Safestay reports ‘record’ revenues of £23m in FY24

Safestay has reported that revenues hit a “record” £23m in its full-year results, up by 2% against the prior year, despite ongoing cost-of-living pressures impacting the young traveller demographic across its key markets.Although the group reported a rise in revenues, in part driven by more group bookings, its adjusted EBITDA fell slightly to £6.5m, down from £6.8m in FY23. 

Nonetheless, the hostel group reported forward bookings of £4.7m at 1 January 2025, marking a 27% increase against £3.7m this time last year, which was supported by the growth in group bookings.

It also reported a 10% increase in total bed nights to 931,688, 37% of which were booked through direct and non-commissionable channels. According to Safestay, this improvement in the booking mix reflected a “step-change” in its marketing capabilities, as well as a gradual recovery in group bookings, which are booked direct and represented 16% of accommodation sales.

Meanwhile, its occupancy rate continued to strengthen to 75.2%, marking a 3.8% increase year-on-year, reflecting brand momentum, according to the group. 

Whilst the average bed rate of £21.40 fell (2023: £23.74) amid broader pricing pressure, total RevPAB remained “robust” at £18.56 (2023: £18.93), as revenue per guest was driven through increased sales of ancillary services, in particular F&B sales which increased 26% during the year.

During FY24, Safestay also added four new properties in European travel locations, including a new site in Brighton, and opened a new hostel in Edinburgh following the acquisition of the site in 2023. 

Larry Lipman, chairman of Safestay, said: “2024 was a year of important strategic progress for Safestay as we further strengthened our position as one of Europe’s leading hostel operators. We expanded our portfolio to 20 sites across some of Europe’s great destination cities, increasing our ability to serve our core customer base of young travellers, families, groups and business travellers who want comfortable, great value stays in exceptional locations. 

“Whilst cost-of-living pressures continued to impact our customers and the pricing environment during the year, we were pleased to achieve year-on-year revenue growth supported by our ongoing focus on balancing increasing occupancy whilst also maintaining RevPAB.” 

He added: “We enter 2025 in a strong position as one of the leading international operators in a highly fragmented, sizable and growing market. In addition to remaining focused on delivering organic growth through our operational initiatives, we will continue to actively evaluate new opportunities where well located, attractive sites become available, including through acquisition and lower capital routes to market where we can leverage our brand, operational capabilities and market understanding.”