project

1. Self- reflective essay
This is an essay about the branding journey of La Sœur Homestay of a young girl who
loves nature and wants to see it every day. My original idea stems from daily life having
to go through traffic jams, smog, and noise in the city, so I always desire to "escape" to
a quiet place. But I realized that most hotels are located in busy streets and near
markets for convenient travel, or if it is a homestay, I will have to live with the owner or
share the kitchen and toilet with others. I immediately surveyed 5,000 young people on
social media about their travel preferences, and surprisingly, more than 80% of them
had the same opinion of wanting to relax in places close to nature, calm and quiet like
me. From the above data, I have embarked on building a homestay brand with the
characteristics of being close to nature, away from dust and pollution.
After doing market research (R&D), I basically understood the needs of the client and
then I rented and modified two rooms in a hill house in Da Lat as a minimum variable
product (MVP). My first assumption is that the generation Z today want to go to places
that are closer to nature with privacy than too noisy urban places when traveling. I use A
/ B testing to test assumptions and get feedback from customers to understand their
needs and refine my concepts to serve them. We also use Net Promotional Scores
(NPS) to measure customer happiness for hypothetical tracking. We then use a scrum
process to track monthly progress to communicate between each team (Sales, Finance,
and Marketing team) and reflect the process for getting a new update for my homestay
on time.
After three months, I decided to borrow money from a bank to rent a 250-square-meter
plot of land close to the forest and expand to 5 separate rooms with the kitchen and

2. toilet are inside for absolute privacy. After launching our new service, I officially created
La Sœur's website, Facebook, and Instagram for mass media content to promote our
homestay, increase new traffic and raise brand awareness. At the same time, La Sœur
has also cooperated with many major partners such as booking sites, insurance
companies, shuttle services to improve the conversion rate (CR). I also use outbound
and inbound marketing to interact in many ways with our customers. In short, I mainly
apply Lean startup theory to build- measure- and learn during the process of creating La
Sœur.
After one year of operation, owning to the Customer Development Process and A/B
test, I decided to open a restaurant and cafe on the homestay’s campus to serve the
dining needs of customers with a mobile app for them to send request and
communicate with the staffs anytime. Since the establishment of food and beverage
services at the homestay, the number of visitors coming to La Sœur has been
increasing and the NPS is improved as well. Taking advantage of our own restaurant, I
run up a baking program every Monday and Wednesday to stimulate demand on
weekdays. In addition, from the 2nd birthday anniversary of La Sœur, all customers who
make a reservation 2 weeks in advance will be presented with items with their name
embroidered such as a bathrobe, cotton slippers; For customers who book close to the
date, La Sœur will send desserts and thank you cards with the guest name decorated in
the room. This is both gratitude and an advertisement for La Sœur through the check-in
photos of guests.
As a result, after only 2 years, La Sœur has paid off all bank debts and can cover
operating expenses each month. KPI shows that there is a 20.2% increase in clicks per

3. post and NPS of 9.2 out of 10. The reason for this succeed is due to the correctness in
the initial assumption about the needs of today's youth choosing a vacation place. In
modern life, people see tall buildings more than trees, inhale the smoke and dust more
than fresh air, therefore, La Sœur was born as a response to the desire to "escape the
city". However, La Sœur will also need to be carefully prepared to get out of the crises if
any, such as preparing plans for La Sœur's restaurant and cafe to operate but in the
form of home delivery to helps employees not lose their jobs if the tourism industry in
Vietnam is frozen by covid- 19.
On the journey to build La Sœur, I have learned a lot of lessons, from decorative design
to staff training, and most importantly, I have already known how to increase room rates
during high season to increase profits and reduce room rates during low season to
ensure optimal ROI and use technology tools to understand customer’s demand. The
reason for La Sœur's birth is because of my love for nature, so in the near future, all
belongings in La Sœur will say no to plastic to protect the environment, which is the
message that I want to send to customers. I will also implement tree planting activities
for customers coming to La Sœur, considering it both as an experience activity and a
way for La Sœur to promote a better image.
La Sœur will not only stop in Dalat, but I will also bring it spread across the map of
Vietnam so that everyone can experience a friendly homestay with nature and the
environment wherever they are. In 2021, La Sœur in Da Lat will expand to 8 rooms and
have the first branch in Sa Pa, the goal is to be present in Da Nang, Ha Giang, Phu
Yen, and Hoi An by 2023. A restaurant and cafe called La Sœur will also be open for
sale in big cities even though the homestay is not operating.