namastay.in is a holiday accommodation booking website that allows travelers like you to book their holiday stay in non-hotel accommodations like homestays, guest houses, B&Bs, jungle resorts etc.
Accommodations on our website are handpicked by us and meet our guidelines for cleanliness and quality. The prices set by the owners are transparent and we don’t increase the room tariff. We charge Rs.10 (that is 25 cents in US dollars) per booking as our booking fee.
The namastay.in Story
We travel a lot...and till a while ago it was mainly because we wanted to experience India. Not the India seen from the clinical confines of a hotel room and air-conditioned coaches on a 'package tour' but the real India - vibrant, full of contrasts and contradictions.
But that was till a while ago.
Soon we started advising family, friends, friends' friends and theirs, about the unique places they could stay in and visit during their travels to the various parts of India. People came back from their trips full of stories to tell about their 'new' experiences in a country they have lived in most of their lives. And like a contagious smile, everyone wanted others to experience the same.
That’s when namastay.in happened. Out of a love for travel and the desire to experience India. And more importantly, to make it all easy.
So with namastay.in we decided to bring together independent accommodations - we’re talking homestays, guest houses, apartments, jungle lodges, health retreats, heritage homes, B&B’s, camps, you name it; anything that is not your regular hotel or a low-end lodge, you’ll find here.
We travel to all our accommodations (in special cases they are recommended by friends) and verify each one for quality. What you see is what you get.
Now add to it a dash of technology. All this information is on one website- namastay.in, with every bit of detailed information and the ease of making a confirmed booking online. The prices you see are exactly what the accommodations charge as their tariff. All we charge you for our service is Rs.10 (that is approximately 25 cents in US dollars!) per booking.
Remember the hassles of endless Internet searches followed by endless phone calls and emails and then finally, if dates match, figuring out how to confirm the booking? At namastay.in we are trying to get rid of all that! And trying hard to ensure that booking your holiday stay does not take longer than the holiday itself.
Having studied, worked and lived independently since the age of 10 in India & abroad, Ashish makes ‘home’ wherever he travels. The people that host him mean as much as to him as his physical surroundings. Point him to a simple but good meal and he’ll travel miles.
Ashish’s vision is to connect the thousands of independent accommodations across India, run by interesting and hospitable people from myriad backgrounds, different cultures and varied motivations. That, he believes is the only true way of experiencing India in a green, responsible and sustainable way.
He holds a bachelors degree in economics from Loyola College, Chennai and a masters degree in creative and media enterprises from the University of Warwick, UK.
Rekha Goyal co-founder
If travellers were a different species, Rekha would be a thoroughbred. From the Alps to the Himalayas, from the sleepy islands of the Caribbean to the buzzing villages of Uttar Pradesh, Rekha’s wanderlust has taken her far and wide.
She’s stayed at roadside shacks, traditional homestays, heritage bungalows and eco-friendly jungle lodges and considers her stays as the lens through which she remembers her experiences.
As the organizational epicenter of our team, Rekha handles the network of accommodations on one end while engaging with customers on the other. She’s also the last word on all things creative!
Rekha is also a ceramic artist and has run her ceramic design studio in Mumbai for over a decade now.
Gaurav Gupta advisor
After many years working in the Corporate World, staying in the marbled splendour of hotels with their regimental staff and over air-conditioned rooms, Gaurav realised that he preferred his temperature to be controlled by the warmth of the people. That is what drew him to the idea of namastay.in - helping fellow travelers discover magical places and local flavours .
Gaurav's own passion is in responsible tourism. He is a part owner of an award-winning rainforest lodge in Australia and also an estate in the Nilgiris - a completely organic operation complete with eco-friendly farm-stays for curious travellers. So he understands not only what it is like to be a guest but also what it is like to be a host!
Gaurav is also an Associate Partner at Dalberg Global Consultants and holds a BA from Oxford and an MA from Yale University.
namastay.in team
Nitin Virkar designer
Nitin's travels have taken him from staying under a tree in the salt pans of Kutch to riding the Konkan stretch in the monsoons on his Bullet. Not to mention the extensive study of local crafts in various places that he has visited!
Nitin has conceptualised the look of the namastay.in website and given it a design language that is refreshing, colourful and peaceful.
Nitin has studied Fine Art at Sir J J School of Art, Mumbai and Accessory Design at NID, Ahmedabad.
Shikha Tripathi traveller & writer
As I explore more and more places, cultures and people, I always find something new to give to avid travelers through my travelogues, even if it's a place they have visited countless times. I've had experiences ranging from enlightening to heart warming, weird to utopic. Be it eating exotic jelly fish in Hong Kong or homegrown millet bread in a remote Sikkim village, floating down the Tungabhadra in a basket past the Hampi ruins or finding my way back to Senado Square in a Portuguese speaking Macau with photographs I had taken, my experiences enrich my travelogues all the time.
I couldn’t agree more with Huxley in ‘Along the Road’, when he aptly says, "For the born traveller, travelling is a besetting vice. Like other vices, it is imperious, demanding its victim's time, money, energy and the sacrifice of comfort." And fortunately for me, I’m a victim of this vice.
