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Pavan Gupta
Pavan Gupta, the owner of a beautiful vacation home apartment in Lavasa, the hill city in Maharashtra, spoke to Holiday Home Times in an exclusive interview, where he tells us about the art of managing a vacation rental, how he started it and why he considers himself lucky to have a holiday home in Lavasa.
The interview?
Please tell us something about your background ? personal and professional.
I am a software engineer with Master?s in Computer Science. I?m presently working with Cisco Systems, Pune. I am originally from Pune and now married with two daughters. My wife is a Pediatrician. I lived for a few years in US and was very impressed with the way they have preserved their nature and greenery. The cities are well landscaped. When I returned, I was looking for a place which would be well managed in terms if infrastructure and surroundings. Then I read about Lavasa one day in newspaper, when it was in nascent stages of construction. I thought this would be something on lines of a well managed city.
How did you acquire this property?
I bought the property two-and-half years back.
Can you tell us a bit about the property and its history?
The property is a 2BHK furnished apartment on the third floor with great view of the Lake and located right in the heart of Lavasa. It is easily accessible to the beautiful promenade which is right outside the building and very close to restaurants, water sports, garden and the kids? park. The balcony that opens from the sitting/ dining hall has a splendid view of the lake. There is enough seating arrangement available in the balcony for guests to enjoy a lazy cup of tea or coffee whenever they want to.
All the bedrooms of the apartment are tastefully furnished with double beds, dressing table, wardrobes, side tables, etc. The kitchen is equipped with microwave and refrigerator for guests to do small amount of personal cooking.
When and why did you decide to turn your property into a holiday home? How did you start out? What are the small changes you made to change from a home to a holiday home?
It all started as a hobby. I furnished the house so that I could go and stay there during the long weekends. It is really a very good getaway and you always come home rejuvenated after a stay in Lavasa. However with hectic work schedule in Pune, I was unable to go come to Lavasa as frequently as I thought I could have. So I decided, why not rent it out to guests who want to come and enjoy the beautiful environs of Lavasa.
You have been in the business of holiday home rental for quite some time now. Could you tell us how much involvement is required from you (as the owner) to successfully run this business?
I would say, so level of involvement is always required from the owner ? be it talking to guests before they arrive or taking care of things at the apartment. However, I?m lucky to have a good caretaker who takes care of most of the day-to-day issues. Because I stay in Pune, it is not possible for me to come down to Lavasa every time there are guests, so the caretaker takes care of receiving them and making them feel at home.
What is the present level of construction activity in Lavasa? Would you recommend it as a location for holiday home buyers and homestays?
You must be aware that after the MoEF has given the clearance to the constructions in Lavasa in November last year, it has already launched the second town Mugaon. I believe construction has already started on this although I have not been to Lavasa for quite some time to comment on the current status.
Of course, I will recommend Lavasa as a location for holiday home/ homestay buyers. The hill city sees a good floating population in the weekends which home owners can capitalize on. As the development nears completion, because of the beautiful and pristine surroundings, Lavasa will see a lot of interest from tourists from cities like Mumbai and Pune looking to spend a quiet weekend here.
You must have been interacting with several kinds of visitors who had stayed in your home. What kinds of guests, according to you, are suitable for staying in your holiday home?
Most people coming to stay in my home are families. A spacious house is always nice when families want to interact. Also, if you have your parents coming along who are senior citizens, the place serves a good purpose for their comfort and care. Then there are people who come to participate in weddings of friends and family which are held in Lavasa. Most of the guests I have received are from Mumbai and Pune.
What is your philosophy that drives how you to run things in your property? Do you have any set rules or ideals that as a holiday home owner you must follow?
Most of the times I don?t actually meet?my guests. But my caretaker takes care of everything. I have a set certain guidelines for guests to abide by which have been kept in the property for guests to go through. The caretaker too gives them a briefing about the dos and don?ts in the apartment. This is not a very long list so guests hardly find any difficulty. Another thing is that I don?t provide meals, because there are good restaurants just outside the building.
Have you had any high profile guests? What are important things to keep in mind while handling them?
I will not be able to name them, but yes, a couple of VPs, directors and top management guys have stayed in my apartment.
What percentage of your business comes from travel agencies? Social Media? Friends? Regular clients?
Bulk of my bookings comes from referrals from past guests and some from TripVillas and the rest from word of mouth.
What are your top tips for other homestay owners?
Owners should understand that their properties should not look like hotels. Of course they should be a clean and self-sufficient as a good hotel room, but they should make a home out of it. Personal touch of the owner is very important. It is the homely atmosphere which guests look for in a holiday home/ homestay.
LEAVING YOU WITH SOME IMAGES OF THE HOLIDAY HOME APARTMENT OF PAVAN GUPTA IN LAVASA:
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