A Chat with Marina Guastavino, Co-Founder and CMO of Directo Extension

Tell us about Directo

Directo is a browser plugin that helps travellers find unbeatable hotel and accommodation deals. Directo acts as a smart search engine, working in the background to find and beat the deals displayed by traditional online travel agencies. A browser extension is a small software program that adds new features to your web browser.

In this case, it allows travellers to effortlessly compare prices and deals, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual research and delivering on average 11% cheaper rates. At the same time, it empowers hotels and property owners by enhancing their visibility and giving them greater control over pricing and offerings, minimising dependence on commission-heavy middlemen. This unique dual-sided approach transforms the booking experience for both guests and hosts.

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

Directo was founded in 2023 by a team of second-time entrepreneurs with deep roots in the travel industry.

While booking for their personal travels, the founders realised that often, direct hotel deals are much more attractive than the ones booked through large travel platforms. In particular, booking directly with the hotel may offer better prices, better rooms, better cancellation policies, etc. The team came up with the plan to make those deals available instantly to anybody browsing large travel sites via a browser extension that assists you during the search process.

Today hotel technology has reached a high level of sophistication, and most hotels have a great ecommerce website where they promote their own advantageous deal without a middleman. Our solution is unique in the sense that we are the only company focused on putting the spotlight on those advantageous deals while minimising the efforts for the consumer.

As hotel and vacation rental prices have climbed sharply since 2019, the launch of Directo is particularly timely. This rise in costs makes it essential for travellers to seek out better deals to manage their travel expenses efficiently.

What is your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?

Learn how to fail fast – is one of the best pieces of advice we could give. It’s easy to get stuck with ideas that won’t work and will stick around within your startup like zombies. Before we find one thing that works, we try 20 that do not.

One of our goals as a small organisation is always to minimise time between the moment the idea is born and its launch and testing, so we can decide whether to pursue it with full force or simply drop it and minimise its overall cost in terms of time and energy spent. In the end speed and agility is the main advantage of nascent companies and as entrepreneurs, and failing fast is a way to ensure you keep that agility and speed.

What most excites you about Directo?

Directo operates in a gigantic market: travel is one of the largest categories in ecommerce and has not been disrupted in years. For consumers, there has been very little innovation in the last 10 years, since Airbnb popularised short term rentals or Hopper made it simpler to book trips via your phone.

We feel we are well positioned to help millions of travellers get unbeatable deals while taking advantage of hotel technology that makes it now easy for hotels to compete on their own websites.

How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?

While still relatively young, we have grown rapidly, reaching over 200,000 users across 180 countries in just 15 months. It’s thrilling to think of so many people relying on this tool to plan their trips. We’re also onboarding new hotel and property manager partners every week.

What began with three founders has now expanded to a team of six, enabling us to scale and support our growing community more effectively.

What can we hope to see from Directo in the future?

In 2025, we aim to grow our community to 500,000 users and reach €100M in gross booking value. Alongside this, we plan to strengthen partnerships with industry stakeholders, including OTAs, operators, and software partners, to align the travel ecosystem, enhance value for travellers, and support our partners’ success.