Trip Doctor From a cave in Spain to a London water tower, these are the world’s strangest vacation rentals: tandl.me/strgrntl.

Lothariuslaan Residence, Amsterdam KID & COE 3 bed • 1 bath

$339 a night kidandcoe.com

THE MICRO HOTELIERS A new breed of vacation-rental Two years ago, when Jeremy Braud started renting out his shotgun house in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans to Super Bowl fans, the property was owners is taking a simple and spartan. Braud used his own sheets; he stocked the bathroom with page from hotels big bottles of shampoo and conditioner. But now that vacation rentals have and bringing more become more popular and competitive through online-booking sites, Braud has polish and refined his approach. He now offers small, single-use shampoo bottles and professionalism to high-thread-count Egyptian-cotton sheets. On the living room table, there’s a the industry. fan of tourism brochures and a free bottle of wine for his guests. Braud’s house By Grant Martin is no longer just a home. Nor is it a short-term rental in the old-fashioned sense. It’s now a competitor to the B&B down the street. Braud is on the leading edge of vacation-rental entrepreneurs who are

starting to adopt the manners and methods of the hotel industry, blurring SOURAYA HASSAN/COURTESY OF KID & COE

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Atelier Villa, Barbados HOMEAWAY 4 bed • 3 bath the line between traditional hotelier $ and anonymous property owner. 2,000 a night homeaway.com It’s a strategy aimed at expanding their potential client base beyond the budget traveler and into a much broader, and more lucrative, market— one that even includes people on the road for business. Online rental agencies have started to adapt their tactics, too. brought in hotelier Chip Conley, founder of the Joie de Vivre group of hotels, to head up global hospitality and strategy. Conley’s goal is to help rental owners deliver some of the consistency of a hotel by standardizing things like communication, cleanliness guidelines, and amenities. (Airbnb’s instant-booking feature is especially hotel-like.) HomeAway, meanwhile, is offering a batch of new tools to create a more seamless experience, including integrating its app with and the grocery- New companies and services are Sorenson reportedly talks about the delivery service Instacart, and also helping to emulate the hotel rental industry all the time). But in populating it with information experience for renters. BeMate, a cities like New York and San Francisco, about the property a guest has rented rental-listing site from the Spanish the hotel lobby has supported and its surrounding area (sort of hospitality group Room Mate, regulators in some bitter public battles like a hotel-room directory). combines the amenities of a hotel with rental companies over issues A slew of third-party tools have (concierge, luggage storage) with like taxes and zoning laws. emerged to address the rise of peer-to- the uniqueness of a vacation rental While global regulation of the peer rentals. Sites like Huitly, Guesty, (see page 56 for more). Ancillary vacation-rental business is unlikely, and Rentingyourplace help hosts apps like Gymsurfing and Spinlister location-specific legislation will with the process of researching and help travelers bypass hotel and continue to roll out over the next managing vacation properties so that resort fitness centers, while others several years. But even if tomorrow’s they can charge the right price and provide everything from valet to spa host has to follow a stricter set of rules, align their services with nearby services (see below). it’s clear that vacation rentals have hotels. It’s even possible for renters to All of this has put the hotel been fundamentally transformed. compare Airbnb properties with hotel establishment on notice. So far, the Hosts like Jeremy Braud will continue rooms when planning a trip, thanks response from individual brands is to compete with hotels—and the costs to the online travel agent Hipmunk. anecdotal (Marriott CEO Arne M. for consumers will continue to fall.

Luxe Caviar Zeel Viator Apps and Need a parking spot? If you’re craving room Choose from a network You don’t need a sites that Luxe sends a valet to service, use this app of certified massage concierge to book food park your car for up to to order meals from top therapists—some crawls, cultural guides, turn a $15 a day. Available in restaurants that don’t employed by luxury and walking tours. Viator rental into San Francisco and Los normally provide hotels—and turn your offers thousands of a hotel Angeles; other cities delivery. Free; iOS. living room into a spa. excursions around the soon. Free; Android, iOS. Free; Android, iOS. world. Free; Android, iOS. COURTESY OF HOMEAWAY HOMEAWAY OF COURTESY

54 FEBRUARY 2015 TRAVEL+LEISURE For more of our favorite Trip Doctor vacation-rental agencies, visit tandl.me/vlarnt.

SPECIAL HANDLING Niche rental companies are cropping up to address travelers’ hyper-specific needs, whether that means a house with a high chair or a condo with a concierge. Here, four we love.

FOR THE FIRST/TIME FOR THE STYLISH RENTER URBANITE BeMate Onefinestay If you can’t give up daily This brand lists chic housekeeping and a properties in London, concierge, consider Room Paris, New York, and L.A. A four-story town house in Mate Hotels’ new peer- to- (Four more cities are New York’s West Village. peer site, which lists rentals in the works.) Stark white in 150 cities so far. Each linens and an iPhone shares resources with one loaded with tips deliver of the company’s hotels or a luxury-hotel feel. partners. bemate.com. onefinestay.com.

FOR THE FAMILY FOR THE Kid & Coe .FIVE/STAR0 HOTEL A three-floor penthouse LOYALIST in Madrid. Here’s proof that “kid-proof” doesn’t have Private Residences to mean blah—even in by SLH places like South Africa The 42 chalets, villas, and and Kerala, India. Listings yachts are as luxe as you’d include details like expect from SLH. The best whether or not there are part: one booking makes baby monitors and the you a highest-tiered member distance to the nearest of the loyalty program. park. kidandcoe.com. private residences.slh.com.

A three-level rental in Amsterdam An SLH property in Koh Samui that with a playroom and a backyard. can house up to 15 guests. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF BEMATE; COURTESY OF ONEFINESTAY; COURTESY OF PRIVATE RESIDENCES BY SLH; COURTESY OF KID & COE COE & KID OF COURTESY SLH; BY RESIDENCES PRIVATE OF COURTESY ONEFINESTAY; OF COURTESY BEMATE; OF COURTESY LEFT: TOP FROM CLOCKWISE

56 FEBRUARY 2015 TRAVEL+LEISURE Don’t miss the Vacation Rentals Trip Doctor Twitter chat on Tuesday, March 3, at 2 p.m. EST. Follow @travlandleisure and #TL_Chat.

What to look for in a listing

• Photos Quantity and quality matter— the more professional- looking the pictures, the more serious the host. The Adobe Creative Suite, Los Angeles • AIRBNB Reviews 2 bed • 1 bath The best ones reconfirm details $195 a night airbnb.com and amenities HOW TO FIND YOUR you’ve read about in DREAM RENTAL the listing. Most of the large booking sites don’t vet all their inventory, • so it’s up to you to approach each listing with a critical eye. Updated Below, T+L’s tips for searching intelligently. By Brooke Porter Katz calendars To avoid inquiring about a property CAST A WIDE NET KNOW HOW with a “verified photos” if there is an unrealistic that’s not actually LISTINGS ARE caption (which means number of overly gushing available, always Start with an aggregator ORGANIZED the site photographed reviews, beware. look to see when like Tripping.com, which the property) or a the host has searches more than It’s important to Superhost badge, BE AN ACTIVE last refreshed the 2 million listings on understand how sites achieved after hitting PARTICIPANT calendar. partner sites that include display search results. various milestones like FlipKey, HomeAway, and FlipKey, for example, completing at least 10 When using Airbnb and • 9Flats. Once you find a rewards hosts for good stays and receiving 80 other rent-by-owner Response rental, see if it’s run by an behavior (fast response percent five-star reviews. sites, it helps to share a time owner or a management rates, new photos, up-to- little about yourself Hosts typically company. The latter can date calendars) by giving READ REVIEWS (where you’re from, what have 24 hours to usually respond more them greater visibility. type of traveler you respond to a quickly and reliably than HomeAway offers tiered Seeing what past guests are) on your profile or in booking request. an owner, who may not membership: the more an have to say can provide the request to book. (Factor this into have a handyman on call. owner pays, the higher invaluable insight into Remember: hosts are your planning Note that some properties his listing ranks. (Not what you are (and are appraising you as much as timeline.) Many appear on multiple sites— always a bad thing: not) getting. When you are them. (On Airbnb, sites actually and rates can vary greatly paying more could be a possible, book on sites that instant booking is display each between them. For sign of a pro.) Cut through authenticate reviews— available only to renters host’s average example, we found listings the fat by using the allowing only people with robust profiles and response for the same house in HomeAway Sort, which who have actually stayed solid reviews from hosts.) time—so you can Palm Springs, California, prioritizes a combination at the property to write If you have lingering get a sense of that ranged from $2,088 of membership tier and in. Both Airbnb and questions for the owner or when (or if) to (VRBO) to $3,470 (Airbnb) host behavior. On HomeAway do this. And manager, don’t be afraid expect an answer. for a week in June. Airbnb, look for listings know the signs of fraud: to pick up the phone. COURTESY OF AIRBNB OF COURTESY

TRAVEL+LEISURE FEBRUARY 2015 59 Trip Doctor

WHAT YOU GET IN... There’s a wide world of properties out there and nearly as many agencies with exclusive access to them. Here’s what’s on the market in four locations—and their cost per night. CARIBBEAN

Villa Sahara, Anguilla $3,500 Dream Villa, Dominican Republic $3,750 VI Friendship Villa, St. John $2,429 5 bed • 5½ bath • carpediemtravel.co.uk 8 bed • 8 bath • spaces42.com 6 bed • 7 bath • beautiful-places.com

TUSCANY

Bucine Granaio $252 Villa Chigi $6,223 Villa Fiorentina $5,100 1 bed • 1 bath • italyperfect.com 10 bed • 10 bath 6 bed • 5½ bath • homebaseabroad.com uniquepropertiesandevents.com PARIS

3 bedrooms • 3 bathrooms 3 bedrooms • 3 bathrooms exploreafrica.net exploreafrica.net Pasteur Designer Apartment $300 Louvre Mansion $1,868 Saint Louis Island Luxe $904 1 bed • 1 bath • haveninparis.com 4 bed • 4 bath • luxuryretreats.com 2 bed • 1 bath • timeandplace.com

COLORADO ROCKIES

Hood Park Chalet, Telluride $2,450 Exclusive’s Residence at the Olympic Bowl Villa, Aspen $1,896

6 bed • 6 bath • vaanyc.com Arrabelle, Vail $1,995 4 bed • 4 bath • homeaway.com OF COURTESY ABROAD; APARTMENTS & VILLAS OF COURTESY ROW: FOURTH PLACE. & TIME OF COURTESY RETREATS; LUXURY OF COURTESY LEFTTHIERRYRIGHT: ROW, TOP TO DEHOVE/COURTESYPARIS; IN CARPEOF HAVEN DIEM LUXURY OF TRAVEL; COURTESY HAUSHERR/COURTESY SPACES42;OF JULIEN DONHEBERT PHOTOGRAPHY/COURTESY ROW: THIRD BEAUTIFULPLACES.ABROAD. OF HOMEBASE OF COURTESY SECOND COURTESYROW:PERFECT; MANUELHOMEAWAY ITALY OF ZUBLENA; OF COURTESY RESORTS; EXCLUSIVE 4 bed • 5 bath • exclusiveresorts.com

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