Of course I've seen home vacation rental sites before but I've never found them appealing for a myriad of reasons - poor navigation, bleh rentals, no pricing, etc. This company has done a good job at fixing that so I'm hooked. The best part of all is that they have some really stylish pads for oogling, er research purposes.
Don't believe me? Check out this pad in Sydney, Australia.
Or this place in Paris.
Or this one for anyone who might be traveling to Brooklyn (if so, don't forget to check out my one day guide to the borough), you can stay at this couple's pad.
I don't know who these people are but I'm kind of in love with their homes. I don't know how they manage to let total strangers in. They are obviously much calmer and collected then me.
Hope you are all having a great Friday! Up for next week is more on the shore place and a blog tag sale.
Huh. Interesting concept. I'm with you, though, when it comes to letting strangers stay where I'm living.
ReplyDeleteKelly
I have never heard of this website. I don't have any traveling plans in the near future, but I can't help but search through all the beautiful homes.
ReplyDeletei believe it was this same site (the Airbnb) that had pictures of the living room from Young House Love up for a supposed rental in Pasadena, CA. Check it out: http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/06/our-house-in-pasadena/
ReplyDeletejust wanted to throw that out there -- they seem maybe a little fishy. i'll go back to lurking now. :)
I was just about to post that this site stole photos from Young House Love as well. Gorgeous photos but I wouldn't feel comfortable using their services...
ReplyDeleteI was about to say what Leann said. Young House Love found photos of their house being used to feature a rental in Pasadena. I don't think I'd trust the photos they're using. They're probably lifted from someone elses's site.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.younghouselove.com/2010/06/our-house-in-pasadena/
Oh wow, that is totally creepy about YHL. (I must have missed that post). Reminds me of the time one of my readers alerted me to someone using my bathroom photos (the before one!!) in a craigslist rental ad.
ReplyDeleteIm sure its just like any kind of business - there are some real sleeze balls out there. The ones I linked to have had real people stay there and leave reviews so I hope those are not a scam but the only way to know would be to actually visit :)
Yes! In the YHL post about this site using their pictures, they mentioned the incident when someone used your bathroom pictures.
ReplyDeleteCopying is a form of flattery but this is toooooo weird.
Agreed! I would be a little careful with that site after what happened to Sherry & John!
ReplyDeleteI could never stand to have a stranger in my house! Crazy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting about the blogger tag sale! I am so excited about it!
I'd heard about this site only yesterday from Young House Love because someone was stealing their pics for a rental! Nice concept for the website though. Trying to find rentals is definitely a challenge in most places.
ReplyDeleteum, clearly you don't need me to tell you about the YHL post. good lookin' out, bloggers!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up. I don't know anyone who has rented a place from them personally so I can only go on what I see and the reviews. But its still fun to look for inspiration, no?
ReplyDeleteLoving those chesterfield sofas and the eye glasses art.
I was going to say that the Paris place was great but then started reading the comments and found out they are not legit:(
ReplyDeleteHaven in Paris (http://www.haveninparis.com/) is a good site for inspiring rentals as well- especially the "Extra Luxe" options.
ReplyDeleteNot my cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I along with our 2 young children recently stayed at a NYC flat rented through AirBnB. The owners were on site and it was a fabulous experience. I cannot say enough good things about them and about the whole experience. We gained life-long friends. You can see our photos here.
ReplyDeletehttp://aqueenintraining.blogspot.com/2010/03/airports.html
http://aqueenintraining.blogspot.com/2010/03/official-start.html
I too, was a little skeptical about staying in a total stranger's home but am glad that we did. It is obviously not for everyone but perhaps others should not be so quick to judge if they haven't experienced it for themselves. I would not hesitate to use AirBnB again.
Here is the listing for the place we stayed at
http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7322?price=88.0&r[city]=New+York&r[country]=US&r[lat]=40.7142691&r[lng]=-74.0059729&r[location]=nyc&r[number_of_guests]=1&r[precision]=city&r[seo_city]=new+york&r[seo_other]=ny&r[sort_by]=0&r[space][private]=true&r[state]=NY
Honestly, where else could you possibly stay in Manhattan for a mere $88/night?
Wow. Lots of negative reaction to this and I'm kinda surprised.
ReplyDeleteI haven't used this company, but I have used vacation rentals now 4 or 5 times and we have yet to have a lemon. One was in Paris several years ago when I was a student; I had a studio apartment for two months. Other times have been in California, ranging from beach-vicinity condos to full on houses. Every experience has been different but so much better than a hotel. While I agree that I might not be amped to let someone stay in my home, none of the rental properties I've stayed in have had any vestige of personal items (i.e. photos of the family). In fact, many of them are secondary homes of the owner or just merely moneymakers.
All in all, especially after having a child, I prefer vacation rentals because they are often cheaper than (nice) hotels and you get so much more space. I'm definitely picky and I prefer nice rentals - I want good design, cleanliness, and excellent location.
We used them and stayed in an awesome loft in Boston (in the financial district). It was exactly like the pictures and we loved it. The YHL thing is creepy weird but certainly not the norm!!
ReplyDeleteGreat source! I love this I had never seen this before. That place in Paris is amazing!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear more about the shore house.
ReplyDeleteWOW! Can't believe all this! First off I am the kinda girls who spends way too many hours trolling HomeAway's site just for fun. (Haven't really got the time to jet off to Paris at the moment--but I have 100 rentals flagged). When I saw this post I was ready to jump over to airbnb. But then read the sleazy accounts of them stealing photos. That's fraud. But the sadder thing is, they sound like a they really are legit company (someone actually stayed happily in one of their rentals) who have made the bad decision and grave mistake of misrepresenting to market their product. I suppose they were short of good photos and decided to pull from YHL. They were probably going to just claim, "Oh that one isn't available now but...." They should have known better. The blogosphere is teeny tiny! And it's pretty much founded on etiquette and honesty.
ReplyDeleteAlexandra: The people that run that company didn't take the photos from YHL. It was the person that listed the apartment. Just like ebay, craiglist and other intermediaries have the occassional scam - Im guessing its mostly honest people on there.
ReplyDeleteMelanie: Thanks - ill have to check out that site.
the queen: thanks for the positive review. It looks like the place you stayed was a b&b.
Yea I saw some really NIIIICE places on the site...want to vacation now!
ReplyDeletemadebygirl.blogspot.com
I just read about Airbnb in the NY Times last week! One of their travel writers used the service in Paris, and sang their praises in the cover story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/travel/18couch.html
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