Homestays are here to stay. The Ministry of tourism has a voluntary scheme for approval of Incredible India Bed & Breakfast / Homestay Establishments wherein the basic idea is to provide clean and affordable accommodation for the foreign and domestic tourists alike. This gives an opportunity for the foreign tourists to stay with an Indian family and enjoy the warm hospitality while getting a taste of Indian culture and cuisine.
The Ministry has been conducting sensitization workshops in order to take this programme forward. The Government provides the details of such authorized homestays in its website. Now, under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, infrastructure is being created to showcase local products. The guidelines for participating in such ventures can be learnt from the website - http://www.tourism.gov.in
A number of enterprising ' homestay ' entrepreneurs have come up due to this programme and ' Cornerstay ' at Abdul Rahim Road near Race Course is the first of its kind in Coimbatore. Cornerstay has been promoted by P.Muthumaanickam who hails from a family of traditional bankers in the Kongu region. His grandfather N.K.P.Muthuswamy Chettiar was the pioneer who had created the N.K.P.M Lay Out on Kamaraj Road near Nirmala College. Cornerstay is located in a sylvan private lane off Abdul Rahim Road and has been offering hospitality from the year 2013.
P.Muthumaanickam of Cornerstay was eager to share the background , " Our residence was built in the year 1991. My wife Sasikala, daughters M.Karunyalakshmi , Vaishnavi Aditya Yeshwanth and myself had really enjoyed our times at our home. Now both my daughters are married and my first son in law Vignesh Rathnasabapathy manages about 100 rooms ( service appartments ) in and around Chennai. His clients belong to the ' medical tourism ' category. Their venture is called ' Angson ' and my daughter who was previously employed quit her job in order to take care of their venture.
My second son in law Aditya Yeshwanth is into granite exports and my daughter Vaishnavi takes care of the 12 rooms which are offered as 'service appartments'. Incidentally both my daughters are partners in this activity. My son in law Vignesh came up with the ' homestay ' idea and we took it forward thereafter. "
' Cornerstay ' is part of the residence of Muthumaanickam and Sasikala. She had been skeptical while the idea was proposed but now she manages it full time along with her husband with full gusto. " My wife was concerned about the lapses that may occur and that was reason for her hesitation. Now she manages it with aplomb for we put in a fail safe plan before launching the venture. We have 3 bedrooms attached with a separate dining room, living room, kitchen and a verandah which have been exclusively reserved for our homestay venture.
One of the rooms is endowed with a separate pantry. We offer home made South Indian breakfast on request and it is chargeable. Our household takes care of the washing of clothes and we dry them before returning it to our guests. This service is chargeable.
We have a separate entrance with a staircase and this offers flexibility and privacy for our guests."
The Muthumaanickams have separate people for house keeping and this venture keeps them busy through the day. A few of the foreign guests have spent long durations at Cornerstay and have relished the homemade food on a day to day basis.
Money can be paid electronically and Muthumaanickam added further, " The homestays are encouraged by the Government of India and it can just be one room also. The house owner should be a resident. The separate entrance is optional. Guests can bring in outside food and eat in the premises. They are welcome to host their near and dear. We do not hire our place for parties ever. Our interior was done by us and we had to purchase a few items in order to fulfill the requirements. The main thing is an NOC from the police and it took quite a while to get it done because this concept was new to them.
On understanding the concept they offered their full fledged co operation. The homestay has to be certified by the people from the Tourism Ministry, India Tourism and a local travel agent. Later on , the property is inspected once in 2 years. The officials are quite friendly and accommodative. Cornerstay has been a continuous performer and has been increasing its score on booking.com. We have moved from 8.3 to 8.5 in terms of points and this award has been an additional motivation. "
The house is about 3500 square feet and the homestay occupies about half the area. The house owner is the ' frontoffice ' and the occupancy is about 70 %. Interestingly the homestay does not announce itself with a nameboard. The GST is 12% for rooms below a tariff of Rs.2500 and 18% for the ones which are above the same amount.
' Cornerstay ' founded by P.Muthumaanickam & family is the trendsetter in the ' homestay ' arena in Coimbatore.