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Adventure Homestay
p/adventure-homestayFind vetted family homestays in developing countries
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Julia Kurnia

Adventure Homestay - Find cultural immersion homestays in developing countries

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Our platform connects travelers with vetted family homestays in developing countries, facilitating unique cultural experiences while generating revenue for local communities.

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Julia Kurnia
Maker
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Hi Product Hunters! I'm Julia, the founder of Adventure Homestay. I'd be happy to respond to questions and comments. Adventure Homestay was inspired by my experiences living with host families in various parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America while studying abroad and working in international development. These homestays were transformative for me, generated life-changing income for the hosts, and enabled friendships that bridged culture and circumstance. Right now it is hard for travelers to find this type of experience, as most short-term accommodation platforms prioritize professional rentals and use payment systems that are hard for ordinary people in developing countries to access. Adventure Homestay aims to fill this gap in the market and provide local host family accommodation options to tourists, students and volunteers looking to experience local culture and make a positive impact in the communities they visit.
Zhiqi Shi
Airbnb hasn't done well enough in this scenario. I'm really looking forward to seeing this platform continue to develop-it's truly meaningful.
Julia Kurnia
Maker
@zhiqi_shi Airbnb operates in a different niche, and the model that works well in markets like the US and Europe isn't as suited to conditions in developing countries. For example, it's difficult for ordinary people in many developing countries to open bank accounts that can receive Airbnb payouts, and since there often isn't an efficient payment transfer system in these markets, they lose a large percentage of payouts to fees charged by various intermediaries before they receive the funds. For this reason, most of the Airbnb listings in developing countries aren't individual homes at all, but hotels and other mid-size businesses that can more easily tap into international payment systems.
Julian Götze
I really get a sense of adventure when I look at the stays, and I like that @juliakurnia. How do you manage to get in touch with the hosts (seems like a really tough challenge to me)?
Julia Kurnia
Maker
@juliangoetze That is a tough challenge, but not insurmountable. To get in touch with hosts in our first focus market, Cuba, I traveled to the country and spent three weeks staying with a different family homestay each night, and invited the best ones to list on Adventure Homestay. From there, word of mouth spread until we had hundreds of listings (which we were able to vet via their reputations with existing platforms). There is an immense demand for opportunities to generate income in developing countries, and when one appears it takes very little marketing effort to attract participation.
Jorrel S
Finally a product that is actually tackling something interesting and not some AI thing thrown together. Love the mission and story behind your product, it’s what I look for more these days regarding good products on this website.
Julia Kurnia
Maker
@jorrel_s Thank you for checking it out!
Feliciana
Cool! This project is really meaningful, creating a win-win situation for both travelers and hosts. Good luck with this project!
Konrad S.
Great project, wish you success!
Julia Kurnia
Maker
@konrad_sx Thank you!
Sergey Glukhov
Good idea - but idk how you will find a lot of homestays - competiting with airbnb on this stage seems impossible
Julia Kurnia
Maker
@sergey_glukhov One of the reasons I build this is that Airbnb has very few genuine homestays in developing countries - the vast majority of their listings in these locations are actually hotels, as payment and other barriers make it hard for ordinary people in developing countries to use Airbnb. We don't intend to compete with Airbnb in the US, Europe etc, where Airbnb's model is already a good fit for local conditions.
Adán Rivas
This is a beautiful concept! I certainly can see much interests from hosts in the Global South. Whom do you expect to be your primary customer? Hikers? Students studying abroad?