40% Homestays In India Are Not Listed Online For Bookings; To Solve This, Hyd Engineer Builds India’s 1st No-Commission Travel App For Hosts

In the heart of Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, a young Yash Kumar dreamt of building something extraordinary.

Raised in a modest middle-class family, with his father working for Indian Railways, Yash’s entrepreneurial journey began in the dusty classrooms of a local engineering college.

Fast forward to 2024, and this 39-year-old engineer, once earning a staggering ₹2 crore+ annually in America, stood at a crossroads. 

He had it all—luxury cars, multiple properties, a thriving career in the USA, and a family settled in comfort. Yet, a restless entrepreneurial spirit tugged at him, whispering of a dream left unfulfilled.

This is the story of Homeyhuts, a Hyderabad-based technology startup that’s rewriting the rules of India’s homestay OTA (Online Travel Agency) market.

Living the American Dream & Finding the Gap:

Yash Kumar’s journey to America in 2012 was a game-changer. 

After graduating with a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Moradabad, he gained experience as a software engineer at Reliance Communications and several other companies in India. 

Five years later, the USA called, offering a life of financial abundance and professional success.

“Moving to the US was a turning point in my life and career. My income multiplied, and I built a very successful career in the American technology sector,” says Yash Kumar, now the founder & CEO of Homeyhuts.

Yash and his wife, both highly successful techies, owned homes, built a family, and lived the American dream. But beneath the surface, Yash’s entrepreneurial fire, first kindled during his college days with small ventures, refused to die.

In 2018, a road trip across India with friends sparked a revelation. As Yash marvelled at India’s vibrant landscapes, he noticed a gap in the short-term vacation rental market.

Homestay hosts, often over 40 and tech-averse, struggled to navigate platforms like Airbnb. Language barriers like Airbnb’s English-only support further alienated vernacular-speaking hosts.

“I saw the rise and growth of Airbnb up close in America. I realised India’s homestay market had massive potential, but no platform catered specifically to its unique needs,” recalls Yash Kumar during an exclusive interview with Startup Pedia.

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The Birth of Homeyhuts: A Bold Leap

By January 2023, while still in the USA, Yash began building a prototype for Homeyhuts, a travel-tech startup aimed at empowering Indian homestay hosts.

He assembled a small team in India, working remotely as a side hustle. Six months later, in June 2023, Homeyhuts Private Limited was born in Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

The decision to leave America wasn’t easy. Yash and his wife sold their properties, quit their high-paying jobs, and moved back to India in April 2024.

“Returning to India was tough. But my passion for entrepreneurship and belief in this idea gave me the courage to take the giant leap of faith,” Yash admits.

Homeyhuts was founded with a mission to simplify property hosting for homestay owners.

Unlike hotels, which leverage sophisticated channel managers and list on 15+ OTA platforms at a time, most Indian homestays languish with low occupancy rates—below 20%—due to fragmented platforms and high commissions.

Yash’s research revealed a stark reality: of India’s 2.75 lakh homestays, only 60% are listed online, and over 70% of them rely on just one or two OTAs.

The homestay OTA market in India was ripe for disruption.

Starting with ‘Managed by Homeyhuts’:

In April 2024, Homeyhuts test-launched in Uttarakhand, targeting high-frequency travel destinations like Nainital and Mussoorie.

The app allowed homestay owners to list properties effortlessly, but Yash soon realised this wasn’t enough. Many owners lacked the tech savvy or time to manage listings across multiple OTAs.

Enter ‘Managed by Homeyhuts’, a service launched in November 2024 to handle end-to-end property management—from online listings to guest communication—on behalf of owners, thus enhancing guest experiences and maximising profitability for property owners.

Covering states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, and Telangana, the service was an instant hit, serving over 500 satisfied homestay hosts.

Yet, Yash saw a bigger opportunity—one that would redefine the homestay hosting experience in India.

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‘Host It Yourself’: The Real Game-Changer

In June 2025, Homeyhuts unveiled its flagship offering: ‘Host It Yourself’.

For a modest subscription fee starting at ₹490 per property per month, homestay hosts could manage listings, sync calendars across OTAs, and leverage digital tools like dynamic pricing and revenue management—all without paying the exorbitant 15–20% commissions charged by platforms like Airbnb, MakeMyTrip, Agoda, etc.

This AI-powered, unique no-commission OTA model transformed Homeyhuts into a unified SaaS platform tailored for homestays.

“Our goal was to create a revolutionary product for the Indian vacation rental market. With ‘Host It Yourself’, homestay owners spend less time managing and earn more from every booking,” Yash Kumar explains to Startup Pedia.

The app’s AI-driven tools, including an in-built channel manager and sales chatbots, prevent double bookings and streamline operations.

Available on Android, iOS, and web, Homeyhuts is India’s first Made-for-India zero-commission OTA platform, offering vernacular support and a 60–70% cost advantage over competitors.

Since its launch, ‘Host It Yourself’ has served over 100 customers, with 20 new applications daily. Yash projects 1,000 active properties by July 2025 and 5,000 by March 2026, potentially generating over ₹22 lakh in monthly revenue by then.

Challenges of a Bootstrapped Journey:

Building Homeyhuts wasn’t without hurdles. As a bootstrapped startup, financial constraints loomed large.

“Being a bootstrapped startup, building a great product development team on a limited budget has been difficult,” Yash confesses.

Hiring AI-skilled engineers and training them in a modest Hyderabad office tested his resilience. Developing a dual-sided platform for both customers (guests) and homestay hosts required relentless problem-solving and improvements.

Yet, Yash’s team of over 20 members, spanning tech, customer support, and marketing, has been agile, delivering the desired product despite the odds.

“The real taste of success is in perseverance. No matter how difficult the journey, staying true to one’s purpose and vision will always lead to great success,” Yash says.The Indian startup ecosystem, while vibrant, is fiercely competitive.

Homeyhuts’ focus on community-building—leveraging Yash-administered India’s largest Facebook group for hosts & property owners with over 165,000 members—has been a game-changer.

Through AI-friendly SEO, influencer & social media marketing, and content crafted to educate property owners, the tech startup is fostering a community of hosts and guests.

By addressing language barriers with vernacular support and offering pre-verified guests and properties, Homeyhuts has built trust in a fragmented market.

“The feedback from homestay property owners on our platform has been great. They’ve appreciated our zero commission model and the user-friendliness & efficiency of our app,” Yash shares with pride.

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The Road Ahead: A Vision for Growth

Homeyhuts is poised for explosive growth as the vacation rental market in India is projected to soar from $3.45 billion in 2025 to $16.73 billion by 2034, exhibiting a CAGR of 19.2% during the forecast period (2025-2034).

With services spanning states like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, etc, the startup targets travel destinations like Jaipur, Coorg, Munnar, and many more.

Yash’s future plans are ambitious: onboarding 50,000 properties in three to four years and launching two new hospitality products with global potential.

“To grow from here, we’re now open to seeking funding from like-minded strategic investors,” he says, signaling a shift from initial bootstrapped grit to scaled expansion.

The DPIIT Startup India-recognised company’s revenue, ₹12 lakh since November 2024, reflects steady progress, with gross transactions exceeding ₹1 crore. Profitability is within sight by March 2026, but Yash prioritises long-term sustainability.

“We’re focused on targeting long-term sustainability of the business, not short-term profitability. Homeyhuts isn’t just another tech startup; it’s a movement empowering homestay hosts to thrive in a digital age,” Yash concludes

From Moradabad to America and back to Hyderabad, Yash Kumar’s journey embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship that has become synonymous with Digital India.