The travel sector in India has become extremely competitive, thanks to the rapid growth of start-ups and global hospitality companies. However, amidst all these big players, the homestay segment, hasn’t been able to get its due share of publicity.
With an aim to bring together the unorganised and fragmented homestay segment and increasing focus on this space, Stay On Skill has been partnering with many commercial properties in the past one year, helping them get more publicity and exposure on social media platforms.
Stay On Skill tries to find a way to let you travel more while minimising the hit on your credit card. It provides a platform for homeowners to offer a place to travellers with expertise on skills they are interested in learning. So far, more than 200 properties have partnered with them across destinations such as Leh, Auroville, Goa and Shillong.
The company collaborates with properties in three ways. The first is by sending an expert to the destination homestay as per their requirement, and imparting skills to the locals and owners. The second is a skill learning collaboration where the expert gets free stay and food in exchange for teaching their skills to fellow travellers in the property.
A picture from Stay on Skill’s meetup
Stay On Skill also organizes SOS meetups, where about eight to 10 experts from different domains, including bloggers, influencers, photographers and musicians, head to the property together and arrange for a meetup where they impart their skills and knowledge.
Not just that, Stay On Skill helps these properties highlight the unique experiences that they can provide to travellers. For instance, the cost of a professional photographer to take pictures of a place can range from anywhere between INR 15k to 20k, but through Stay on Skill, these properties get to host these professional photographers, who in return for stay and food, do a photoshoot for them. The same pictures are then used by properties to promote themselves on major booking platforms. Similarly, Stay On Skill also helps these homestays get video content, bloggers, Instagram influencers and website developers to help them market themselves to a wider and more relevant audience; all in return for stay and food.
More and more people are now looking to move away from templatised and standardised travel services to savour more unique experiences. With players like Stay On Skill stepping up their activities to drive customers to this category, it will not only address reluctance among hosts and instill confidence in the traveller, but also help finally build a solid database of guest houses, homestays and bed-and-breakfast accommodation across the country and give them a much-needed boost.
