George Maragia is the founder of GeoMara Luxury Homes, a business venture that provides fully furnished and serviced luxury apartments, villas and houses for short or long term stays.
Maragia established the business after quitting his job in the United States after realizing a gap in the Kenyan Airbnb industry that needed to be filled.
Today, his business has presence in major town across the country such as Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru.
Here is Maragia’s story as told by WoK.
Background
Maragia relocated to the United States in search for a better working opportunity, and worked in the home luxury industry.
Over the years, whenever he came to Kenya, he would stay in hotels while his alternative was staying in furnished apartments.
Maragia also had a option of booking an Airbnb but most of them were either fully booked or they were situated far away.
With this, he spotted a business opportunity.
“In America, the Airbnb concept is widely adopted. Most entrepreneurs know that a traveller may want to spend about a month with his or her family, and in such a case, a hotel would be expensive, it would also not offer them privacy,” he said.
After working for many years in America, Maragia decided to return home and invest in the Airbnb industry.
He leased apartments in Lavington and Kilimani, as the location is close to the city center and favorable to tourists.
He used his savings to furnish and decorate the apartments, before listing them online under his brand name, GeoMara Luxury Homes.
Maragia charged a minimum of Ksh 10,000 a night for the 3-bedroom apartment, and after a while in the business, he bought the two apartments.
“In the long run, I knew this would be a good investment decision because leasing can also be very expensive and you find that at the end of the month, the money you made through your Airbnb is what you pay the landlord for leasing,” he said.
He got another apartments in Westlands and Karen before expanding to major towns such as Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru.
While starting off, Maragia notes that he experienced challenges such as poor regulation that has seen conmen flood the market.
He says conmen would post pictures of apartments online and when clients would book them they appear to be not the actual property.
“At times guests would make a reservation only to travel and find out that property did not exist. And without a regulator, there was no fall back or channels to follow up on complaints,” Maragia said.
Maragia, however, noted that Kenya still has a long way to go in the local Airbnb industry to make it more competitive.
“In Kenya, most people will book through word of mouth or make a phone call, but in more advanced economies such as the US, people will go directly through the app, look at the reviews, and after making a decision to book the place, they make a reservation,” he said.
