Cinnamon Stays For The Business Traveler!

A few months ago, when we talked of Ram, our friend who travels frequently on work, he spoke to us about how he was taken in with the concept of staying at a homestay instead of a hotel. His idea of having a Workcation seems to be “working” for him. Having stayed in a few homestays across the country in the past couple of months, he is now a happy business traveler!

We decided to list a few reasons as to why you may want to consider Cinnamon Stays as your preferred choice of homestay whenever you are traveling on business (or on workcation) to Gurgaon.

1. A Homestay compatible with a Business Traveler.

We understand what it means to be traveling on business all the time. While you may be looking for home-like comfort, you desire consistency of service as well. We at Cinnamon work towards making that experience special for you. We are NOT A REGULAR guest house. We are a premium homestay with rooms that are spacious, homely and comfortable. Each of our rooms are themed and every element in the house is curated to serve the sensibilities of the Indian corporate executive.

2. Safety and Security : Gated campus

The homestay located in Sector 48 on Sohna Road and Sector 50 ( Golf Course Ext), is a gated society. With 24 hours security and CCTV surveillance, it is absolutely safe. Ideal for single women business travelers. It is also a great option to bring your family with you while you are on a business trip. 

3. Close to Business Towers & Corporate parks

A stone’s throw away from the business and corporate parks of Gurgaon, it saves you travel and traffic woes. Located on Sohna Road, the homestay is easily accessible to all amenities - corporate or family requirements available on Sohna Road

(Picture Courtesy - stayiningurgaon.com)

 

4. Fast Billing and Payment

In the fast world of corporate travel, Cinnamon makes it easy for you to Fast track the process of billing and payment. The Express option helps you immediately close the account of your stay at flexible hours (considering late night flights or odd hours of travel).

(Picture Courtesy - kbelloncall.com)

5. Company payment option

The homestay can tie up with your Company directly so you have a cashless transaction while staying at Cinnamon.

6. 0% escalation to HR /Admin of your Company

We are the No.1 B&B on Trip Advisor for the past 7 years! One of the main reasons why corporates choose us is there is ZERO escalation of any sort to the HR / Admin department with regards to the quality and stay experience.

7. 
   Empathic Hosts - Cinnamon is managed by Manish ( > 20 yrs of corporate experience) who understands what the corporate traveler needs. Shilpi - an HR professional & Executive Coach gets the pain points of employee travel thereby handling this area very well. The hosts have even handled medical emergencies for guests in the past.
   
   

8. Business Amenities

Cinnamon is not just about a few rooms to stay. Cinnamon allows a work environment to thrive (after all, the hosts work from here!). There are enough work tables, Free wi-fi internet and a spacious meeting space for business huddles. The sit outs allow the working mind some fresh thinking. Cinnamon allows a unique opportunity to network with other business travelers from across the world.

 

9. Flexibility

Cinnamon is flexible with breakfast timings, check-ins and check-outs. Corporate travellers can host small meetups, business lunches and do brainstorms. Of course all within the limitations on a homestay.

10. Serves Home-made and Nutritious food

For the modern day health conscious professionals, Cinnamon prepares delicious yet healthy home cooked food. We customize food requirements as per the traveler’s medical or gastronomical needs. 

Cinnamon Stays is the perfect ‘Unhotel’ for the business traveller in Gurgaon! We look forward to hosting corporate events, single women business travelers and off-sites. Check out  www.cinnamonstays.in or write to us at cinnamonstays@gmail.com  Shilpi - 9560550015, Manish - 9650400466  @cinnamonstays facebook.com/CinnamonStays

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”!

5 Reasons Why You Must Try Airbnb While Travelling

Airbnb.com is a huge success story in online travel. Yet many of us in India have either never heard of this sharing economy company or else never tried.

Since Shilpi and I (Manish) have been running Cinnamon Stays for the past 5 years and now Granny's Inn in Varanasi we have had the opportunity to use airbnb for getting guests at our place.

We also used airbnb extensively when we travelled to Europe this summer. Most places we visited, we booked the room / apartment through airbnb. 

It was a great experience. So, here we share why you must try this fascinating concept which is redefining stays & travel around the globe.

1. From hassle to play. In the pre-airbnb days, finding a room was a hassle, a task; but with the millions of beautifully curated pads around the world, searching a room/ apartment/ villa on airbnb is a playful, joyous activity. We found an artistic studio in Interlaken, Switzerland in June this year. These 2 nights spent there were infinitely better than a bland hotel room in our budget!

2. The wisdom & warmth of local hosts. To really know a place when time is at a premium you got to lean on the local hosts. And most are better than the majority of hotel employees. In our own trip, the airbnb hosts volunteered to pick us up from airports and tube stations. They took us out for authentic Italian meals; gave access to private beaches. Cooked for us. Helped plan a day shopping trip in Zurich. Even found us a Saravana Bhawan in Paris :-)

You can get tons of local tips - from bus and metro timings, to which restaurants to eat, the coolest pubs, where to shop for veggies and where to shop for moments and gifts! You get all this information and more over a beer or if you are lucky even a home cooked meal. 

 3. Having the flexibility to cook. With our non experimentative, almost vegetarian food habits, having access to a kitchen where we could make simple daal, rice every alternate day was a big boon:-) Sometimes after a tiring day, just the comfort of making maggi in your own apartment far outweighed meals in a fancy restaurant. Almost all the apartments had very clean kitchens with cooking utensils and cutlery. This made our trip very comfortable and enjoyable. 

4. Safe & convenient. As a first timer, we would recommend that you only book the place which has a few reviews. Airbnb reviews are invariably genuine and give you a fair idea of the place and the host.

Google maps gives you an accurate idea of how to reach the B&B. In fact in many listings, past guests mention bus and tube routes, landmarks and other tips which makes life a lot easier for travelers. 

5. Mobile app is awesome. The airbnb mobile app now makes it possible to book a room, apartment on the move. You can make a booking or accept one 

(if you are a host) on the go. Clean interface, intuitive navigation makes it a very friendly app! 

As hosts of B&B and avid travelers, we would urge you to try airbnb on your next vacation. We are convinced, like us you will get hooked onto this new way of booking a stay and traveling. You may never go back to the standardized and expensive hotels which have all the amenities but often lack soul and a story, essential to make travel memorable.