Happy Hotels, a homegrown booking app, is taking on giants like Agoda and Airbnb in the Southeast Asian market. Launched in 2016, the app has grown significantly over the past year, with over 300,000 rooms in 500 cities in Southeast Asia. Happy Hotels’s strategy is to offer a more localized experience to customers by partnering with local hotels, making it easier for them to offer promotions and deals to customers. However, the app faces challenges such as gaining customers’ trust and loyalty, as well as keeping up with the competition. Nevertheless, Happy Hotels has gained investors including Taiwan’s Zealot Digital and Wayfare Venture, and is aiming for an IPO in the future.