Hamed Al-Khabaz: From Ethical Hacker to Traveltech Luminary

Hamed Al-Khabaz made headlines in 2014 when he was expelled from his school, Dawson College, for violating their code of conduct. The real story? He was a member of the school’s software club, and was designing an app for students. In the process, he discovered a dangerous vulnerability in the school’s code–a vulnerability that could expose students’ personal information. Though he reported it to the school, very little was done, and when he pushed the issue, he was expelled.

A decade later, Hamed has gone from whitehat to entrepreneur. The Montreal-born 29-year-old is now an entrepreneur in the rapidly growing Traveltech industry. He began with his first company, Zilyo, that streamlined vacation rentals. He is now the founder of Stay22, a startup that provides a map-based accommodation search experience. Stay22 hosts more than 35 million bookable listings and has generated half a million dollars in commissions for its more than 1000 partners.

We were lucky enough to sit down with Hamed and ask him a few questions about his personal journey, where he sees the future of Traveltech, and more.

Walk me through the day you got expelled from school and decided to launch Zilyo - what happened and how did you think of spearheading your first company?

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The day I got expelled was definitely a tough one. It happened a few months before the news picked it up. At that time, I was 19 and only a few close friends knew about it, but I kept it from my mom. I actually faked going to school every day so she wouldn't find out. Instead, I'd hang out at a local library, not really knowing what my plan was or how long I'd keep up the charade. The day before a radio station was set to cover the story, thanks to the student union at the college, I finally told my mom (spoiler alert: she wasn't too happy!).

After that, the news spread like wildfire, and I'm super grateful to everyone who helped me go from one interview to another and all the people around the world who supported me. The recognition helped me find the startup community in Montreal. To be honest, the job offers I got and applied for were way above my skill level. With not many other options and angels and VCs willing to invest in any idea we came up with, I decided to start a company with my college friend.

Looking back, I'm super thankful and lucky that the school didn't press charges beyond expulsion. We've heard too many stories of whitehat hackers getting the short end of the stick.

As for Zilyo, it didn't last too long. The idea started around 2014 because a lot of Airbnb clones were popping up - or rather, Vrbo clones, since that came before, but Airbnb popularized it. We decided to create a search engine that aggregated all those websites (in travel, that's called meta search). We raised some money, grew the team, and ultimately failed. A lot of mistakes were made and many lessons learned; the whole experience lasted about two years.

The turning point for you was in 2016, during an event in Germany and the Reddit connection...what transpired?

Things were looking a bit bleak in my life after winding down my previous startup. The team disbanded, with members finding other jobs or starting their own ventures. I needed a break, so I decided to attend an esports game with a live audience. There was a major tournament happening in Cologne, so I just had to go. The problem was, I had never set foot in Europe before, let alone Germany. I wanted to find a place to stay close to the venue and see how far it was from the airport I'd be landing at.

So, I built a quick solution for myself – a map-based view with hotels around the venue that also showed the distance between them. I posted it on Reddit, and it caught traction among other fans of the game who also wanted to travel there.

You see, one of the issues with my previous company was that we didn't have many users outside of our friends and family, and they didn't use the product often enough as they only travel a few times a year. We needed consistent traffic per day, which at the time meant bidding for keywords on Google – something we weren't good at.

With Stay22, the model is reversed. The idea is to integrate our product into other platforms, websites, and apps that require their users to travel. We started with familiar things like event organizers, who should focus on events and not attendees' accommodations. Event organizers often spend time reserving hotels and securing discount rates for attendees, which can be a distraction from their main focus. Stay22 streamlines this process and makes it more convenient for everyone involved.

Stay22 is going to turn 7 this year: what inspired you to launch a Traveltech platform?

I've always had difficulty finding the best hotel deals for events I wanted to attend. I'd spend countless hours searching, using products like KAYAK, Airbnb, and Google Maps, constantly switching between them to determine if the price was worth the distance. I realized there was no hotel meta-search product out there that catered specifically to the needs of event-goers.

Incidentally, Stay22 also solves the problem I encountered with my previous company, which was acquiring high travel intent traffic. By partnering with various platforms, we rely on their end users' traffic without having to pay for it. On the flip side, we've built a product that benefits platform owners and content creators by allowing them to monetize more effectively without having to deal with outdated travel APIs or negotiate business deals with travel suppliers.

What sets Stay22 apart from other travel booking platforms, and how do you stay competitive in such a crowded marketplace?

At Stay22, we've shifted our focus away from the B2C side of the traveler's experience, as that space is already dominated by giants like Google Travel and Booking.com. Instead, we primarily concentrate on the B2B aspect, becoming experts in funneling high-converting traffic to various suppliers.

Our product allows platforms and content creators to easily embed our travel solutions, offering their readers and fans a contextual user experience. For instance, if someone is reading a blog about what to do in Dubai, our solution recognizes the destination, the user's location, and many other parameters to provide special offers in a native UX within the app or page. It blends seamlessly into any page or layout, without looking like a third-party application or an ad.

We think this is what travel partner programs are getting wrong today. Their embeddable products don't blend in and requires a lot of effort to integrate.

While competition exists, what truly sets us apart is our focus on delivering maximum revenue for our partners, who are the platforms and content creators. At the end of the day, they'll choose the solution that brings them the highest returns. Secondary factors, such as customer support, data, and integration experience, are also important, but ultimately, our emphasis on revenue generation helps us stay at the top.

Since Stay22's launch, what has the journey been like so far; have there been any significant highs and lows that you'd like to tell me about?

The journey with Stay22 has definitely had its share of highs and lows. One of the scariest moments we faced was, of course, the outbreak of COVID-19. With our business focusing exclusively on travel and events, both industries took the biggest hits. We had to make the difficult decision to let go of some amazing team members, as the advice was to cut costs quickly and only do it once, since we didn't know how long the situation would last. We panicked and tried to change our model, branching out of travel and exploring various options. In retrospect, it might have been better to wait it out while preparing for the recovery.

On the other hand, one of the most memorable highs was when we released our LetMeAllez (LMA) script to our travel content creators. Hearing their feedback about how it allowed them to go full-time or even double or triple their monthly income because of our product was incredibly gratifying and rewarding.

‍What trends do you see shaping the future of the travel industry, and how is Stay22 adapting to these changes?

One major trend that I see shaping the future of the travel industry is the use of AI like ChatGPT. I'm really excited about this, as natural language browsing and instant feedback will likely become the new way to book for travel. Imagine being able to simply ask for a trip to Buenos Aires with specific requirements like non-stop flights, round trip, and flexible dates, and have the AI find the best deals for you. That's so much more efficient than manually searching and applying filters. Adapting to this trend isn't easy, though, since programmers are used to deterministic input and outputs, while AI like GPT uses generative text and natural language. But I'm confident we'll get there as things are progressing rapidly.

That being said, our main focus remains working with partners, not directly with consumers, in a B2B2C fashion. So, while it's unlikely that we'll develop a GPT chat product ourselves, we are working on smarter generative offers that I'm sure our partners will appreciate and benefit from. I'm super excited to see how partners and travelers react to it as we're launching a closed beta, but I can't say more than this yet!

As for the future, I think most travelers will still want that genuine human touch when it comes to recommendations. Right now, it's not super clear how GPT can fully cater to that, but hey, adapting is what we're good at!

Can you discuss a recent feature that Stay22 has launched, and how it has impacted the user experience?

One significant challenge we faced was the lengthy integration time for partners incorporating our product into their systems, such as checkout confirmation pages. It often took months, or even years, to complete the process, involving an enterprise sales navigation where we had to find a champion within the partner organization, have them pitch our solution at their next meeting, and secure internal approval through a series of votes, the whole process, etc.

Realizing the need to accelerate this process, we decided to remove the complexity from our partners' responsibilities. Our current approach allows partners to simply copy and paste our snippet, and we manage the rest. Utilizing sophisticated algorithms and AI, we're able to understand the structure, layout, and content of our partners' apps and pages. This enables us to offer travel deals that blend seamlessly within their content, without disrupting user experience or cannibalizing any of their revenue streams. It has been challenging code wise, but the results have greatly benefited both our partners and their users, and let us grow much faster with less of our team intervention.

Looking ahead, what goals does Stay22 have for the future, and how do you plan to achieve them?

Stay22's plan remains to be the leading travel solution showing users the right content, the right way, at the right time. We have a vision for the future that extends beyond just travel; we plan to branch out into retail and merchandise sectors as well. Our goal is to support more content creators and platforms, empowering them to generate increased revenue through our snippet and continue enriching our partner's UX via our offers.

What's next for you Hamed, what's the big dream?

I'm not sure, but I'm fortunate enough right now to keep following my curiosity and whatever I think is exciting. Luckily, it seems like it's been working out for me, though I do have to owe it to our fantastic team.

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Photos supplied by: Hamed Al-Khabaz