Homestays in India - Bacic Homestay Etiquettes

It’s been over 4 years now that I’ve stayed at a hotel. And in this period I’ve traveled to various destinations in over half a dozen countries. In India itself I’ve traveled to over 2 dozen destinations in the past year and not once was I inclined to stay at a hotel. The reasons usually had something to do with value for money, better food and cleanliness. But what started off as an exercise in finding the best possible stay money could find, soon developed into an experience that I look forward to in all my travels.

The stay experience forms a crucial part of what you take with you from your holiday. And if you really want to experience the place for what it is and not from the clinical confines of a hotel room, experience it with the locals. Stay with them.

In India too, the trend of staying in homestays is catching on and a growing number of city dwellers, both young and old, are opting to stay at homestays over hotels to get the “real” experience of the destination.

Due to a lack of any standards and a comprehensive information infrastructure, it’s not only very difficult to find the right place suited to your needs, you also don’t know what you’re in for till you land-up at the homestay. Add to that the fact that you’re going to be staying at someone’s place and no-one’s told you what to do and what not to do.

A good starting point would be to internalize that you’re not staying at a hotel but at someone’s house and as is the case with most households, including your own I assume, there are certain etiquettes that must be followed.

So here are some ‘homestay etiquette’ tips, to make your stay pleasant and memorable:

Hospitality:
Most homestay owners are not professionals trained in the hospitality industry.
As guests, respect their warm welcome in the way they do it even if you are unaccustomed to it.

Homestays can be an enriching experience. Being an extension of someone’s house, often homestay owners dine with their guests, accompany you for treks and show you a facet of their culture up close and personal.

However you need not feel compelled to spend your entire holiday with the family. Feel free to explore the destination on your own. Of course tips from them will only come handy.


Facilities, Restrictions and Any Special Instructions:
A homestay is in many ways like a regular household - there are some do's and dont's that hosts expect their guests to follow. The best to find out about rules and facilities available is in advance. There are websites where such information is given. If the expectation is built correctly, there is no confusion and you can have a good time by knowing what to expect.

Timings:
If you're stepping out and are going to be returning late, inform your hosts. Also ask them if there is a curfew time.

Food:
Almost all homestays serve home-cooked food. Seeing guests from other parts of the country, or from abroad, the hosts may serve 'continental' breakfast to meet the taste of their guests. But it’s best to request them for local cuisine. There isn't a better way of knowing the food of the land. And you can rest assured that it’s fresh, clean and hygienic. What they eat is what they serve.

Photos:
Please ask before clicking any photos. Though most people do not have any issue with you clicking snaps, it’s polite to ask since you're staying at their home.

Footwear and Laundry:
Do ask the hosts if they are okay with you wearing your shoes inside the house/ bedroom, just as you would when you visit a friend. Some homestay owners have a laundry service, other don’t. Do not assume that it’s done in all places. When in doubt, ask, politely.

Tips:
Always ask your hosts if they are okay with you tipping any domestic help that was made available to you.

Voicing your Grievance:
While a homestay can be a wonderful experience, in case you wish to bring something to the notice of the hosts, something that you're not happy with, don’t hold back.

But do so as though you were telling someone you know rather than instructing hotel staff. Often it could be an oversight. Most homestay owners will try and act upon it immediately.

Do not haggle about Prices:
Remember, you're not staying in a hotel. One of the most awkward situations that arise is when guests start haggling about the payment while checking out. Please do not do that. It just makes everyone feel awkward, especially after you've shared a few laughs and maybe a couple of meals together. Stick with what was agreed and pay it with a smile.

Often people tell me they feel awkward about making a payment to the hosts after spending a couple of days at their home. So a good way to work around this is going through a travel accommodation network - they interface with the homestay on payments, at no added cost to you, so you can focus on the holiday and avoid any awkward situation.

For a richer experience, ask them about things like where you can shop, hidden places off the tourist map. They usually know best and will often lead you to hidden gems!

So the next time you’re planning your holiday, explore the option of staying at a homestay.

It’ll be worth it!

P.S.> This was published on UTVi

Incredible India needs more rooms (part 2)

It is a reality we all face today. Try booking a room the last minute in any metro where a sporting event or a rock show is taking place, and you will either be disappointed because the room is not available or because you’re expected to pay through your nose. The truth is, India is woefully short in meeting demand for travel accommodation.
The primary shortage is felt in large cities and metros like New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Even till a few months ago, occupancy rates in hotels in these cities were in excess of 85% - that’s high by any standards. The prices, correspondingly even higher.

Are we prepared to host global events?

India is becoming one of the key countries in today's global scenario and the number of global events it hosts is only going to increase.

The Commonwealth Games, the World Cup Hockey tournament, the ICC World Cup, another, probably bigger, IPL 20/20, all are just a couple of years away. And in this short period, all the hotels that are coming up over the next few years, can at best, add 30,000 rooms to the existing capacity – not enough by any measure. So clearly, the answer lies elsewhere.

ALSO READ PART ONE: NY has more hotel rooms than all of India put together!

New Delhi, where the room shortage is going to hurt the most, seems to have a plan. Under the bed and breakfast scheme, New Delhi hopes to add close to 25,000 rooms from the independent accommodation sector in time for the Commonwealth Games. These will include B&B’s, Guesthouses, Homestays etc.

Other states are watching and finalising their own plans for meeting the shortage. If the 7 to 8 large metros in India can muster up half the number of rooms from the independent stay sector, we'll be in a good position to cater to the expected increase.

Backing intent with application

In most tourist destinations like popular hill stations, the beaches along the coasts of India, and in some of the heritage destinations, guesthouses, Bed & Breakfasts and homestays are already present. These accommodations have started complimenting the hotel room inventory and ensuring that the room rates at these hotels don’t go the same as rates in the metros.

But getting people to offer their spare rooms for tourists is only half the job done.

ALSO READ: Are you going on a holiday?

Even if we are able to get 60,000-odd rooms from the independent accommodation sector into the market by 2010, the challenge will lie getting these accommodations into the larger tourism ecosystem.

Currently, these units function without any clear policy direction or guidelines. Most of the occupancy that they are able to generate on their own is through word-of-mouth publicity and some individual PR initiatives. While this approach may benefit a handful of the few early starters, most others will need a push at a more organised level.

Organising the independent accommodation sector

For a start, these independent accommodations need to be categorised where the traveler understands the difference between a B&B and a Guesthouse; between a homestay and a heritage home; between a dormitory and a dharamshala.

Then, the fresh inventory made available by these accommodations, needs to be organised and plugged in to large Global Distribution Systems. The cost of generating and completing a booking, needs to be brought down from the current days, to minutes. A real-time stock of inventory is essential if we are to enter a distributed environment where a booking to the thousands of accommodations in India could come from any of the millions of travellers wanting to book a room.

A rating system also needs to be put in place where customers know exactly what they are paying for at the time of making a booking. This also needs to be backed by a nation-wide accreditation system, where end-customers and agents alike, know the track record of the accommodations before they make a booking.

Generating room inventory innovatively, seemingly out of nowhere, is a great start, and it must be applauded. But it's only when the supporting ecosystem is in place, can the potential of these independent accommodations be fully realised. Incredible India will do well to keep this in mind while promoting the B&B, homestay and guesthouse initiatives. (Concluded)

First published on UTVi

NY has more hotel rooms than all of India (part 1)

It’s heartening to see the direction India Tourism is taking. Thanks to the marketing initiatives, like the ‘Incredible India’ campaign in China during the recently concluded Olympics, Tourism in India is growing at roughly 20% year on year. However, at present, India is just not geared to cater to this growth - the roughly 400 million Indians and over 5 million foreign nationals traveling in the country every year. The marketing, PR and branding is going great guns. It’s the physical infrastructure, air, rail and road travel and lodging that needs a shot in the arm.
New airports in major cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad are helping build capacity that is sorely needed to handle the growing numbers of air-travelers. And with the expansion of current airports, like in Mumbai, the congestion that we’ve been seeing at airports for the past few years, may soon be a thing of the past.

Our rail network is already pretty extensive and the focus is now on improving the service levels and quality of travel. After the success of Palace on Wheels, newer initiatives like the Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, Golden Chariot in Karnataka and the Southern Splendour project in Andhra Pradesh are great to widen the choice for travelers and further give a boost to the tourism sector.

The network of expressways and highways, too, has improved tremendously over the last decade or so. And that’s opened up the option to travel by road like never before. Luxury coaches, even the long distance ones, are now competing with trains in terms of comfort, efficiency and value for money. Online bus booking aggregators and websites have made choosing and booking a bus journey as easy as booking an airline ticket.

That leaves the accommodation bit to be addressed. Where and how do we accommodate the millions of people traveling India in a clean, safe, comfortable and cost-effective manner? Does the answer lie in just building more hotels or can something else, more innovate, be done?

India only has about 100,000 hotel rooms across the country. To put that in perspective, New York alone has more hotel rooms than that. So does London. And Beijing, in preparations for the recently concluded Olympics, built its hotel room capacity to over 100,000 rooms. We are currently about 150,000 hotel rooms short in meeting tourism demand and with the Commonwealth games scheduled for 2010, the ICC World Cup Cricket in 2011 and a spate of other international events over the next 2-3 years, the shortage of hotel rooms is only going to get more acute. It’s pretty clear that we won’t be able to bridge the demand-supply gap in the near future by relying on new hotels, both planned and those already coming up. And it’s here that the Tourism Ministry has been making all the right moves.

Seeing the success and popularity of homestays in Kerala, the Delhi government has initiated the Bed & Breakfast scheme in the capital, inviting people with spare rooms in their houses, to convert them into tourist abodes. To sweeten this incentive, the income people generate from these B&Bs will not be taxed.

Other states too are adopting a similar approach. In Rajasthan, it’s homestays and heritage houses that are being given the push. In Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu it’s B&Bs. In Karnataka the Atithi Homestay initiate had quite a few takers and it’s now been given a stronger, renewed push. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa already have loads of guesthouses. The nomenclature, schemes and incentives used in different states could be different but the message is clear – independent accommodations like homestays, bed & breakfasts, guesthouses, serviced apartments etc. are a great way to meet the shortage of travel and tourism lodging.

And the numbers add up. (To be continued…)

First published on UTVi

The Joy of Signing a Deal

No matter how many deals one signs, the next one is always just as exciting. And when you know that each and every deal impacts you directly, the pleasure is all the more sweeter.

The joys of being an entrepreneur :)

What a Way to Start-up !

It couldn't get more exciting!

There's news of markets tumbling world over, fears of a full blown recession in the US and a (minor?) panic here in India.

Our official launch also happens to be round the corner.

The last time there was a bust, only the fittest survived. They flourished and how!

This is a test I'm looking forward to.

This is personal.

What a way to start-up!

(Good post here...even better comments)

Energised Optimism

A few days ago I joined a group on Linkedin - India Leadership Network - mainly out of some curiosity and lots of optimism. Here was a group that had a vision of, and I quote, "to bring about a transformation in the way and quality of life and society".

The optimism in the vision statement was a deja vu of sorts. It was a similar sort of optimism when a few friends at Loyola College, Chennai decided to bring about a transformation in the way our discipline, Economics, was understood and, to use a word from the lexicon, 'consumed' by students.

We started a magazine called 'Oikonomikos'. What started as a departmental publication soon became a college publication. What's of note, however, was that immediately after the first issue was out, at least 6 other departments in the college started their own publications. We sent the magazine out to other colleges and B-Schools in the country and soon we got feedback from a few saying that it's inspired them to start their own magazines as well. Within the college, it changed the way people perceived the Economics department (We hope the mazagine had a role to play in the economics department ranking moving up from No. 7 to No. 2 in the country in one year.) Oikonomikos had caused a ripple effect. (and I hope the India Leadership Network does the same).

The magazine was the showpiece of the college.

Perceptions changed.

The ambition of Oikonomikos changed, too. We now wanted to become a national publication.

10 years hence, I think the magazine still continues, but still as a college magazine and not a national one. So what went wrong?

With the benefit of hindsight, there are two things I would do differently given the chance again -
1. Write out a clear constitution for the working of the group that runs the magazine
2. Stick to point one, come what may

This I believe would be relevant to the guys behind the India Leadership Network (http://india-leaders.blogspot.com)

The India Leadership Network could turn out to be the trigger to loads of other movements. ILN has struck the right chord. They just need to ensure that the momentum continues.

Kudos to them for dreaming big.

For energising thousands of others.

For all the optimism.

To me the ILN is an example of Energised Optimism!

Newsy Days

As an entrepreneur there are some things that become more apparent to me now, than say, a year ago, when I had a job. One of them is noticing how the day goes.

There are days, and there have been many of those, where I seem to be working a lot and in my mind, its been a 'busy' day but somehow there's not enough 'news' to give at the end of the day. Then there are days, such as today, where I've seemingly not done much, but there's a lot that has 'happened' in the course of my working 15 hours.

It's been a 'newsy' day.

To feel the satisfaction at the end of such days is another reason why I'd encourage anyone wanting to be an entrepreneur, to take the plunge.

(There! I've also written a blog entry today) ;)