As people are increasingly opening up to the concept of bed and breakfast, a huge opportunity in providing a common platform for home-stay owners and guests is still waiting to be tapped
A taste of the country’s rich ethnicity blended with great hospitality is what most tourists look for when they visit India.
But do you really think by staying in hotels, amongst other foreigners and getting that five-star treatment, they even get close to becoming familiar with what India has to offer? Not really! Perhaps what they need is a more intimate experience, something they can only get by intermingling with the residents of the country.
This is exactly where the concept of home-stays comes in. Just imagine being a part of an Indian family, which enriches and personalizes every bit of your stay in India, by providing you lodging, authentic home-cooked Indian meals and accompanying you to some of the best places in the city. While the tourists enjoy their home away from home, this also gives the host family a great way to make some quick bucks.
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So is there an opportunity in the home-stay hospitality sector in India? Definitely! The gap between a home-stay guest and the host is still very wide and private players can help in bridging this gap by bringing them together on a common platform.
| DARE/estimate per agency | |
| THIS ESTIMATE IS BASED UPON SOME FIGURES GIVEN TO US BY AN AGENCY CURRENTLY OPERATING ACROSS THE COUNTRY | |
| CURRENT FIGURES | |
| Number of rooms registered with the agency | 150 rooms |
| Average occupancy in a year | 50 % |
| Actual room occupany in a year | 75 rooms |
| Charge per room per day | 4,500 Rs |
| Estimated days of room occupancy in a year | 300 days |
| Revenue generated by home-stay hosts | 10.1 Rs crore |
| Agency’s share of revenue for organizing home-stays | 25 % |
| REVENUE EARNED | 2.5 Rs crore |
| FUTURE ESTIMATES (2009) | |
| Number of rooms registered with the agency (expected) | 450 rooms |
| Average occupancy in a year | 50 % |
| Actual room occupany in a year | 225 rooms |
| Charge per room per day | 4,500 Rs |
| Estimated days of room occupancy in a year | 300 days |
| Revenue generated by homestay hosts | 30.4 Rs crore |
| Agency’s share of revenue for organizing homestays | 25 % |
| ESTIMATED REVENUE | 7.6 Rs crore/player |
| Assumptions: 300 days of occupancy in a year, 450 rooms expected by end of 2008, Average charge per room per day is Rs 4,500 Disclaimer: This data and analysis are indicative, and CyberMedia makes no warranties about its accuracy. You are advised to do your own analysis if you are evaluating a similar venture | |
Gradually catching up
In India, the concept of home-stays, commonly known as Bed and Breakfast, is still relatively new. Except for certain beachside places in Goa, where tourists frequently stay with families, the concept was almost unheard of until a couple of years back.
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With the initiation of the Delhi government’s Incredible India Bed and Breakfast Scheme, more home owners started opening up to the idea. Conceptualized by the Union Ministry of Tourism, it was implemented keeping in mind the shortage of 30,000 rooms for visitors during the Commonwealth Games 2010. Under this scheme, those who are interested in starting a home-stay are inspected, given a license to operate, and it is ensured that they charge domestic rates, not commercial ones. According to Ekta Capor, Director of Operations, Comfort Homestay, “There are about 200 approved Incredible India establishments as of now”.
Besides Delhi, states like Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, etc, are also fast catching up. According to Dhrubajyoti Baruah, CEO of the Bharat Homestay portal, “Even in places like Ladakh, which is an area otherwise devoid of major economical activity, entire villages are looking at home-stays as a profitable proposition”.
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written by Ashish Arora123456, September 01, 2010
I am having 4 extra rooms in my home in delhi which I want to utilize for bed and breakfast concept. Please let me know whom to contact.
Warm Regards
Ashish
written by Prashant Thakkar, September 23, 2008
This is Prashant, I am interested in Medical Tourism promotional keeping commonwealth games in 2010 as target i am planning to have medical tourism portal where i want to provide information about medical treatment, tourism, affordable hotel, resorts, service apartments and home-stay services.
kindly provide me more information for home-stay service, if i want to start as a service what i need and what other factors i have to keep in mind before moving in this direction. who can start this service. what legals are involved and whom to approach for legal and other advises
Thanks,
Prashant Thakkar
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I own 6 bed room villa at Aurangabad, Bihar.
I want to start a Homestay business with my property.
Please guide me regarding it in this direction.
Thanks and regards.
Ajay Kumar