partners to access ZenHotels inventory.
• Emerging Travel Inc.coreOthersAffiliated US-based group company within the Emerging Travel corporate structure. 1000 N West Street, Suite 1200, Wilmington, DE 19801 USA. Part of the data sharing network for providing booking services.
• Emerging Travel UK LimitedcoreOthersAffiliated UK-based group company. 19 Eastbourne Terrace, Office 3.01, Paddington, London, W2 6LG, UK. Part of the corporate group providing booking services across regions.
• Emerging Travel Germany ETG GmbHcoreOthersAffiliated German-based group company. Friedrichstraße 171, 10117 Berlin, Germany. Part of the international corporate structure supporting booking operations.
• TripAdvisorcoreTechnology or IntegrationReview aggregation partnership. ZenHotels collects and publishes TripAdvisor reviews alongside its own traveler reviews, providing customers with comprehensive hotel review information.
• Intercom, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationCustomer support service provider. Provides AI-powered chatbot and customer support chat functionality on ZenHotels website. The AI chatbot operates under a Zero Data Retention Policy, meaning personal data is not used for AI training.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreTechnology or IntegrationCloud infrastructure and data service provider. AWS provides cloud hosting services for ZenHotels' data infrastructure and operations.
• CloudflarecoreTechnology or IntegrationSecurity service provider. Cloudflare provides cybersecurity protection including DDoS mitigation, web application firewall, and CDN services for the ZenHotels platform.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Hotels.com: Expedia Group's flagship accommodation OTA. Directly comparable product, supplier model, and target customer (leisure travelers booking hotels), with larger brand and loyalty scale.
• Booking.com: The dominant global accommodation-focused OTA. Directly competes with ZenHotels across overlapping geographies and supplier relationships, with a much larger inventory and brand footprint.
• Agoda: Accommodation-focused OTA operating globally with strong APAC presence. Competes head-to-head with ZenHotels on hotel aggregation, direct supplier contracts, and mobile-first booking UX.
• Expedia: Full-service OTA offering hotels, flights, and packages. Overlaps with ZenHotels on hotel aggregation and price comparison while operating a broader travel marketplace.
• Trip.com Group / Ctrip: Asia-headquartered global OTA with strong supplier inventory and competitive pricing on hotels. Competes in similar cross-border leisure travel segments as ZenHotels.
• Ostrovok: Russia/CIS-focused accommodation OTA. Sister-brand-like competitor serving overlapping source markets and supplier networks as ZenHotels, with similar Eastern European demand profile.
• Trivago: Hotel metasearch platform that aggregates prices across OTAs. Competes for the same price-comparison-driven leisure traveler use case that ZenHotels targets.
• RateHawk: B2B travel booking platform and Emerging Travel group brand; ZenHotels' listed partner for travel agency inventory, operating in the same hotel aggregation space.

Broad incumbents

• Google Travel / Google Hotels: Incumbent hotel search and metasearch product embedded in Google Search. Functions as a major upstream competitor for accommodation discovery and price comparison traffic that OTAs depend on.
• Airbnb: Alternative-accommodation marketplace overlapping with ZenHotels' apartments, villas, and non-hotel inventory. Reaches similar leisure travelers with a differentiated stays-led value proposition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/zenhotels
• Instagraminstagram.com/zenhotels
• Xx.com/zen_hotels

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ZenHotels.com