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Above: Airbnb website. Right: An international
advertising campaign for Airbnb
T ANZANIAN SAFARI GUIDE
and conservationist, Godwin
Ndosi, was struggling to put his
BSc degree in Wildlife Tourism to work
when he first heard about short-term
accommodation listing and booking
website, Airbnb. Little over a year later,
the entrepreneurial 24-year-old has built
two successful, symbiotic businesses in
his home city of Arusha.
A local company called Touch Tanzania
Tours provides a steady stream of tourists
on guided visits to places such as the
Serengeti, Zanzibar, Mount Kilimanjaro
and the Ngorongoro Crater. Ndosi’s
home – listed with Airbnb – provides
them with accommodation and
traditional Maasai hospitality.
His introduction to the global website
was by chance: “It had not occurred to
me to offer accommodation,” he says.
“Visitors to the area traditionally stayed
at one of the local hotels or lodges, which
had the monopoly in the hospitality
market. But, when something went wrong
with a tourist’s reservation in town, I
invited him to stay at the house I share
with my parents. He enjoyed it and told
me I should list the room with Airbnb to
supplement my income. I had no idea
what that was, but looked into it.”
Ndosi became an accredited host in
March 2015 and his first guests were
three Malaysians who arrived intending to
spend only one night in Arusha. Ten days
later they left, having written a glowing
Airbnb review about their experience.
They were delighted by the quality and
cost of the accommodation, as well as the
delicious meals cooked by Ndosi’s friendly
family. They also rated him ‘number one
guide for Tanzanian tours’.
Since then, he has become a so-called
Superhost. This means he has hosted
more than 10 groups of guests, maintained
a 90% response rate or higher, received
five-star reviews at least 80% of the times
he has been evaluated by guests, and
has completed all confirmed reservations
It had not occurred
to Ndosi to offer
lodging to tourists
without cancelling. As a result, he’s not only serving a budget-conscious yet standards-
generating increasing income and growing
his company, he’s also encouraging others
in his community to open their homes to
guests via Airbnb. There are now more than
170 accommodation listings for Arusha on
the website.
But what Ndosi finds most encouraging
about Airbnb is that it has introduced
Arusha to an increasing number of
younger travellers. The city has a
population of around 400 000 and is
located in the east of the country, where it
is a key gateway to the popular Northern
Safari Circuit.
“Many hotels and lodges are expensive
in Africa, which discourages young
travellers with small budgets from coming
here,” he says. “Airbnb not only makes it
more affordable, but it is also a platform
that younger people are comfortable with.
They like the idea of staying with locals.
We are seeing many more young tourists
in Tanzania and I think this has a lot to do
with Airbnb.”
Ndosi’s view coincides with the findings
of a recent study into Africa’s hospitality
and tourism industry by professional
services company, Grant Thornton, which
found that ‘there is a dearth of hotels
hungry market’ on the continent.
Not only young visitors
But Airbnb guests are not limited to young
travellers. Pharmacist Corinna Durocher,
who lives in La Gaulette on the southwest
coast of the island of Mauritius, was the
first in her region to list her apartment on
Airbnb in 2012 on the recommendation of
an American friend. She is also a Superhost
and, despite marketing her accommodation
Issue 4 2016 strategicmarketingafrica 35