The short-term rental industry has evolved dramatically over the past decade. What began as a budget-friendly alternative to hotels has transformed into a sophisticated hospitality sector where guest expectations rival, and perhaps even exceed, traditional accommodations. At the forefront of this evolution is the ability for guests to add particular experiences to their stay.
Siddhi Mittal, co-founder and co-CEO of yhangry, didn't set out to disrupt the vacation rental industry. In fact, she didn't even know it existed when she launched her platform in 2020. But what started as a solution to her own problem — never having time to cook while working in finance — has become one of the most powerful revenue-driving upsells for property managers across the UK and now the United States.
In this deep dive, we explore how yhangry is bridging the gap between property managers seeking differentiation and chefs looking for better opportunities, while delivering experiences that guests are actively seeking before they even book their stay.
Siddhi's journey into hospitality began in an unlikely place: the trading floors of New York. After studying AI at Columbia University, she found herself in a high-paying finance career that looked successful from the outside but eventually felt hollow on the inside.
"I just realized I wasn't having an impact on anything anywhere," Siddhi reflects. "The only focus of my life day in and out was making money, and that was very unidimensional."
Growing up in India, Siddhi had watched her father navigate entrepreneurship. The reality wasn’t the glamorous social media version, but the gritty ups and downs of a businessman hustling to provide for his family. That early exposure planted a seed that would eventually grow into yhangry.
The problem she chose to solve was personal: as a busy professional, she never had time to cook. But the solution would end up addressing a much larger opportunity in an industry she had yet to discover.
yhangry launched in 2020 with a simple premise: make private chefs accessible and affordable for everyday people, not just the ultra-wealthy. But it wasn't until Siddhi looked at her booking data that she realized something remarkable.
"55% of our bookings were actually short-term rentals or vacation rentals," she explains. "I didn't even know what that meant."
This revelation led to a deep dive into an industry she knew nothing about, complete with its own conferences, community, and ecosystem. What she found was a sector hungry for exactly what yhangry offered: a way to differentiate properties and create memorable guest experiences while generating incremental revenue.
The timing couldn't have been better. Airbnb had just announced plans to launch chef and guest services, priming the market for exactly this type of offering.
Siddhi shares a concrete example of how integrating private chef experiences into a property management operation can be financially compelling: a property manager with 200 properties earns £3,000 per month, £36,000 annually, in pure profit from yhangry partnerships.
The beauty of this model? Zero operational overhead. Property managers simply add an affiliate link to their booking confirmations, guest communications, and guidebooks. When guests book a chef through that link, the property manager earns a commission.
But the benefits extend beyond direct revenue. Property managers who prominently feature private chef availability also see increased conversion rates on their own websites. In an oversupplied market where differentiation is crucial, offering curated experiences has become a competitive advantage.
Perhaps the most surprising insight from yhangry's data challenges conventional thinking about how experiences fit into the booking journey.
"Half of the requests that come through for a vacation rental are asking for a chef, but haven't booked a vacation rental yet," Siddhi reveals. "This is not an upsell after booking. This is a consideration at the highest top of the funnel."
This fundamentally changes how property managers should think about experiences. Rather than treating private chefs as an upsell to offer guests after they've already committed, it should be a prominent feature in property listings and marketing materials.
The term "private chef" conjures images of celebrity lifestyles and extreme wealth. But yhangry is working to change that perception, and the reality behind it.
"Restaurant chefs are one of the lowest paid chefs out there," Siddhi points out. "They don't even earn £24,000 in the UK."
By creating a platform that connects chefs directly with customers and handles all the logistics, yhangry enables restaurant chefs to earn significantly more while offering guests surprisingly affordable experiences. In the UK, the average booking is £750, but experiences can start as low as £200. In the US market, where yhangry launched in October, average bookings range from $1,500 to $2,000.
This pricing makes private chef experiences accessible to a much broader market than traditional concierge services, opening up new possibilities for mid-market and even budget-conscious travelers looking to elevate special occasions.
For chefs, the traditional path to becoming a private chef is daunting. It requires building a website, managing marketing and social media, handling payments and invoicing, coordinating logistics, and somehow finding customers willing to pay for all of this.
yhangry removes these barriers entirely. Chefs can:
The results can be transformative. One chef earned $14,000 in a single month by actively using the platform. That’s a life-changing amount for someone who might have been earning less than $30,000 annually in a restaurant.
Beyond the financial benefits, private chef work offers something restaurant kitchens rarely provide: direct interaction with customers, creative freedom, and a better quality of life. Chefs can set their own schedules, avoid the brutal hours and burnout common in restaurants, and receive immediate feedback and tips from grateful guests.
One of yhangry's key advantages is its simplicity. The platform is designed to work with any property management system (PMS) or website, requiring nothing more than adding an affiliate link to guest communications.
Guests receive an email, SMS, or see information in their digital guidebook, click through to yhangry's website, browse available chefs, and book directly. The property manager earns a commission without ever touching the logistics.
But Siddhi sees a more seamless future on the horizon, powered by artificial intelligence.
"In the next three to four months, we're talking to a bunch of very exciting AI softwares which will be able to say ‘you’re looking for a chef, what kind?’" she explains. "This will all happen in the messaging itself. You never have to leave that interface and go onto yhangry's website to book a chef."
This vision aligns with broader trends in the industry toward AI-powered concierge services that feel personalized and conversational. Instead of clicking through to multiple websites, guests will be able to request and book experiences through natural conversation with an AI assistant that has access to yhangry's full marketplace.
One challenge that comes with democratizing access to private chefs is the overwhelming number of options. When Siddhi used her own platform to book a chef for a birthday celebration, she found herself facing dozens of proposals from talented chefs, each with different menus, styles, and price points.
"It can be quite difficult to choose," she says.
This is where AI could play a particularly valuable role, helping to match guests with chefs based on dietary preferences, cuisine styles, budget, and occasion. Rather than browsing through endless options, guests could have a conversation about what they're looking for and receive curated recommendations.
As property managers add more upsells and additional fees to the guest experience, there's a legitimate concern about guests feeling nickel-and-dimed. With early check-in fees, late checkout charges, cleaning fees, and now experiences, the question is “where's the line?”
Siddhi draws an important distinction: "I don't think anyone is going to be expecting a free private chef anytime soon."
Unlike fees for services that don't have obvious costs (like early check-in), experiences like private chefs are clearly value-added services that guests understand require payment. The key is positioning them not as upsells, but as options that enhance the stay.
Moreover, because guests are considering these experiences before booking, they're part of the value proposition rather than unexpected charges that appear after commitment.
When third-party service providers enter a property, questions of liability and insurance naturally arise. yhangry addresses this proactively.
In the UK, yhangry carries overall insurance that covers chefs working through the platform. In the US, each chef maintains their own individual insurance. This structure protects property managers from liability while ensuring guests are covered in the unlikely event of an incident.
"The contract is between the host and the chef, and yhangry is there facilitating and making sure the whole experience lands on yhangry," Siddhi explains.
This is one of the often-overlooked benefits of working with established platforms rather than trying to coordinate experiences directly. The platform handles not just logistics and payments, but also the legal and insurance complexities.
The short-term rental industry has undergone a fundamental shift. In Airbnb's early days, the challenge was supply, as there weren't enough properties to meet demand. That dynamic has reversed.
"We know for a fact there's oversupply versus demand," Siddhi observes. "For the next few years, the theme very much will be how do you get more demand."
This shift has profound implications for property managers. Success is no longer just about adding more properties to your portfolio, but making each property more attractive to potential guests. Differentiation matters more than ever.
This is where experiences, AI-powered operations, and direct booking strategies come into play. Property managers need to:
Artificial intelligence is poised to transform multiple aspects of property management, from guest communication to dynamic pricing to experience curation.
Siddhi is particularly excited about how AI can simplify the tech stack that property managers currently juggle. The vision is consolidation: fewer platforms that do more, powered by AI that can pull data from multiple sources and provide intelligent automation. Rather than managing separate systems for messaging, booking, pricing, maintenance, and guest services, property managers could work within unified platforms that handle everything seamlessly.
For yhangry specifically, this means building AI agents that can handle the entire booking process conversationally, regardless of which communication channel a guest uses.
yhangry serves two distinct customer segments with different dynamics.
For the luxury market, private chefs are an expectation rather than a novelty. These guests are accustomed to this level of service and are willing to pay premium prices. The average order value can reach $25,000-$30,000 for multi-day stays or elaborate events.
For the mass market, private chefs represent an exciting new category. This is something they've seen on social media and want to try. These bookings typically center around three-course fine dining experiences at more accessible price points.
Interestingly, Siddhi finds the mass market more rewarding from a mission perspective: "It's actually more rewarding cooking for the non-one percent. When you're cooking for the luxury segment, they already use chefs all the time. But someone celebrating a bachelorette who couldn't believe how amazing this is, that's special."
The evolution of short-term rentals from budget accommodations to experience-driven stays reflects broader changes in how people travel and what they value. Guests aren't just looking for a place to sleep, they're seeking memorable experiences that justify the cost and effort of travel.
For property managers, this shift presents both challenges and opportunities. The challenge is standing out in an increasingly crowded market where simply offering a clean, well-located property is no longer enough.
yhangry's success demonstrates that there's real demand for seamlessly integrated experiences. By making private chefs accessible, affordable, and easy to book, the platform is helping property managers unlock a new revenue stream while giving guests the elevated experiences they're actively seeking.
As AI continues to evolve and guest expectations continue to rise, the properties that thrive will be those that embrace experience-led hospitality. Whether it's private chefs, local tours, wellness services, or other curated offerings, the future belongs to operators who understand that they're not just in the accommodation business, they're in the memory-making business.
The question for property managers isn't whether to offer experiences, but how to integrate them seamlessly into the guest journey in a way that feels authentic, valuable, and effortless. Platforms like yhangry are making that integration easier than ever, removing the barriers that once made such offerings the exclusive domain of luxury hotels and high-end concierge services.
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