Quân Pỏm Homestay Vietnam

“As farmers, we were so afraid to welcome guests at the beginning but now we are very happy to do that. Whenever there are no guests here, we miss the bustling times of visitors roaming in the village. Thanks to welcoming the guests, our family can learn a lot about how to do tourism well.”

– Notes from the owners of Quân Pỏm Homestay –

About Quân Pỏm Homestay

Quân Pỏm is the first household to participate in the accommodation model operated by KPF. They have a cozy little house on stilts with a colorful garden full of flowers. Quân and Pỏm is a really attentive and friendly couple able to create the true warm feeling of a family for the guests making it the biggest attraction of this homestay.

Quân Pỏm Homestay is a wooden stilt house in traditional Thái architecture located in the center of Ít Thái village. With a just enough adequate area and beautiful small wooden house in it, the capacity of the homestay is up to 15 guests. Quân Pỏm’s house has two balconies – one overlooking a large rice field, the other under the canopy of an ancient peach tree. The space under the floor is a shared common living space for guests, with a small garden full of flowers and 2 hammocks to chill and relax. Around the house, there are many decorations made from local materials created by Quân himself, giving it a rustic feeling with his unique artful touch.

The story of the owners

Before running a homestay, Quân and Pỏm were both farmers working year-round in upland fields, breeding pigs and chickens. In 2018, Quân had a serious accident making his family’s financial situation badly affected due to the treatment costs. At that time, KPF approached them with an idea to establish a community-based tourism model in the village, but they just did not dare to believe that somebody would invest into their household and give them an opportunity to earn more income from their own house. Those who have never stepped too far from their hometown are always afraid of such seemingly attractive offers, fearing that they will be deceived, fall in debt and lose the house in the end. However, after many conversations with KPF, they gradually gained more trust, confidence and were determined to try their best in a whole new field. That was the moment when Quân Pỏm Homestay – the first homestay in Ít Thái village – was born.

Quân and Pỏm are pioneers in the homestay business model of KPF. After a visiting trip to a sustained model of Đà Bắc CBT in Hoà Bình province, which was all covered by KPF, the couple decided to take a try in operating a homestay. They followed the instructions of KPF to renovate their house and moved the buffalo and pig barns under the house to another area. They also built a more convenient kitchen area to prepare food for the guests. With the companionship of KPF and the help of the neighbours, everything was completed before the due date. When the first homestay of KPF ready to open its doors and welcome a large group of first guests from Hanoi, everyone was simply eager to experience the local life in a warm stilt house filled with the enthusiasm of the Quân Pỏm family.

The cozy beautiful small house of Quân Pỏm and the story of “taking a risk” to become a tourism services provider from scratch have made an inspiring example to the other households in the village to join and follow the sustainable CBT model set by KPF.

How has the family’s life changed after operating the homestay?

In May 2019, when the Quân Pỏm family welcomed the first group of guests, everything from preparing the bed for the guests to cooking breakfast was totally new making the couple very confused. However, after only the first few times of welcoming visitors in their house, they have gradually gotten used to the work of operating a homestay. From the muddy farmers, who did not dare to believe that they could do tourism, Quân became able to heartwarmingly cook meals for large groups of guests and Pỏm being more confident when telling stories about her homeland to the guests.

In addition to taking care of the house being ready to welcome guests and serve meals, Pỏm also participates in the local art team of Ít Thái village that occasionally performs traditional Thái dance for tourists. Besides, Quân being very skillful with his hands, he knitts bamboo baskets and sculptures beautiful small wooden statues both for his own home decoration or for sale to the guests as souvenirs.

At first, as shy as they were, now Quân and Pỏm are much more confident and open to enthusiastically share jokes and local stories with their guests. With simplicity, sincerity and gentleness, the guests staying at Quân Pỏm Homestay simply love this lovely and witty family.