The best staycation ever is right in your own backyard at Ekostay

New Delhi : Startup pioneers Husain Khatumdi, Sohail Mirchandani, Varun Arora, and Zishan Khan launched Ekostay in 2018. It operates in more than 15 cities across North and South India and has more than 200 properties in its portfolio. It aspires to capture newer markets and locations with its luxurious and comfortable villas. Ekostay offers a wide variety of properties, from affordable homestays to high-end villas fit for a royal family, all of which are designed to help guests make memories with their loved ones.

With the launch of Eko Membership, Ekostay is now able to offer members-only deals and last-minute specials, earning it recognition as the most iconic Getaway Brand from Midday International.

“The journey of Ekostay began in 2018 with a small number of 3 properties and today we are a strongly embedded family of more than 100+ employees efficiently managing operations of more than 125+ villas,” said Hussain Khatumdi, co-founder of Ekostay. The original goal of Ekostay was to “make Ekostay synonymous with homestay, and provide immersive and top-notch experiences to craft a charming stay with elusive amenities and an efficient in-house team to provide guests with a seamless and hassle-free staycation.”

Guests of Ekostay can expect a problem-free stay from the moment they book until the moment they leave thanks to the efforts of the hotel’s dedicated front- and back-of-house staff.

Caretakers from Ekostay are on-site to ensure that guests have a pleasant and trouble-free stay. “The idea behind having an in-house team of electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and handymen at every property allows our guests to relax and unwind without having to waste time contacting or searching for labour,” said Sohail Mirchandani, co-founder of Ekostay.

From the moment a guest books our villa, we spare no effort to ensure that their stay is perfect in every way. With a focus on the customer and an eye towards fostering partnerships with hosts, Ekostay strives to deliver a seamless homestay experience that is both consistent and unique. With the help of Ekostay, homeowners can list their properties under the Ekostay brand, which provides a streamlined hosting platform for their unique rentals. Homeowners get extra money and are freed from the burden of hosting and managing guests, so everyone wins.

Co-founder Varun Arora said, “We welcome homeowners to list their properties with Ekostay, to create collaborations that last a lifetime. If a homeowner is unable to pay for necessary renovations or repairs, Ekostay will shoulder the cost. The end goal is to establish a unified collection of lodgings that cater to travellers from all over the world and place a premium on providing them with an experience that is “high on quality, low on predictability, and high on elusiveness in every way.

Ekostay has created a unique niche for itself by creating homestays and villas for all budgets and needs. Ekostay focuses on hybrid models and rentals, so that there’s an Ekostay property that can be experienced by everyone irrespective of the budget. Ekostay’s villa categories of EKO Gold and EKO Luxe include budget villas, luxury villas, party-friendly villas, villas for corporate gatherings and offbeat villas.  A part of Ekostay’s unique customer-centric strategy is providing standardized amenities like free Wi-Fi, barbeque arrangements, dedicated caretakers, timely inspections and dedicated host managers at every Ekostay property. Zeeshan Ali, Ekostay co-founder said, “Ekostay’s business model revolves around a mix of fixed rental model and revenue-sharing model with a 75 % focus on fixed rentals where we lease a property and further sublease it to tourists for short stays. The other 25 % works on a revenue-sharing model where we do an exclusive tie-up with a homeowner and split the profits at a pre-decided fixed ratio”. We only take up properties that give us an exclusive control to manage operations and administration”.

Ekostay’s greatest competitive advantage is that it has an absolute and elusive authority to manage properties that leads to standardization of services. The huge focus on client-servicing and personalization has increased the demand of Ekostay properties exponentially. Hussain Khatumdi, co-founder Ekostay said, “Ekostay has experienced an exponential average growth of more than 250% over a short span of less than 5 years, despite the pandemic, which I attribute to teamwork and a vivaciously futuristic take on expansion to add more than 500+ properties by 2025 under the Ekostay umbrella. We plan to expand in the Nilgiri ranges, Jammu & Kashmir and are also eying lucrative international holiday destinations like The Middle East and South East Asia with a consolidated and futuristic expansion strategy in place”.

https://www.ekostay.com