How to make money from your hotel room

Condo hotels -- a relatively new concept in India -- allow buyers to purchase a hotel room to live in for a certain number of days per year, and rent it out for the rest of the time. Profits are split between the owner and the hotel. 

"Typically, hotel properties give higher yields, about 20 percent over time, than commercial properties," said Anand Narayanan, a property consultancy at Knight Frank India.

India's first condo hotel, Tuscany Terraces, a luxury resort at Neral outside Mumbai, has already sold 100 rooms.  The resort is owned by Silvexity Group in partnership with Best Western. 

Each room (64 square meters) costs Rs 280,000 for 30 days in a given year; a 102-square-meter room costs around Rs 460,000.How to make money

Although the room sounds a lot more than it actually it is -- they call it an "apartment" whereas it's no more than a suite -- it's the facilities that make the deal sweeter. 

These include swimming pools, a health club, spa, multi-cuisine restaurant, lounge bar, library and games rooms. The resort also hosts conference and banqueting facilities.

Not to mention not having to pay electricity or water charges, or property tax. And being able to order a burger in bed.

Room-owners can also exchange stay-days in holiday resorts across India and Sri Lanka. 

"We introduced Tuscany Terraces because we felt there was a big market for real estate products which can be used not only for leisure but also for investment purposes," said Amod Singh, vice president of strategic finance at Silvexity Group.

"It enables customers to own a holiday home and at the same time earn guaranteed rental on the property. Holiday home buyers tend to use their property for around a month every year," he added.

However, buyers at condo hotels in other parts of the world have experienced resale problems and higher-than-expected operational costs.