If you own a Farmhouse or a beautiful Second Home in your village and are thinking of creating a lucrative business out of it, this blog is for you. Earning from your second home is a great idea, instead of leaving it unused or vacant for a long time. Now, Are you wondering ‘How to start earning from your own homestay business?’ Read till the end!
Given the current pandemic situations, travelers or families prefer staying in private villas or homestays over a crowded resort. The spotlight is currently on homestays as these groups of guests get to enjoy their trips while being isolated in a bubble, away from the crowds.
So, if you own a Villa or a Second Home, ‘Now’ is the right time to enter the hospitality industry. Start renting out your space and turn it into a go-to Homestay for travelers. There will be many questions that will arise in common minds, such as-
How will I run a business on my own if I stay in a Metro City?
Who will take proper care of my property?
Who will look after the needs of the guests?
What if any damage is caused to my valuables & interiors?
We say, sit back and learn some homestay business ideas studied by the Business Management Team of Bigfoot Hospitality over the years. Rest assured that all your questions will be answered by the end of this blog.
1. The Average Earning Of A Homestay Owner
Depending upon the location and amenities you offer, the average homestay business income ranges from 50k-80k per month. If you own a villa near Mumbai, Pune, or any metro city, you are likely to make more money from it.
Depending on the demands and changing seasons, a luxury homestay with a swimming pool and good amenities have the potential to earn around 1 Lakh - 1.5 Lakhs per month too!
2. Serving A Guest While Living In A Metro City
Turning your business into a successful one mostly depends on the type of hospitality you provide the guests with during their stay. Appointing a good caretaker to your villa is the answer. A good and honest person who is willing to put his heart and soul to take care of your homestay and serve the guests can really help your business grow largely.
Where can you get one? Bigfoot Hospitality not only helps you set up and grow your homestay business, but we also look upon the smaller details like finding you the ideal caretaker for your second home.
3. Avoiding Theft or Accidental Damages
We see that this very point has been a major show-stopper for second homeowners that holds them back from starting their own homestay business. From multiple years of experience in the same industry, Bigfoot Hospitality has noticed that these scenarios are very uncommon.
It is very unlikely that theft may take place at a homestay or villa. However, the guests that visit a homestay, never check-out without paying for any accidental damage made.
If you still have this fear at the back of your mind, we suggest introducing a security deposit policy at your homestay. Wherein, you charge the guests an amount at the time of check-in and return the same to them at the time of check-out. Considering there are no damages made. This helps the owner and the guests both stay careful and secure respectively.
Another option is installing CCTV cameras for surveillance, so you monitor everything from a distance.
Suggested Read- Email Marketing Strategies To Drive Hotel Revenue And Growth
4. Attracting Guests To Your Vacation Home
The mandatory platforms that will help you get guests for your Homestay Business are as follows-
OTA- Listing your property on Online Travel Agencies like Booking.com, AirBnB, MakeMyTrip, Agoda, and others will help you get some bookings. However, generating a decent revenue to cover all costs incurred to you will need proper management of these OTAs. Factors like ranking and visibility help you earn more revenue instantly. Also, these platforms will bring you bookings while charging you a commission as high as 20-25 percent.
Hiring yourself a Revenue Management Company & a Hotel Marketing Company that will take care of all your Homestay Business needs is the smartest move to make!
Keep posting updates and details about your homestay on these channels and watch your villa turning into a whole individual brand. Branding and Business Growth go hand-in-hand, in an industry such as ours.
Google My Business- Having a GMB page for your holiday home will list your homestay in the local searches and will even make it easier for the guests to locate your property’s exact location. However, there’s much more that goes to listing your property on the first page of Google Searches. Bigfoot Hospitality provides services like Local SEO to improve your online visibility.
5. Build Your Own Homestay Brand
Systematic Branding of your Homestay in the initial stages of your business, goes a long way. There are many vacation rental companies in the market that claim to bring you high bookings, but the hidden truth is that they end up hijacking your brand. These vacation rental companies not only charge you hefty commissions on the bookings you receive, but they also steal your brand identity for their own benefits.
The owner of the homestay or hotel is then left with no option but to watch their business fall drastically over the years. Unlike these companies, Bigfoot Hospitality helps you manage your revenue, and market your homestay while branding your own name!
Our team works together in boosting your revenue, marketing your homestay through effective visual & written content, operations, reservations, listing your property on OTAs, photography, providing and training the caretaker for your homestay, review management, handling any complaints, and much more!
Building a successful business, while keeping it super-light on your pocket is just a phone call away.
Get in touch with us for a consultation on how to start earning from your own homestay business, for free!