This startup connects Airbnb, MakeMyTrip, Booking.com for Indian homestays; makes properties affordable, clocks gross transaction Rs 2.5 Cr

How many times have you gone to the mountains and discovered a really nice homestay out of the blue?

Probably an old cottage tucked away in the valley, managed by an elderly couple who somehow know exactly what hospitality means.

“Why aren’t they online? They can make so much more,” you think to yourself while you help yourself to the warmest cup of coffee you have had in a while.

This is India’s homestay reality – over 3 lakh potential homestays, but only 1.8 lakh online. The remaining 1.2 lakh homestays rely on social media, travel agents, and word-of-mouth marketing. The problem? They are not well-versed with online travel agents, or they simply prefer to stay away from them because of the complex OTA ecosystem and multiple app interfaces.

Plus, most of them constantly navigate challenges unique to the homestay and vacation rental market.

The result? Not having a dedicated platform to look out for them. Not receiving tailored solutions to their issues. Not being able to gain the visibility and traction they deserve.

Enter Homeyhuts, not another OTA trying to compete with the likes of Airbnb, but something that India probably needs, now more than ever: an operating system that unifies India's entire homestay market into a single, intelligent platform.

Yash, a technology expert who spent a decade reverse-engineering how the U.S. vacation rental market works, founded Homeyhuts after understanding the exact gaps in the Indian homestay industry.

Over the past several years, he had been gathering deep insights into the Indian homestay market.

“It was clear to me that India needed its own online infrastructure just for homestays, one that understood local languages, pricing sensitivities, and the unique challenges faced by the family-run homestays. So I wrapped up everything in the USA and came back to my country,” Yash Kumar, founder of Homeyhuts, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

To delve into the early journey and challenges of the startup, read Homeyhuts’ previous feature here.

WHAT HOMEYHUTS OFFERS

As India’s first comprehensive homestay ecosystem, Homeyhuts offers the complete package in terms of end-to-end booking, channel management, and travel network.

• India’s First and Only Channel Manager just for Homestays – In alignment with Homeyhuts’ ethic of benefitting homestays in a tangible sense, it offers the country’s pioneering channel manager solution dedicated exclusively to homestays.

“This has been a game-changer for humble homestay owners who cannot afford expensive hotel-focused solutions that cost upwards of Rs 20,000 annually per property. The Homeyhuts channel management starts at just Rs 490 per month. We are essentially providing an entire ecosystem of Indian homestay management,” startup founder Yash shares.

• AI-powered pricing tools – The platform is built to understand the price sensitivities of the Indian market and regularly optimizes the booking prices for homestays.

“Our unwavering effort is to make every homestay listed with us have high conversion rates. So we keep making positive changes that help hosts secure quality bookings,” Yash Kumar tells Startup Pedia.

• Magic Cluster – The platform's Magic Cluster technology automatically syncs multiple listings of the same property, calendars, pricing, and bookings across multiple OTAs (online travel agents) – Homeyhuts, Airbnb, MakeMyTrip, Agoda, Booking.com, and more.

“This completely eliminates the double bookings that have plagued Indian homestay owners for years,”Yash says.

• Travel agent network – Homeyhuts integrates an extensive travel agent network into the platform so homestay owners and hosts can benefit from additional visibility.
• Personal websites – The platform offers individual hosts fully functional websites that help them build their brand and improve traction.
• Direct WhatsApp communication – Homeyhuts enables homestay owners and hosts to speak to verified guests and potential customers directly on WhatsApp.

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WHAT’S IN FOR PROFESSIONAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Apart from enabling homestay owners to secure higher bookings and manage their properties better via the channel manager, Homeyhuts offers game-changing economics to professional property management companies in India.

The gap that it solves? A very evident one.

As per seasoned property managers, traditional property management for homestays involves juggling multiple applications, manually updating calendars, and utilizing separate channel manager subscriptions that can cost lakhs annually.

But with Homeyhuts’ professional property management, property managers handling anywhere from 50 to 1,000+ properties benefit from over 70% reduction in management costs. Apart from savings, the platform improves booking efficiency as well.

“It’s simple – let us take an example of a property management company that handles 500+ properties across India. They would easily spend more than Rs 25 lakh annually on various software solutions, manual coordination, and commission losses. What Homeyhuts does is consolidate everything into a single dashboard at a fraction of the cost. So basically, everything gets unified, easy, and affordable,” entrepreneur Yash Kumar explains.

Combined with this, the zero-commission model on direct bookings acts like the cherry on top and boosts overall earnings.

This single-app advantage makes bookings, management, and end-to-end operations almost like a cakewalk for large travel operators.

They gain access to a unified dashboard that manages hundreds of properties simultaneously, receive bulk pricing updates across all OTAs with one click, are able to utilize centralized guest communication through WhatsApp integration, and prevent costly double bookings with real-time availability sync.

“We also offer portfolio-wide analytics, which help operators define strategy and decision-making,” Yash adds.

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IMPACT CREATED

Since its inception in 2024, Homeyhuts has onboarded more than 2,500 homestays and processed Rs 2.5 crore in gross transaction value. Each new day means at least 20-30 new homestays and properties being listed on the platform.

“We are seeing traction of more than 1 lakh unique visitors every week. To date, 20,000+ people have downloaded our app. This number is growing rapidly,” entrepreneur Yash Kumar says.

With rising demand, Yash and his team are scaling Homeyhuts’ technological infrastructure to absorb the surging requirements from both hosts and travellers.

“We currently have more demand than supply. More travellers are visiting our site and app to browse stays than we have properties available. Honestly, this is exactly the problem we want to have,”startup founder Yash says.

These are numbers, but beyond them, India’s first comprehensive homestay ecosystem is actively collaborating with local homestay owner associations across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

“We are bringing traditional family-run properties online for the first time. These generational family properties have been hosting guests as a tradition for years, but never really had the tools to reach modern travellers. This is where Homeyhuts comes in – we plug the gap with technology that cares solely about optimized user experience,” Yash notes.

Made specifically to benefit homestays, the platform offers support in multiple native languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and other regional languages.

“This is a huge problem that global platforms like Airbnb haven’t yet been able to sort out,” Yash notes.

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ALIGNED WITH AATMANIRBHAR BHARAT

Since the beginning, Yash Kumar has built Homeyhuts with a distinctly Indian, homegrown approach.

Apart from being developed fully in India, the platform builds local solutions for local needs while retaining value within the Indian ecosystem.

“Typically speaking, when a homestay earns, a part of it flows to the dominant foreign corporations. Homeyhuts changes this dynamic by providing an all-in-one operating system, property management platform and direct booking site built specifically for Indian hosts, helping keep the value generated firmly within the local ecosystem,” Yash affirms.

At first glance, one might think the benefits primarily accrue to homestay owners. In reality, this comprehensive ecosystem lowers costs across the board, making homestays 15% to 20% more affordable and competitive compared to listings on traditional commission-heavy OTAs.

“The reason is simple, our technology enables hosts to manage channels, pricing, and direct bookings effectively without inflating prices to offset high platform fees. This means better profitability for hosts and better value for travellers alike,” Yash adds.

HOMEYHUTS’ LONG-TERM VISION

Yash Kumar is very clear on one thing – Homeyhuts is not an Airbnb rip-off.

“We are building an operating system that Indian homestay owners actually need. It understands their language, their business models, and their guests’ expectations. All in the spirit of a self-reliant India,”he says.

As the country’s homestay market continues expanding with the segment projected to reach more than Rs 8,500 crores by 2030, Homeyhuts is positioning itself as the go-to platform for both hosts and travellers seeking authentic Indian experiences.

By March 2026, Homeyhuts targets to have a total of 5,000 properties listed on the platform. Along with continuous platform capability updates, the number of properties is set to reach upwards of 10,000 by December 2026.

“Within the next three to four years, Homeyhuts will have onboarded at least 50,000 properties. Presently, more than 50% of properties listed with us are not listed anywhere else. We are their first choice. We do encourage them to list at other places as well, so as to increase occupancy and visibility,” startup founder Yash adds.

“Think of Homeyhuts as a platform with international standards, built in India, for Indian needs. We are on a quiet quest to help homestay owners build sustainable businesses without surrendering their earnings to commissions and surcharges. And for travellers, we want them to experience everything authentic that India is,” Yash Kumar concludes.

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