Thousands of homestays are identical: and the price to pay

Everything is white, with greenery.

Browse any homestay search page in Đà Lạt, Hội An or Phú Quốc and you'll see a familiar set of photos. White walls, plain wooden frames, a small corner of greenery, soft morning light. Each place has a different name, but you can't tell them apart from the photos.

This isn't an aesthetic mistake. It's a strategic one. When a homestay owner looks at a busy competitor and copies their style, they unknowingly join a crowd where no one stands out. Guests don't remember the name. They don't return for the brand, they return for a better price or a more convenient location. Neither of those holds its value over time.

In How Brands Grow, Byron Sharp calls this the problem of "mental availability" (the likelihood of being remembered when a need arises). A brand without its own distinctive identity assets, even with good service, won't be stored in customers' minds as a preferred choice. People book what appears first, and what appears first is usually whoever spends the most on OTA advertising.

OTA is not a distribution channel; it is an trap.

OTAs are not bad. Booking.com, Agoda, and Airbnb are effective distribution channels, especially in the early stages when a property lacks a loyal customer base. The problem is that many homestay owners allow OTAs to become the sole channel, thereby losing control.

When all bookings come from OTAs, customer data belongs to the platform, not to you. You do not know who your guests are, where they come from, or what they value about your place. You cannot follow up after their trip. You cannot build a loyalty program. You can only wait for the next booking and pay the commission.

More seriously: when OTAs adjust their algorithms or increase commission rates, you have no choice but to accept it, as all revenue depends on that. This is exactly the definition of an unbalanced business relationship.

Identity is not decoration.

Many owners hear “brand” and think of a new logo, a new photo set, or a new wall color. That is the most common and most costly misunderstanding in this industry.

Marty Neumeier, author of The Brand Gap, defines a brand as a customer's perception of a product, service, or organization. That perception doesn't come from a logo. It comes from everything the guest experiences: how staff greet them, the scent in the room, the story you tell online, and how you handle it when something goes wrong.

A lodging with a real identity is one a guest can describe to a friend in a single sentence. And that sentence isn't "it's cheap and fine to stay in." For example: "It's in the middle of a pine forest, the owners are Cơ Ho people, and in the morning they teach you how to cook cơm lam." Or: "It's a small homestay, but everything in it is pottery from Bàu Trúc village, and it feels completely different." That description is the brand, and no OTA can copy it or compete for it.

Brands with meaning and clear differentiation help customers be willing to pay above the market average.

Kantar BrandZ, 2020 (“meaningful + different” brands: customers pay 38% more than for brands with no differentiation)

Building direct channels: the first step to escape OTA.

Breaking free of OTA dependence doesn't mean deleting your Booking.com account tomorrow. It means building a direct channel alongside it, one strong enough to gradually lower your reliance.

A direct channel is more than a website. It is the whole system that helps guests remember you, find you, and book with you without an intermediary. To get there, a property needs at least three things. First, clear positioning: who you are for and what experience you offer. Second, a story that can be told. Third, a reason for guests to share it with others after they leave.

A local story is an advantage large chains can't compete with. An international resort can invest in a more beautiful infinity pool, but it can't have a local woman like Mrs. Năm picking vegetables from the garden each morning. Nor can it have the story of the land your property stands on. Those details, if built into your positioning and communications consistently, create a bond that money can't buy.

Consistency from cover images to towels.

One reason guests leave a one-star review is that the property doesn't match what was promised, not necessarily that it is bad. OTA photos are taken from the best angle, in the best light, making the room look as large as possible. Guests who arrive find it slightly different. That feeling of being misled, however small, is enough to produce a negative review.

This is a matter of brand consistency, not a photography issue. When positioning and actual experience align, guests are not just satisfied. They become storytellers on your behalf. Each time they share photos on social media, each time they recommend you to friends, is a time your brand spreads without advertising costs.

Consistency is not just about colors or logos. It is about how staff respond to messages, how rooms are arranged, how you handle complaints. Wally Olins, in his theory of corporate branding, identifies four key touchpoints: product, environment, communication, and behavior. In the hospitality industry, all four touchpoints must tell the same story.

Vietnam's tourism market is growing. More international guests are arriving, and the mid to upscale segment is growing faster than the budget segment. The opportunity is opening up. When guests look for a memorable experience, does your name come to mind? Or are you still one of thousands of identical white-and-blue rooms on a results page?