Homestay in Thailand - Answers by: Kevin - Administration
Hi David
Good Morning
Many thanks for your interesting question posted through our website.
In terms of the "homestay" market in Thailand, this is a reasonably popular sector of the accommodation market here,more popular in the north & north-east of the country I think rather than the central & southern beach areas.
I have seen homestays in some of the remotest places you could imagine around this area, and could never work out how they could possibly be profitable, as they did not appear to offer any special to enable them to secure bookings.
To my mind, to successfully run a homestay, as they are typically located "off the beaten path", you have to have a U.S.P. (unique selling proposition), whether it be:
* small lake for fishing holidays * located near a good quality golf course for golf holidays * very scenic location for rambling,walking holidays * offer guided tours to interesting places
Anything that offers uniqueness & value I am sure will do quite well.
In terms of opening such a venture in Thailand, there is very little legislation on this sort of thing currently, you see new mini-resorts being built all over the place.
The three aspects you would need to research thoroughly are: 1/ Thai Visas 2/ Thai Work Permits 2/ Thai Limited Company
Inorder to run a homestay business in Thailand, you would need to have the three above points completely covered.
Thai Visas - if you have a long term desire to live in Thailand, you would need to decide what type of Thai Visa is suitable for you, as each different type has different demands.
Thai Work Permit - so that you can work in Thailand you will need a work permit, this in your case would come through having a Thai Limited Company.
Thai Limited Company - providing you are a minority shareholder & with the majority shareholders being Thai, you will be able to start business, however please do research the costs side, as there are several different types of Thai Limited Companies ,each one with different costs, funding requirements & advantages/disadvantages!.
My own suggestion would be that if you are serious about this as a proposition, you need to visit Thailand & more specifically the area you are thinking about, & spend some time just driving around, looking at existing homestays, what makes them successful, why do they fail.
You might even find an existing one that you could buy - because starting from scratch & running a building project, is a whole new can of worms, that I personally would not recommend you get into!.
If I can be of further assistance, please just drop me a line, I am always happy to try & help.
