StayLokal Pitch

PITCH MAYOR'S INNOVATION CUP 2026 — ILOILO CITY

StayLokal

Find a local stay in Iloilo. A night or a month.

A local accommodation discovery and booking‑management platform built around how small property owners actually operate — not how global OTAs operate.

staylokal.site

LOCAL PROPERTIES DIRECT PAYMENTS VERIFIED TRUST

▪ Working MVP — live guest, owner and admin demo ready

Iloilo City‑based, Iloilo City market MVP used beyond the founding team Not in any TBI or private incubator MSME & local economy

02 The Problem

The stays exist. The system around them is fragmented.

For many small local operators, the booking journey still lives across multiple disconnected tools — with no single thread tying it together.

01 ▪ DISCOVERY

Hard to search

Facebook posts and Messenger threads are nearly impossible to search and compare.

02 ▪ AVAILABILITY

Manual calendars

Owners manually check calendars by hand and risk double‑booking conflicting dates.

03 ▪ PAYMENT

Scattered proof

Payment proof, references and confirmation happen through scattered screenshots.

04 ▪ TRUST

Who am I paying?

Guests may not know who they're paying, or whether the operator is even legitimate.

The result: a guest can be interested — but the path from inquiry to confirmed stay is unnecessarily fragile.

03 The Solution

One structured workflow, replacing five scattered habits.

Simple enough for a one‑unit owner. Professional enough to build trust with a guest.

1

Discover

Professional local listing, not a buried Facebook post.

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2

Check

Live availability and stay rules, enforced automatically.

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3

Request

Guest sends a structured booking request — no more back‑and‑forth chat.

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4

Pay owner

Accommodation money stays direct — owner to guest, no middleman.

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5

Confirm

Proof reviewed and booking tracked to a clear status.

StayLokal provides the structure — without becoming the middleman holding the accommodation payment.

04 Guest Experience

From "is this available?" to a booking request, in minutes.

Guests see only what they need: property details, real availability, price, trust and next steps.

1 ▪ See real availability

Unavailable dates and minimum stays are enforced before the request is even sent.

2 ▪ Know the price

The stay total is shown up front — before any contact details are submitted.

3 ▪ Follow the booking

A secure status page keeps dates, payment and confirmation clear throughout.

Verified owner identity Direct owner payment Clear booking status Private payment proofs

05 Trust Layer

Verification is built into the model, not bolted on later.

StayLokal separates what guests may see from sensitive evidence used only for admin review.

Profile photo

Required — a human face attached to the operator.

Government ID

Stored privately; never shown publicly.

Role + authority

Owner, manager, or authorised representative.

Supporting signals

Optional Facebook and external listing URLs.

PUBLIC

Display name · role · approved photo · Identity verified

06 For Property Owners

One simple operating system — not just a listing page.

Built for the owner who may have one unit today, and five tomorrow.

▪ Requests

Accept or decline structured guest requests.

▪ Calendar

Availability, blocks and booking states in one view.

▪ Payments

Review guest payment proof — without holding the money.

▪ Sharing

Public link, social share actions and QR code.

▪ Records

Guest contacts, booking history and status trail.

▪ Subscription

Simple platform access — no accommodation commission.

07 Business Model

Simple recurring revenue. No accommodation commission.

Owners pay StayLokal for platform access; guests keep paying accommodation owners directly.

₱499/mo

Introductory owner subscription · no automatic charges

100 owners

≈ ₱49,900 / month recurring

500 owners

≈ ₱249,500 / month — before future plans or add‑ons

First 50 verified owners 30 days free from first property live Accommodation revenue stays with the owner

08 Positioning — Why We Win

The gap between social selling and a global OTA.

We don't need to beat Facebook or Airbnb at their own game. Mainstream OTAs are built for hotels and global travellers; StayLokal is built for the one‑to‑five‑unit Iloilo host.

Capability	Facebook / Messenger	Global OTA (Airbnb / Agoda)	StayLokal
Structured availability	No	Yes	Yes
Owner identity verification	Limited	Platform‑specific	Yes, local & human‑reviewed
Commission on accommodation	None	~15–20%	0% — flat subscription
Payout speed	Instant (direct)	24–72 hr hold	Instant — paid direct
Booking status workflow	No	Yes	Yes
Built for 1–5 unit local hosts	Informal fit	Built for scale/hotels	Purpose‑built
Local language & support	Informal	Global, English‑first	Iloilo‑based
Simple local owner subscription	No	No	Yes — ₱499/mo

StayLokal doesn't try to out‑scale a global OTA. It adapts online booking to how local accommodation businesses already operate — and lets the owner keep 100% of the stay.

09 Go‑to‑Market

All‑in on Iloilo. Depth before breadth.

Every owner, every listing and every peso of this pitch stays focused on one market until it's unmistakably won.

1

Onboard

First 50 verified owners across Iloilo City, 30 days free.

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2

Activate

Get listings live in every Iloilo district — not just accounts created.

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3

Prove

Demonstrate bookings, renewals and owner retention, Iloilo‑wide.

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4

Densify

Push deeper into Iloilo's remaining districts and nearby towns before looking anywhere else.

10 What Exists Today

A working MVP, independently used — not a slide‑only concept.

Onboarded by a property owner outside the founding team. Booked by a guest outside the founding team. Both through the live product, end to end.

✓

Owner signup + identity verification

✓

Property review + publish controls

✓

Guest availability + booking requests

✓

Owner calendar + blocked dates

✓

Payment‑proof review + booking status

✓

Public sharing links + QR

✓

₱499 owner subscription flow

✓

Admin controls + audit trail

Real owner, outside founding team Real guest, outside founding team

Demo reference property: One Madison Place, Iloilo City

11 Built to Partner With the City

Where we go next — with Iloilo City, not around it.

The MVP proves the model works today. These six moves turn StayLokal into infrastructure the city can build on.

LGU / DOT accreditation path

Partner with Iloilo City's tourism office to help informal hosts formalize — permits, clearance, accreditation, through the same verification we already run.

▪ Makes an invisible local economy visible — and taxable

Guest protection, without holding the money

GCash/Maya "hold‑and‑release" tied to check‑in confirmation — escrow‑like trust, zero accommodation commission.

▪ Closes the direct‑payment trust gap

Demand‑side discovery

SEO‑indexed public listing pages, Google Maps/Business integration, QR drops at the airport and tourism desks.

▪ Answers "how do guests even find us"

Post‑stay reviews

Lightweight guest ratings add the social proof the trust layer doesn't yet cover.

▪ Trust beyond ID verification

Peak‑season featured placement

Optional boosted visibility during Dinagyang and high season — upside revenue without touching the 0% commission promise.

▪ Diversifies beyond flat ₱499/mo

Hiligaynon / Filipino toggle

Local language support that no global OTA offers by default — a small, deliberate trust signal.

▪ Local charm as differentiator

12 The Ask

StayLokal

Find a local stay in Iloilo. A night or a month.

The innovation isn't "online booking." It's adapting the workflow to how local accommodation businesses actually operate.

staylokal.site

We're asking the Mayor's Innovation Cup for the mentorship, the Kwadra TBI incubation slot, and the fast‑tracked Startup Grant endorsement — to turn one verified Iloilo property into the city's local stays infrastructure.

MVP bootcamp & mentorship Kwadra TBI incubation Startup Grant fast‑track

ALL IN ON ILOILO. FIND IT. TRUST IT. BOOK IT.

StayLokal · Mayor's Innovation Cup 2026 · Iloilo City · staylokal.site