The home-sharing revolution is rewriting the rules of holiday accommodation.
Have you ever procrastinated in booking a hotel room for an international visit, and been priced out of the good hotels. So you decide to Airbnb. Once a sharing-economy platform becomes a widely recognized verb, it has left the realm of trend and become a cultural game-changer. After doubling its number of listings year after year, now offering 4 million private homes available for rent —from the coast of South Carolina to the South China Sea—Airbnb is currently valued at $31 billion.
And yet, as you set about searching its stylish website—using the winnowing filters to specify “entire house,” “two bathrooms” and your budget—and whizzing by all the crummy places and anything with Adirondack chairs in primary colours, you realise these were wasted hours. You ultimately come up empty: The sweet little house with terraces and parking is…never available for your dates.
Given such hassles, it is no wonder sophisticated travellers still resist the idea of holiday rentals. And many of our pals also just can’t fathom shacking up in someone else’s house based on a few blurry snapshots. These Never Renters, aren’t just hotel snobs, they’ve been put off by horror stories—iffy lock on the front door! stained sheets! dodgy Wi-Fi! questionable neighbourhoods!—like those told by renters and hosts on the website Airbnb hell, a veritable database of scams, shady policies and gory details. They don’t want to live like a local in a stranger’s idea of good interior design. As we all know, photos can be deceptive. Alighting on a rental feels inherently riskier than booking a hotel.
The difference now is that the home-sharing revolution is rewriting the rules of vacation accommodations. While Airbnb still dominates the field, posher rivals have sprung up catering to specific tastes, making it easier to find your home away from home and leading Airbnb to raise its game. The new players narrow the field according to type of traveller—families with young children, say, or design enthusiasts—while Airbnb still rewards those who enjoy the hunt. When Christopher Noey, a senior adviser in the director’s office at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, rented a house on Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, his friends were skeptical. “They thought it was a crazy roll of the dice,” he said. But Mr. Noey is a fierce researcher who managed to score a stylish five-bedroom villa with daily maid service, a cook and someone who came in the afternoon to light the fire on the terrace. He found the listing on Airbnb, for about $90 a night per person.
“One afternoon, we see a fisherman out on the lake,” he said. “He rows over to our dock and delivers the fish to the cook. That’s not going to happen in a hotel.”
He is not the only convert. Manhattanite Ricky Ian Gordon, an opera composer, harbours great affection for grand hotels, so last year, when his husband rented an apartment in Paris for a week, he felt a bit crestfallen and rather trepidatious. “We get up to this place on the Seine, go inside, and I can’t even believe this could be an Airbnb,” said Mr. Gordon. “The guy who lets it is an art collector. The living-room ceiling is painted like the Sistine Chapel. There are art books everywhere, and beautiful antiques. He has surrealist paintings on the wall. It was magical and much more fun than a hotel. For 10 days, we had a home in Paris.”
This possibility of playing house in many of the planet’s most appealing destinations has spurred a tidal wave of interest in home and apartment rentals world-wide. In 2015, nearly one in three U.S. travellers stayed in some form of private accommodation—through rental sites including HomeAway and Flipkey, both precursors to Airbnb—up from about one in 10 in 2011, according to Phocuswright, a tourism research firm. Meanwhile, fancier rental companies, like Luxury Retreats, are trying to woo the jet set with more consistently hotel-like quality. Another, Onefinestay, which claims to rigorously vet all properties, somehow convinces homeowners who would never consider renting their house to strangers to do so.
When Kinvara Balfour, a tech consultant and film director from London, travels for work, she often uses Onefinestay. “It’s brilliantly managed,” said Ms. Balfour, who recently stayed in a sunny, open-plan house in Los Angeles that comes with cleaning service. “When I fly from London, I usually arrive at 10 o’clock at night,” she said, adding that a Onefinestay representative “greets you and shows you around, gives you a welcome pack with instructions to the house, the Wi-Fi password, coffee, and tea. And an iPhone. I use it for GPS when I’m driving.” The Onefinestay iPhone loaner, available free for all guests, comes preloaded with a property-specific app to help with anything from garbage collection to a doctor recommendation. Of Onefinestay’s contribution to her traveling life, Ms. Balfour said, “For me, it’s a luxury that’s become a necessity.”
As the big travel companies like Expedia and TripAdvisor continue to bulldoze their way in on the action—Expedia now owns HomeAway and VRBO (the pioneering home-sharing service that launched in 1996) and TripAdvisor Rentals has 800,000 vacation homes in 200 countries—the market is flooded with an overwhelming number of listings for would-be renters. Consequently, the demand for more narrowly curated offerings, even among business travellers, is growing. To court road warriors, Airbnb has identified certain listings as “business travel ready”—outfitted with a desk, hairdryer and 24-hour check-in. As the competition heats up, the company is also zeroing in on the deluxe market. When it bought Luxury Retreats last February, it seemed an attempt to compete with the new breed of smaller, more discriminating rental agencies, those that might finally persuade hotel devotees to take a dip in the rental pool. Consider this list, below, of more specialized sites as the lifeguard on duty.
GRAND HOUSE GIVES GUESTS THE KEY TO ROME’S MOST EXCLUSIVE APARTMENTS
Enter the Grand House, a newish hospitality brand that is opening the doors to Rome’s most prestigious residences while providing the high-end services of a five-star hotel like with 24/7 concierge, access to exclusive tours, daily housekeeping, and meals by a Michelin-starred chef. Of course, these are no ordinary apartments, the brand is currently soft launching seven properties including The Grand View Suite overlooking the Pantheon which is in a 17th-century building designed by Giacomo della Porta—the architect behind the Trinità dei Monti church at the top of the Spanish Steps.
There’s a three-bedroom pied-à-terre owned by an art collector in a historic building just steps from the Pantheon and a five-bedroom abode in a Renaissance palazzo on Piazza Mattei that has been the seat of the aristocratic Costaguti family for centuries. Needless to say, you won’t find anything like them on Airbnb. At the Costaguti home, for example, period details like original frescoes, terra cotta floors, marble fireplaces and crown molding are juxtaposed with contemporary art and midcentury furnishings by the likes of Charles and Ray Eames, Verner Panton and Achille Castiglioni. thegrandhouse.com
FOR CHIC AND THRIFTY NOMADS: BOUTIQUE HOMES
The brainchild of a former set designer and a stylist, the company represents 1,000 vetted properties in 69 countries, from Spain to Sri Lanka.
Perks: A members-only program is in the works to give loyalists discounts.
Hassle Factor: Varies. No direct online booking. Once you fill out an inquiry form, it goes to the owner who then contacts you. Listings on the landing page are divided by categories like “Cool Places for Design Lovers” and “Bring Fido Along” rather than geographically, which can be frustrating, boutique-homes.com
FOR DESIGN-MINDED ICONOCLASTS: WELCOME BEYOND
Founders Oliver and Chris Laugsch, Berlin-based brothers, curated a collection of unusual houses (and small hotels) in 41 countries that they say favor personality over pretension. That might mean a rustic 19th-century barn in Tivoli, N.Y., with curtains for walls or a fully staffed Swahili beach house built by native artisans on Kenya’s Lamu Island.
Perks: Welcome gifts, like a bottle of Spanish red in Andalusia or a complimentary dinner upon your arrival at a Marrakesh villa.
Hassle: Factor Low. The website is well designed and easy to navigate.
Sample price: The price for a private Greek-island retreat with a neoclassical house that accommodates up to 22 people starts at about $1200 a night, welcomebeyond.com
FOR DISCRIMINATING URBANITES: ONE FINE STAY
Launched in London and New York in 2010, Onefinestay concentrates on luxury hotel-like service in apartments and houses in select major cities, all vetted and prepared for guests by Onefinestay staff. The Accor Group bought the company last year, but has only expanded its reach to a total of nine cities so far (adding Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Milan, Paris and Rome), with seasonal offerings in the Hamptons, Edinburgh, Southern California and the French Riviera.
Perks: A loaded iPhone for local use, custom fitness videos by Tracy Anderson (a longtime guest) streamed in all properties, toiletry brands specific to locale and Soul Cycle passes in some cities.
Hassle Factor: Low. The straightforward click-and-buy website also offers city tips, onefinestay.com
FOR PERSNICKETY BIG SPENDERS: ULTRA VILLA
Founded in 2014, UltraVilla is a by-invitation directory of luxury rental agencies that showcases mostly high-end properties in 22 countries, from ski chalets in the Alps to private islands in Greece.
Perks: The kind of entree to, say, Scottish estates and grand English houses that once required aristocratic ancestry. White-glove service at most properties.
Hassle Factor: Medium. Though the booking process can take time, the main UltraVilla website has efficient drop-down menus and daydream-like photos. Once you find a property you like, you’re directed to the corresponding website, through which you must weed anew. ultravilla.com
FOR THE GLITTERATI WITH ENTOURAGE: THE THINKING TRAVELLER
Launched with just seven villas in Sicily, the Thinking Traveller has grown slowly—based on word-of-mouth and local connections—to encompass about 180 private properties, sprinkled around Sicily, Puglia, the Greek Islands, Corsica and the Brazilian beach town of Trancoso. Available exclusively through the Thinking Traveller, some of these high-end villas come with staff (cook, driver, housekeeper, owner’s personal assistant) and what the company calls “magnetic views.”
Perks: A pre-arrival care package that includes a location-specific guide written by a Thinking Traveller staffer who lives there.
Hassle Factor: Low. You can reserve a property for up to 24 hours while you make up your mind. Or you can chat with a villa agent by phone before pulling the trigger, thethinkingtraveller.com
FOR THE WANNABE DUKE AND DUCHESS: LANDMARK TRUST
The British Landmark Trust rents 198 historically significant buildings across the U.K., plus a few in France, Belgium, and Italy (including John Keats’s home in Rome). Plenty of them are long on charm and short on frills and are all self-catering. That’s English for bringing your own…ground coffee, shampoo, food, cooking oil, matches and even duvets. In one place, a rural cottage where you have to hike up from the parking lot, you get a wheelbarrow for the trek.
Perks: The Landmark Trust operates as a charity, so the rental fee for, say, four nights at the 15th-century St Winifred’s Well in Shropshire (about $195) goes to help the trust rescue more buildings.
Each place has a designated housekeeper who’ll meet you upon arrival or tell you in advance where the key is hidden.
Hassle Factor: Medium. Sort by category (“Links to Literature,” “Castle Stays”), make an inquiry, get a reply within three days, landmarktrust.org.uk
FOR GROOVY FAMILIES: KID & COE
Founded in 2013 by Zoie Kingsbery Coe—a young mother who travels a lot with her musician husband—this service found a void to fill: baby-ready homes (equipped with high-chairs, cribs, toys, blocked electrical sockets) for families not willing to sacrifice style for square feet. Now the fast-growing company represents some 1,200 listings in 49 countries, many in France, Italy and the U.S., with a few in Japan and Morocco. Family-friendly highlights are itemized for each property (e.g. baby monitor, washer/dryer, game console, stair guards, trampoline).
Perks: An online guidebook to the destination, compiled by local parents; a member-based exchange program for home swaps.
Hassle Factor: Low. Put your dates in and a price appears, kidandcoe.com
Le Pressoir Residence in Dordogne, France, available via Kidcoe.com
FOR HIP ROAD WARRIORS: OASIS COLLECTIONS
Launched by CEO Parker Stanberry in Buenos Aires in 2008, the site caters largely to business travellers. Most dwellings, located in major cities from Miami to Milan, are not primary residences, so long-stay guests don’t have to cope with the owner’s fuzzy slippers or weird tchotchkes.
Perks: In-person check-in, fancy bottled water, high-end toiletries, gym privileges and in some cities, entree to a local membership club (like The Library in London) that might have a nice bar and a pool.
Hassle Factor: Low. Website has a vaguely ’70s flair but it’s intuitive. Filter by style (Classic, say, or Simple But Stylish) and purpose (like Business Trip) to narrow scope, choose a place and dates, up pops a quick Total Rent calculation, oasiscollections.com
FOR ARCHITECTURE PILGRIMS: Urlaubsarchitektur
Founder and curator Jan Hamer, a German architect launched the site in 2007, billing it as a “network” for people (guests and hosts) who appreciate “architecturally outstanding holiday homes and guesthouses.” Urlaubsarchitektur means “holiday architecture.” It’s a kind of wish book, not a booking site. Properties pay a fee to be listed and are booked directly with the owner.
Many rentals are whimsical reinventions, like Casa Port, an old fisherman’s house, gleaming from a top-to-toe modern reno. It sits above the harbour district of the Majorcan resort of Port Sóller, with a shaded terrace and views of the Tramuntana Mountains. In the “Scandi-Chic” section, there’s Birkedal, a remarkable house made of cylinders, on the Danish island of Mons in the Baltic.
Perks: If you fall in love with a certain vacation rental, you might be able to buy it.
Hassle Factor: High. The funny, beautiful, information-packed website leads to owner websites, which present various obstacles and require complicated feats of translation.
Sample Price: It depends on the owner, season and type of accommodation, but a stay in the tower of a fantastically tasteful old country house in the Marche region of Italy, for instance, starts at about $155 a night, urlaubsarchitektur.de/en
FOR THE TITLED AND THE WELL TRAVELED: RED SAVANNAH
Founded in 2011 by George Morgan-Grenville, a former managing director at the travel company Abercrombie & Kent, Red Savannah prides itself on villa matchmaking, finding the right retreat to suit a client’s particular hopes and idiosyncrasies. The collection consists of 450 villas—from Mustique to Mozambique—all of which have been inspected by Red Savannah staff.
Perks: Renters can pay in the currency of their choice. And depending on location, a property may come with no-fee extras: a 4×4 and driver (Africa), grass tennis courts and vast gardens (Great Britain) or a children’s tree house attended by 24-hour nannies (Thailand).
Hassle Factor: Medium. The vivid website is packed with information, and encourages a phone call or email with a specialist attached to the property, redsavannah.com
FOR THE SUSTAINABLY ECCENTRIC: SAWDY’S CANOPY STARS
The outdoor version of Alastair Sawday’s “Special Places to Stay,” Canopy & Stars specializes in unusual places to stay in the United Kingdom, with some yurts, teepees, shepherd’s huts, and refurbished Airstreams also popping up around Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Scandinavia. The affordable offerings are divided up into inspiring collections like On Your Own, Roundhouses and Hen Parties.
Hassle Factor: Low. Fun website with lots of personality and little patches of heaven that make you want to shuck it all, build a tiny house, and learn to spin wool. The drill is the usual: pick place, select dates, get quote and book online.
Sample Price: The ambulance carriage sleeps two and starts at about $83 a night; the French tree house built for two starts at about $245 per night; and a restored 1960 wooden cruising yacht moored on the Canal du Midi that sleeps up to four starts at $115, canopyandstars.co.uk
