A homestay is a home-owner-occupied private residence which also offers accommodation to a few paying guests as its secondary purpose.
Homestays are increasingly popular for guests who are travelling for a longer period and are aiming to experience a homely environment during the duration of their stay.
Additionally, guests who would like to experience Kenya's culture first-hand while staying in the country also form a large audience for the homestays.
Following recent regulations, home owners who want to offer the homestay experience are required to obtain a license from the Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA).
The first requirement you will be required to fulfill is provide a National Identity Card of the homeowner to the TRA.
Secondly, an individual will be required to have a KRA Pin of the enterprise for which they seek to acquire a license. The last document required will be a Certificate of Good Conduct.
The primary purpose of these documents is to authenticate the owner's identity and act as a measure for ensuring the safety of guests staying at the private residence.
After presenting the documents, the owner is then required to pay license fees which vary depending on the category of the homestay.
However, across the three categories of homestays: Economy, Standard and Executive an application fee of Ksh500 is required.
Specifically, the annual license fee for an Economy homestay is Ksh1,000 with the same fee applying to the renewal.
A license for a Standard homestay costs Ksh2,000 which is valid for an year. The fee is the same for renewing the license.
Finally, an Executive homestay license costs Ksh3,000 for the annual license.
The first step in the application procedure is signing up and filling a form on the Tourism Regulatory Authority's website.
From here, the next step is paying the fee through TRA.
After completing the payment to the TRA, the application will be verified by the authority and the license if granted, will be sent to the applicant’s email.
