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Have you ever stayed at an Airbnb? If you’re anything like Raiyaan Nayeem and Basil PA, it must have struck you  that you’re basically a house guest at a house you don’t know. The duo met in 2017 when the two of them were working for the hospitality company. Together, they came to the realisation that most people who host residences online were doing it on the side and that they did not actually devote any time towards it. Raiyaan  says, “We realised that there was a huge potential in the market that no one was really utilising. In Kerala, the potential around properties is endless. So we first found out that we were in a market where we could safely experiment.”

So they decided to become hosts themselves and cater to a market that was specific to Kerala. Properties were set up in Kochi, Munnar, Thekkady, Alappuzha, Kovalam and Trivandrum. When they started out, they focused on properties where the owners were looking to devote some time and attention towards the sort of atmosphere that the team was cooking up but had other businesses and were financially sound. They say, “These are people who live abroad but have houses back here. So they rent out their homes temporarily through us. Our focus is on renting these out to people who may not have the budget to book a proper hotel or something. This offers them the opportunity.”

BIG STAY: Raiyaan and Basil are former Airbnb employees 

They established their first office in Kochi on October 2018. Raiyaan says, “So our job here is connecting people who own houses with those who are looking for a temporary residence. Currently, the duo focuses on marketing the houses online and through different media. Raiyaan explains, “We’ve not begun with the management aspect yet. As of now, we get the place ready and bring people in and partner with others for maintenance and other services.”

Raiyaan concludes, “This is something Kochi is absolutely responding to. We have a huge number of properties in this state where people have built beautiful houses where they never actually stay. Because they are not used or maintaimed, they can’t rent it out on a permanent basis. And there are a lot of these people in this state. It’s the story of Kerala, basically.”