10 Things That Every Homestay Must Have!

While a lot of people (we included) have been talking about homestays being the preferred choice these days amongst travelers of every kind, many of us may face the dilemma of “how” to go about choosing the right homestay.

The word of mouth reference from friends seems like the best way to ensure a delightful and safe stay, there may be times when we have to make choices on our own in a new place.

As travelers, for us, the choice of homestays is ever increasing in the Indian market. We decided to give you a heads up to 10 things you must look at while zeroing down to any homestay.

1.   Conveniently located

The location of the homestay has to be convenient. Easily accessible from public transport, market areas and the city. Unless you are specifically looking for being away from the city, the location must be a place where local commutation is easy.

 

(Picture Courtesy - www.photopin.com)

2.   Reviews are available online with reference checks

 

(picture courtesy - www.photopin.com, www.airbnb.com) 

 

The homestay must have reviews available for you to check online. A Tripadvisor rating always holds good in short listing the places you are looking at. You may want to read reviews from the likes of tripadvisor, lonely planet and other popular Online Travel Agents (OTAs)

3.   Warm and easily accessible hosts

The hosts of the homestay generally live in the property. This is a benchmark to decide a good place for yourself. Hosts should be warm and easy to approach. At the very outset, while shortlisting, you could check how early they respond to your mail, how easily are they available telephonically and are they able to provide you with relevant answers to your queries.

4.   First hand local information

The place must have people who live or work there providing you with information about the place, culture, commute, places to visit and everything “local” about the city that you are visiting. Travel tips, guides and quick trivia should be part of the conversation you have with the hosts or the staff.

(Picture Courtesy - www.alamy.com)

  

5.   Homestay must have a soul of its own.

The home in any city reflects local culture and flavor. The homestay should must have a “feel” and “sense” of being part of the city. The décor, aesthetics and interiors must make you feel “at home” and a “part” of the city.

  

6.   Comfortable rooms of 3 * hotel standards

The rooms must be well ventilated, clean, hygienic and like a 3 * property if not better. The rooms should be comfortable with basic amenities and should give you a very “homey” feeling.

7.   Breakfast and home made meals

The concept is that of a bed and breakfast so check the kind of breakfast menu being served. Is there a flexibility of having the meal you prefer or is there a set menu that you have to go by. Check if there is an option of the other meals of the day. If so, are home made meals being served or meals are ordered in.

8.   Flexibility of using amenities

Check the amenities within the homestay. There could be availability of parking, play area, a meeting room, wifi. There are some places that even provide you with local transport etc. Have a look at what is being offered and check the usage fee.

9.   Crowd friendly but not crowded

The homestay should be friendly towards its guests and should use discretion with regards to the choice of guests it is hosting. Thereby, ensuring safety of other guests. It should not be utterly crowded that you do not feel comfortable.

10.               Privacy but not Private

The homestay for all reasons is a house open to visitors. However, it should ensure your privacy amongst all the other guests. In the meanwhile, it should also not be too private that you are just a guest and don’t get an opportunity to be part of the family hosting you.

Armed with these basic tips, homestays are a great choice for vacationers, business travelers, students, solo travelers, women travelers. With the statistics all in favor of this growing segment in the hospitality industry, you can be assured that homestays are here to “stay”!

7 Reasons Why Corporate Travelers Prefer A Homestay

Unlike in the past when company executives either stayed at a fancy but expensive hotel or a basic guest house with inconsistent service, today there is another option of a homestay / bed & breakfast.

And Tripadvisor makes it easy to find these special places hidden in a city's landscape. With ratings and detailed guest reviews you can be assured of a safe and comfortable stay at this non hotel option!

So why should a busy corporate traveller stay at a homestay. Here are 7 good reasons. 

1. Do you remember the last hotel room that you stayed in 5 years ago on a business trip? Most probably you don't.  But people who stay at a homestay/ bed & breakfast invariably remember, because their experience is so unique and special. You may be a busy executive, but you still remember the delicious home cooked food, the quirky room with some beautiful painting; the chat over breakfast on local city tips and much more.

2. The Warm Human Touch.  Unlike a B&B,  a hotel doesn't have hosts who blend the skills of a cook, waiter, tour guide, housekeeper, conversationalist and much more to make every guest's experience a delight.

3. For the budget conscious corporate traveller, the SME owner, the entrepreneur with a tight wallet, often the homestay works far economical than a hotel. The food costs are less and you avoid luxury tax.

4. Many a time the corporate traveller travels with his/ her spouse or family. In these cases, the home like environment of a B&B is much better than the confined space of a hotel room. 
Of course you need to check the reviews on Tripadvisor before you make the booking.
In the connected economy, the good places are easy to book and the bad places can't hide themselves!

5. If the stay is for more than a few days, hosts at a B&B can give valuable tips on shopping, eating out, the coolest cafes and pubs. These local tips are invaluable when you are in a  new city for a few days. It saves you valuable time and you gain from their expertise!

6. Hotel food, no matter how fancy can get on your nerves and palate after a while. Especially for the widely travelled corporate traveller, hotel food is no longer a big draw! But a well prepared, delicious home cooked meal at a homestay is a big hit with travelers. Often the odd pickle, a special recipe, a local sweet or ice-cream is a gentle balm for the wearied corporate traveller.

7. A homestay is also a place where you chance upon other interesting travelers. At Cinnamon Stays - we have hosted amazingly interesting people from almost 60 countries - artists, entrepreneurs, corporate honchos, VCs, musicians, social media gurus, NGO heads and even students in their gap year! 

The homestay with it's unassuming and open space allows corporates to mix and unwind with this diverse lot. The free flow of ideas and conversations is enriching for all. 

The world is opening up. Businesses like airbnb.com have made B&B accessible and available to all. Tripadvisor and guest reviews have made finding great non hotel places far easier. 

So, in case you have never tried a homestay / bed & breakfast  you may want to give them a try after reading this. Believe us; after 5 years of running Cinnamon, our lives have been transformed by this experience.

(The hosts and writers Manish and Shilpi have had a corporate career in media and HR respectively. They took the plunge 5 years back to create cinnamonstays.in - the No.1 B&B in Gurgaon. They also manage the bookings and marketing for Granny's Inn - www.grannysinn.in in Varanasi run by their aunt and mother!

10 Reasons Why You Should Stay At The Granny's Inn, Varanasi

Varanasi, Banaras or Kashi is amongst the oldest living cities of the world - a holy city for the Hindus and a spiritual, music, sanskrit learning and yoga learning destination!

To experience the sights, sounds and the flavour of Banaras, one must ideally stay in a homestay. A standardized hotel - even a star one does not add much to the experience of Varanasi. Granny's Inn is one such comfortable homestay run by two feisty grannies in their 60's - Asha & Aruna. They started this homestay in December 2013 and in about 9 months, they are already No.10 on Tripadvisor amongst 140 odd B&B's & Guesthouses in Varanasi!

Here are 10 reasons why you must stay at the Granny's Inn 

1. If you are bored with the standardized and bland rooms of a hotel, the Granny's Inn offers double rooms with AC/ non AC options with character. Set in a house with old architecture and a courtyard, it will charm you with it's decor and quirkiness.

2. You get to sample authentic Indian vegetarian food. Prepared by the grannies and their man-friday - Kashi. Even though the street food in Varanasi is amazingly diverse and tasty; many of our guests still prefer the Granny's Inn meals.

3. The Grannies are obsessed about cleanliness. You will find the rooms very neat and clean. Besides all the rooms have en suite modern bathroom. 

4. You are less than 10 min walk from the main Kashi Vishwanath temple. 
This is a boon in the city of Banaras as you avoid the traffic and save time.
It's easy to do the early morning Mangla aarti at the temple!

5. The ghats are also a mere 10 min brisk walk from the Granny's Inn. It's very convenient to attend the evening aarti or the morning boat ride(must do's on the tourist/ pilgrim check-list)

6. The Grannies will also guide you in case you have a taste and the stomach for Banaras street food. It's tasty, unique and a riot of flavors. Dina Chat Bhandaar is the closest and quite good(although you may want to order and eat at the homestay). They will also tell you where to have pan, lassi and baati chokha. 

7. Banaras is known for it's intricate Banarasi silk sarees. The grannies will help you with tips on (a) where to buy, (b) the best shops to visit. You may persuade them to accompany you on a shopping spree. They love shopping!

8. The grannies make some amazing pickles - mango, chilly, lemon etc. 
Depending upon the season and what's available you can sample their finger-licking pickles. Difficult to find in any hotel or a standard guest house. 

9. Safety is a big concern for independent women travelers and senior citizens. This homestay is amongst the safest in the city. It's family run with trustworthy staff. One of the two grannies is always there to help and support. Women travelers feel very safe at our homestay. 

10. The Granny's Inn has loads of local Varanasi flavour. The furniture is made by the local Khadi Gram Udyog (cottage industry). Many of the artifacts, wooden mirrors and clothes hangars in the bathroom and are made by the local toy maker - Sharmaji. 

Whether you are a foreign tourist wanting to savor Varanasi in an authentic way, an Indian tourist with or without family, an elderly pilgrim, the granny's inn is a good option for experience Varanasi - very safe, cosy & delightfully homely. Drop us a mail at namastey@grannysinn.in for booking or queries!

August - 25% OFF for Independent Women Travellers

We are promoting August as the Cinnamon month for 'Women Travellers' ...All of August, if you are an independent women traveller you get a FLAT 25% promotional discount* on your stay at Cinnamon Stays - the No.1 Bed & Breakfast in Delhi NCR/ Gurgaon.


Please also give us suggestions on how to make your stay more women-friendly at Cinnamon. The best suggestion gets a 1 night stay completely FREE at Cinnamon Stays...


Do spread the word amongst women friends/ family who may travel to Gurgaon/ Delhi in August. Shoot us a mail at Cinnamonstays@gmail.com or call/ sms 9560550015 to make a booking!

June - One more small step!

For those of you who don't know us, we are a cosy bed & breakfast( that's a guest house in local parlance) in Gurgaon(Delhi NCR). Our website is Cinnamon Stays!


We have been running now for close to 1.5 years! Run by my wife (Shilpi) and myself(Manish). And a hard-working dedicated team of Gumaan(our manager), Yugen(okay asst manager), Zafar(the cleaning captain), Ravi(the temp help) and Rashmi(the lifeline) and of course our son Neo(in the picture with glasses and a smile, who in the beginning hated Cinnamon as it stole time reserved for him, but who now is a very enthusiastic evangelist of Cinnamon:-). If you ever drop in, do ask him to show the Cinnamon rooms!


Frankly, running a mom-an-pop service, we were/ are too busy to blog! Facebook with it's shorter, crisper updates was good enough. But a blog is better to log the small business journey, guest stories and our own diary of everyday exeperiences... So here we are!


Coming back to the story of June - this is our newest room...still under wraps:-) You can see Yogi - my partner in Jugaad Studio and Neo busy designing June - the name suggested by Amruta - one of Cinnamons facebook friends...


Check out our other rooms here and our guest reviews on Trip Advisor! In case you plan to stay in Gurgaon in the near future, give us a try! Some people find us a bit expensive than the 'run-of-the-mill-guest-house' but then we aren't one:-)


If you live in Gurgaon drop in for a cup of coffee; we also do theme brunches and support artists and causes from time to time...Okay quite a mouthful for a first post! cheers and stay tuned!