Looking for a place to stay

Putera Hasudungan, Contributor, Jakarta | Sci-Tech | Sun, November 04 2012, 2:07 PM

Paper Edition | Page: 10

Infokost.net enables expatriates to search available properties for rent in Indonesia.

Laxy Jeremy decided to return to Indonesia for a vacation and establish a cafe in Batam Island, after three years staying in his hometown of Istanbul.

He was captivated by the beauty of Bali while on a trip there in 2007. He then moved to Jakarta to pursue an interest in modeling and ended up staying in the capital until 2009.

“I don’t really care about the long distance from Turkey. I like Indonesia,” he said. “Sometimes traffic congestion in Jakarta can be frustrating. That’s why I’m establishing my own business in Batam.”

To prepare for his return, Jeremy tried to find a place to stay in Jakarta while still in Istanbul using google.co.id. He then stumbled onto infokost.net earlier this year.

He said that the website was easy and a practical tool in terms of finding a room to rent.

“This website is very helpful because of the details it provides. Unfortunately, almost every caretaker that I contacted [by phone] couldn’t speak English,” he said.

The physical distance became a bigger barrier than language. He asked some of his friends in Jakarta to help him out by checking out several boarding houses — locally known as kost — that had caught his attention, in order to get their opinions and learn about other available options.

Jeremy moved to the capital, and on the advice of his friends, he rented a room in a boarding house located in Menteng, Central Jakarta. Because he frequently stays in different cities, he often uses the website to find a room for rent.

Infokost.net is a property advertising portal specializing in boarding houses in the capital. It lists 15,000 spaces for rent including houses, apartments and villas throughout Indonesia.

“The need of information on available rooms for rent on boarding houses is really huge, especially from those who are coming from outside the capital,” said Frandy Wirajaya, the CEO of
PT Mediapura Digital Indonesia, which runs the site.

He said that currently the website’s traffic was between 350,000 to 400,000 unique visitors, and more than 1 million page views every month.

He added that advertisers bought ad space based on various packages, starting from the cheapest one of Rp 350,000 (US$36.94) for a half-year installment, to exclusive banners for Rp 40 million per year.

Infokost.net was a personal website that went online in July 2008. It went through an incubation period under Merah Putih Inc — a subsidiary of cigarette company Djarum — before being revamped in the middle of 2010. Since then, the website has been managed by Mediapura.

Frandy said that the website’s management had a plan to add an English language option to the website, slated to be released in the middle of 2013.

He said that many visitors from Asia had been using the website, adding that dozens of them had sent emails, asking for help to find suitable boarding houses.