Non-Hotel based accommodation business is booming globally and India is no exception to this trend. India based travel startup ‘The Other Home‘ has nailed this market and they provide various other add-on services apart from the core business of providing non-hotel accommodation. We discussed with Jaspal Singh, Co-Founder of The Other Home about their business and revenue model, competitors, their unique ‘bunny’ mascot. Interview below.

What is “TheOtherHome” into and what problem are you trying to solve?

The Other Home is a non-hotel properties aggregator, comprising holiday homes, homestays, heritage properties, eco-resorts and outdoor adventure possibilities and destinations with over 500 properties in 24 states (in India). The company enables travelers to explore local food, culture, heritage and lifestyle, creating a marketplace for people to have vacations in alternate accommodations and also enrich their vacations with various experiential dimensions. The Other Home connects travelers with the best suited accommodation option and other support services.

The bulk of tourism services around the world are fragmented on both supply and demand side. Already a large number of vacation rentals and homestays properties are available in India and the availability is expected to increase. The issue in the current scenario is that there is a micro offer in terms of small properties and there is a micro demand from travelers. Thus, properties owners need marketing muscle to reach the travelers, whereas, travelers look for third-party accreditation and support. This leaves critical supply chain gap. The Other Home will bridge these gaps by connecting travelers with the best suited accommodation option and other support services. The Other Home model will ensure that technology enables fragmented buyers (demand) to reach supply and credibility / aggregation enables fragmented supply to reach demand.

When the company was founded and tell us about the founders?

The Other Home was founded in August 2010. The core business team has experience of Travel, Information Technology, Operations, Research and Business Development.

Manoj Aggarwal (Angel Investor and Mentor) – is a management professional and a civil servant with over 25 years experience of working in government as well as commercial organizations. An engineer and graduate from IIM (Lucknow), he also studied at French National School of Administration Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) France and has worked internationally in tourism domain. Email: manoj.aggarwal@theotherhome.com

Jaspal Singh (Head – Operations and Business Development) – is a management graduate from GGSIP University and has more than six years of experience in Consulting, Transportation and Travel. He has won various awards at both national and international level. Email: jaspal.singh@theotherhome.com

How is your service different from the global players like Airbnb who has a local presence in India?

The key differentiator is that The Other Home is not only offering the property but also providing lots of local services including transport, guide, local assistance etc. The Other Home is facilitating a peer to peer kind of network in travel industry with the providers and consumers of travel accommodation able to interact and create more enriching travel experiences.

To strengthen our offer, we are creating special tour packages around these properties creating unique experience such as Tea Tours, Wine Tours, Photography Workshops etc. To enrich the offering, the company is entering into tie-up with various service providers who are offering specialized services like heritage walks, trekking, cookery, Indian music etc.

Further, the company is designing special tour programs for domestic travelers who look for different experience. We are bundling these properties as per the travelers’ requirements and helping them to choose the best options. Global companies still lack the local touch.

We are focusing on 5 key properties segment – Holiday Homes, Homestay, Heritage, Eco-resorts and Outdoor Adventure. In comparison to, no appropriate classification of properties by other players.

We are also ensuring direct registration with property owners and ensure about the quality of the properties and obviate intermediaries.

Who are your competitors?

The following is the list of key global and local examples.

What’s your revenue model?

The company is generating revenues through all projected revenue streams – Advertising, booking and listing. This clearly indicates that the market exists for these products and is growing.

Thus, the following are the key revenue sources:

-       Booking Commission – Travelers

-       Advertising Space – Banner ads, Backlinks and other ads

-       Value added services – Commission & charges from allied services such as transportation

We support online payment and have an inventory management system to provide easy booking solutions to travelers. Transaction charges and other relevant cost of the same is borne by The Other Home.

When it comes to vacation rentals / homestays, the one question that bothers travelers is – Security. How are you addressing this key concern that the global VR players are also struggling with?

Our plan for next 12-15 months is to check each and every property, and rate them on different parameters. The Other Home has planned to adopt an affiliated network and franchise model with local travel agents / partners, who will offer ground support. The key responsibilities of these members will be to meet the guest either at the time of check-in or their stay and to address any issues faced by them. These members will not have any relation with the owners and provide local assistance on per visit charges basis.

This will not only increase the confidence of the travelers but will also help to improve the service delivery.

Why do you think travelers should buy from The Other Home and not from your competitors?

In a quest to explore new destinations and learning different culture, people are looking for alternative accommodation options to build in ‘experience’ dimension to their travel. The Other Home will fulfill this market need with a focused approach and promoting responsible and micro tourism in India.

The Other Home focuses on 5 different product categories, which are unique in nature. Each category offers a unique experience to travelers and aims towards different target audiences – Vacation Rental, Homestay and Heritage properties are targeted towards inbound, as well as, domestic tourists, outdoor adventure properties for school & colleges, whereas, eco-resorts as an emerging concept will help engage environmentally sensitive tourists as well as corporate.

Further, we try to keep our transaction transparent and reasonable priced. This helps us to gain confidence of travelers and owners.

Tell us about your “Bunny” mascot? Why Bunny and how is it helping the business?

The mascot TOH Bunny is created to build the concept of verified property. Bunny is known for two characters – curious and travel. So when we are looking for a mascot who can truly represent the spirit of The Other Home, bunny was the first things which came to our mind.

The key idea is to ensure consumers that the property has been visited and verified by us. The bunny is invited by the property owner to come stay with them. He explores their world and shares his honest experiences about the property.  Bunny reviews are listed at – http://blog.theotherhome.com/toh-bunny-review/ .  TOH Bunny will surly become the key features in the future as it will measure the quality of each and every property.

Any funding in past or looking for?

We have successfully piloted the idea by boot-strapping without any external funds so far and have created a domain presence with growing visibility. We are in touch with some Angel Investors and are hopeful to raise funds in next 3-6 months.

How’s the customer response so far?

Till date, the company has done a booking of around 1,500+ room nights, worked on 10 advertising assignments, and has generated some revenues from property listings  and leading marketing effort for some properties.

What’s the plan for TheOtherHome for next 18-24 months?

In next 18-24 months, we would like to do the following key tasks:

-      Strengthen the IT infrastructure

-       Quality assurance and accreditation structure & processes: TOH Bunny review of each property

-       Strengthen the marketing efforts

• Marketing and promotion both online and offline
• Search Engine Optimization / Social Media Marketing
• Content creation and multi-lingual website & blogs

-       Designing exclusive travel packages

-       Building network of local partners

-       Build owner community portal and research portal for non-hotel properties