Circa 2019. Hotel-booking startup RedDoorz had just raised $70 million in a Series C funding round in July, less than five months after closing its $45-million Series B round. The company was growing 4-5 times year-on-year in occupied room nights, with occupancy levels averaging 65-70% across some 1,500 hotels in Southeast Asia.
But then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and suddenly it was a question of survival against growth. “In March [2020], the occupancy levels [at our hotels] dipped…