How to Start a Homestay in India: 5 Successful Owners Share Their Lessons & Tips
Want to turn your home into a homestay? Here’s some advice from entrepreneurs and owners on how to start a homestay in India.
In the vibrant landscape of hospitality, there has been a rising trend of people wanting to stay in homestays to truly experience the place’s culture. With concepts of slow travel rising, the industry is seeing a shift to homestay rather than to resorts and hotels.
Homestays offer a unique and personalised experience, often curated by passionate entrepreneurs. It not only allows you to have a glimpse of how people live in a given place but also to truly experience it for a few days. While opening a homestay might be easier if you already live in a tourist spot, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Delving into the realm of running a successful homestay, The Better India explores insights from remarkable entrepreneurs who have mastered the art.
1. Believe in Yourself
Running a business when you are a woman, especially from a small town comes with its own set of problems, muses Heena Mahant who runs the Afsana Homestay in Manali. When she first came up with the idea of building a homestay, she not only got opposition from outsiders but from within her family too.
“No one has ever been in business in my family… I still remember my dad’s scepticism. There was always a pressure to get married and settle down when I was working in Chandigarh. But upon returning home, it intensified even more. I don’t blame them; I’m nearing 32, an age when society expects you to get married and ‘settle down’, not start a passion project,” she says.
But it was Heena’s passion project to build a mud homestay. Being confident and passionate towards what you are doing is the key to success, according to Heena. “When my dad saw my passion and the vision I had, he was supportive,” she shares.
2. Be a Part of The Community
For the mother-daughter duo, Prachi Chapekar and Alka Shesha, wanting to build a home and homestay in Panchgani was not easy as they hailed from Mumbai.
Their most important advice? Become a part of the community. “You are an outsider going into their land, trying to buy what’s theirs. You have to try to become a part of their community.”
The duo presently runs Avabodha Homestay in Panchgani and has hired multiple people from the area. “This is one of the ways I showed the community that I was there to stay and become a part of it,” she shares.
3. Make The ‘Home’ In Homestay
When a tourist chooses a homestay, it is to feel a sense of home in the homestay. Pushpa, a 65-year-old woman who runs the place called ‘The Mudhouse Marayoor’ with her brother makes sure to do so.
A family-run homestay, the guests at The Mudhouse end up staying longer than they planned. One of the ways Pushpa makes her guests stay special is by bringing them the most homely food.
“We grow most of our produce on the land,” shares Roopa, adding, “Some of the guests’ favourites are the appam, stew, puttu, kadala, dosa, sambar, idiyappam and chicken curry. And no one is allowed to go back to the city without Praveen’s (head chef) special dal tadka and shahi tukda.
4. Hire The Right People
Hiring the right people to help you successfully run the homestay is another important lesson that most of these owners share. “When I started with my homestay, Ludhramani Bhaiya, who is now our cook, became my backbone. He helped me every step of the way,” says Heena.
“Currently, he helps me to take care of the place and he also is our cook. He makes delicious authentic Himachali food at our homestay which leaves all our guests happy and satisfied,” she adds.
5. Always Be Eager To Learn
While 89-year-old Laxmi Ammal studied only till Class 3, and 71-year-old Kasthuri Sivaraman completed Class 7 in a Tamil-medium school, running a homestay was something these women would have never imagined as young women.
Scared and low on confidence, when Kasthuri’s son came to her with the idea, she was not eager to go along with it. But with a zeal to learn and a lot of support from the family, the duo broke away from their fears.
For them, running a homestay is a continuous learning process. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the duo could not get many guests, they used the internet to attract more people.
“Due to the lockdown, we did not get any guests for nearly six months. Once, a bunch of YouTubers visited and gave us positive reviews online. That helped us get popular quickly,” says Kasthuri.
6. Inspiring responsible tourism
As far as travelling responsibly is concerned, homestay owners Anuradha and Kartik Budhraja who run Saroga Woods say that it is their responsibility to practise responsible tourism.
Running a homestay with sustainability at its core, Anuradha opines, “There are many ways one can live in harmony with nature, it is all about going the extra mile. Especially with nature, we need to be more careful with the nature around us,” opines Anuradha.
The couple do go out of their way and have prepared written material with contacts, and information on setting up rainwater harvesting and solar energy at a homestay. “Whenever someone shows interest, we readily explain the process and also share our resources with them,” says Anuradha.
(Edited by Padmashree Pande)
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