The Vietnam’s homestay market, understood as houses with rooms for lease to travelers, is now booming strongly. In the last two years only, the list of homestays available to lease on two famous online booking agencies surged by 452 percent. Some 50,000 homestays are being listed on online room booking websites.
In Vietnam, most homestay owners lease an entire house. Over 52 percent of homeowners rent the whole house, nearly 44 percent rent separate rooms and 4 percent share rooms.
On average, the rent of entire house is $69 per day, while the rent of one separate room is $31.
However, not all investors can earn money from homestay services. Tens of thousands of homestays have mushroomed throughout Vietnam, but 10 largest markets, namely Hanoi, HCMC, Quang Ninh, Thua Thien – Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong, Vung Tau, and Kien Giang, account for 93 percent of total supply and 98 percent of total revenue.
Annual revenue is $41.6 million in HCMC,$19.5 million in Da Nang, $13.3 million in Hanoi and $7.6 million in Khanh Hoa.
HCMC has the biggest supply of homestays, accounting for 37 percent of total supply.
In Da Nang, the average rent of entire houses is the highest, $61 (from April 2018 to March 2019).
The majority of guests at homestays in Vietnam are foreign travelers, the AirDNA report showed. Some 66 percent of guests at homestays are from Singapore, Seoul, Melbourne, Sydney, and Hong Kong. The biggest source of travelers, however, is HCMC.
Homestay owners should pay attention to the sources of guests from major cities, said Duong Minh Binh, Chairman of consultancy firm on homestay development CBT Travel.
He said: “In 2013-2015, guests from the region accounted for 5 percent of total guests, but the figure has soared to 30 percent.”
Urban areas have the best revenue but rural areas have seen an rise of 111 percent in demand.
Although the demand still remains high, revenue of homestays in rural areas reached about $3million, or only 2 percent of total revenue in 2018.
