Show HN: "Zeus Living” for short getaways from urban cities in India
Hi HN,
I'm Arjun and one of the co-founders of Kipstay (https://www.kipstay.com/).We design and rent homestays for short getaways that are 2-5hrs away from urban cities in India.
In India, booking homestays as an alternative to hotels is frustrating on many levels - the experience is unpredictable, no transparency in pricing, inaccurate listing information and photos and trust issues.
We simplify the process for homeowners to upgrade their homestays to a higher standard and rent them out by the night on our website. City dwellers/travellers get getaway homes that are affordable ($50 per night), accessible (2-3 hrs or fewer from the city), and at ease (secluded and serene). How is this different from AirBnB? Airbnb is a marketplace.Verified homeowners list properties. Airbnb dosen't involve themselves in the operations of the homes themselves like speaking to guests, making sure the amenities are well stocked,the property itself is not verified, no control on pricing and inventory.Even with everything they have done, there are trust issues from a local market perspective. (speaking from the experience of being an Airbnb host in India). This may lead to a unpredictable experience for travellers. And if you want a more standard experience from Airbnb you would have to book a - Airbnb Plus home. Airbnb Plus is a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) model where set guidelines are given and the host has to adhere to the guidelines to maintain a Airbnb Plus status.The Airbnb plus program is yet to launch in India for leisure travel. We offer a DIFM (Do-It-For-Me) model where we help hosts uplift their property standards to our brand standard via. a playbook that we have created. We help them with this process and also take care of technology back-end,marketing & distribution, operations in terms of guest communications etc. For Travellers:
1. Experience - Significantly better and predictable experience for travellers.(Like a Zeus Living Home).
2. Affordable - $50 per night. We control the pricing and inventory unlike other marketplaces and OTA’s.
3. Accessible - All homes would be in scenic locations 2-5 hrs from urban cities, perfect for short getaways. Our competitors do not reveal the exact location unless a booking is made, which is frustrating for a traveller while planning.
4. Differentiated branding with a chic design and unique millennial voice.
5. Travellers need not choose between an authentic experience or dependable customer service and basic amenities. For Homeowners:
1. Ease of converting a regular home to a branded Kipstay Home via. Our easy to execute playbook.
2. Product features - we provide branded amenities, marketing and distribution, pricing and inventory management via. A tech backend.
3. Higher occupancy rates (higher than 50%) due to Kipstay brand which directly increases earnings.
4. We offer a DIFM (Do-It-For-Me) model instead of DIY model which is time consuming and expensive