Idea 175 of 500. Cluster 7: The infrastructure that makes the rest possible
Website and booking-engine templates for guesthouses, in Sinhala, Tamil and English
The mechanism, from the book
The tiny business pathway. A rural woman with an exceptional product should not need photography, English copy, packaging design and a distributor before the world can find her.
Every idea in cluster 7 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Build one simple guesthouse website with a booking form, in Sinhala, Tamil and English, for a guesthouse owner you know, free. Help them put it live and send the link to past guests. After a month, count the direct bookings that paid no platform commission. Then offer the template to 10 more owners for a set-up fee and a small monthly charge.
- Who pays first
- A small guesthouse owner who pays commission on every online booking and wants guests to book direct.
- What leaves today
- Commission on every online booking leaves the island for foreign platforms; a direct booking keeps the whole room price at home.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. SeventeenOne Building
The dozen small things that turn a product into money that stays
More from cluster 7
Idea 175 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.