Famous e-commerce and travel booking site, Booking.com was all praise about the Maldivian guesthouse industry, remarking it as astonishing.
An official from the company spoke during the Maldives Guesthouse Conference held at Paradise Island Resort on Sunday, stating more than 340 guesthouse outlets are listed under their website generating strong interest among 'budget travelers' from across the globe to Maldives.
"Room nights have increased by 22% in comparison with last year. This shows the strong interest built up by travelers," Booking.com's official said.
According to the statistics of the famous booking site, top visitor country to the guesthouses in Maldives is from Russia. The visitor count has increased by 12% by August.
Booking.com - that boasts 1.4 million rooms in listing - advised the local guesthouse ventures to take caution while marketing their venues under the site. "Most crucial element is the usage of high resolution images of the guesthouse venue to promote the venture. Almost 90% of the bookings we receive comes after image assessment by tourists, reviews come closely behind that," the official said.
In addition to this, the site's representative at the conference advised to state special rates and prices in listings.
"Last year average booking was done 1.5 months prior to trips, but this year it has increased to 2.5 months. So it is important to specify rates beforehand in the listings."
Established in 1996, Booking.com currently boasts an employee count of 15,000 personnel with more than 200 staffs in each of its 70 offices situated in various countries across the globe.
