Singapore-based BeMyGuest.travel recently went online to provide a new comprehensive way for discerning travellers to contribute the majority of their travel dollars directly to local businesses.

The company markets and distributes people’s unique travel products across its online and offline channels for free, and only gets a small commission if the travel product gets booked. To ensure quality control  payment will only be made to the service provider after the guest has checked in or used the service.

The idea, according to the company, is to empower people running local, small-scale businesses such as guesthouses, homestays, sightseeing tours, cooking classes, accommodation, events and activity providers, especially in emerging destinations in Asia and around the world.

“Whether people want to spend US$5 or US$500 a night, the accommodation or activity provider gets a larger share of tourism revenues,” said Clement Wong, BeMyGuest’s founder  (pictured left with a Maasai tribesman). “We use technology to empower traveller;s choice and help local businesses benefit more from tourism.”

He was inspired to make a difference after a trip to a Maasai village in Kenya in 2010. He found the tribe people still living a subsistence lifestyle despite receiving many visitors to the villagers. It was because the driver-guides took US$18 of the US$20 fee/per visit, leaving only US$2 to the villagers.

“It’s a universal problem that de-motivates people who should be benefitting the most. BeMyGuest has therefore been created to bring just rewards to real tourism providers and benefit smaller, more local travel businesses,” he said .

To date, the site has secured 5,000 unique rural and urban travel offerings, mostly local accommodation, events and activities around the world, focusing particularly on Asia and emerging destinations.

Wong is seeking to add more local accommodation suppliers, tour operators and travel agents who have access to a wide range of local travel products, which mainstream travel agents do not usually sell.

Travel experiences on the website, whch carries the tagline “Stay Local, Play Local”,  include booking igloos, reserving the entire Sound of Music village in Switzerland for weddings, riding in a fighter jet to the edge of space and enjoying secret dining events from popular destinations such as Thailand, to off-the-beaten-track places such as Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.

The site, said Wong, has been structured to appeal to the entire spectrum of travellers, from backpackers to high-enders looking for authentic local tourism experiences..

Note: BeMyGuest was shortlisted for the semifinals of the recent Web in Travel Start-Up Pitch Competition 2012, which awards innovative travel start-ups online.