stop booking air b'n'bs
(don't worry, we're still going on holiday)
Prelude:
I’m a renter. More specifically, I’m a renter that has lived in some of the most expensive cities in the world—London, I’m looking at you. I’ve lived through the ongoing rental crisis. I’ve experienced the lack of affordable housing options, the exploitative landlords, the depressing realization that I may never own a home of my own. I’ve gone days, even weeks, without hot water, installed cheap mousetraps from Amazon, and watched my money— in the form of heat—drift out of windows that definitely do not comply with whatever rental code covers windows. All while landlords take fifty percent of my salary. I can honestly say, without malice or exaggeration, I’ve never had a positive or enjoyable experience renting in the UK.
I also love a holiday.
My first girls' trip, aged nineteen, eight friends and I rented an Airbnb in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. It was our messy, shared sanctuary. We hid from the midday heat in air-conditioned bedrooms. We shared clothes, drinks, and harsh words in the early hours of the morning. We deepened bonds and broke others. All in a centrally located, modern four-bedroom apartment with a fully equipped kitchen, complete with a dishwasher. It was my first real taste of holiday freedom—a space entirely our own, free from the gaze of hotel staff and holidaymakers. Unlike traditional holiday accommodation, our airb’n’b felt liberating. I hadn’t yet made the connection between these holiday escapes and the rental market I would later participate in. I, like many others, did not predict the long-term impact the company’s business model would have on renters like me.
Airb’n’b & the rental market:
Airb’n’b has had a profound impact on rental markets in frequently visited cities across the world. Short-term rentals offer significantly higher returns than long-term leases, and many landlords have relisted their properties on platforms like Airb’n’b. Some landlords even outsource this process to individuals or companies and split the profit.
The “Rent-For-Rent” business model involves securing long-term rentals, completing small to medium-scale renovations (usually painting everything white, buying Ikea furniture, and putting up an inspirational quote canvas from Etsy), and then re-listing the property as a short-term rental on sites like Airb’n’b at a significantly higher rate. I wasn’t aware this was a thing until I stumbled across a young couple on TikTok, claiming to make thousands of pounds a month in the north of England with this exact business model. People in the comments were outraged. In London, some of the most profitable Airb’n’b units earn over £77,000 annually, and in some areas of the capital, up to 25% of homes are now listed as short-term rentals, further fuelling the housing crisis for local residents.
Airb’n’b also accelerates gentrification. The Science Vs episode on gentrification distills the causes of gentrification and the role of Airb’n’b in that process better than I can, so I would recommend giving that a listen after you’re done here. But to summarize, it transforms residential areas into tourist hubs, displacing long-term residents and destabilizing communities. This phenomenon has been particularly visible in neighbourhoods that are culturally significant and centrally located. This trend is now spreading beyond cities, into rural areas, as post-pandemic demand for more isolated locations grows. So, after an almost decade-long love affair with Airb’n’b, I have decided to stop using the platform all together. I’ve come to the realisation that it’s against my own interests as a renter and the interests of many of the communities I support.
Alternatives to Airb’n’b:
To know me is to know I love a holiday. I am not unique in that regard. Most of my disposable income is spent traveling, and while I’ve vowed to never use Airb’n’b again, I still plan on going on holiday. I assumed Airb’n’b would have significantly impacted the hotel industry, maybe even enough to cause price drops in order to compete with the short-term rental boom. But I was wrong, at least for the budget I’m working with , so I went in search of cheaper alternatives.
Enter TrustedHousesitters. I can’t remember how I discovered the platform. I think a friend of a friend mentioned it in passing, and then, as with most things, the algorithm fed me videos of people who swore by the platform a few weeks later. For those unfamiliar with the concept, THS operates on an exchange basis: instead of paying for expensive accommodation, users look after family pets in exchange for free accommodation. If you love travel and pets, it almost sounds too good to be true.
I secured my first housesit in the summer of 2023. I was recovering from a preventative double mastectomy following a BRCA-2 diagnosis and had spent months cooped up in my small flat in Brixton. I’d downloaded the app on a whim and started applying to housesit at beautiful, expansive family homes in London. It was a form of escapism, a distraction from numb pain that sat on my chest for weeks, until I booked my first sit and was thrust into an animal filled reality. I spent an unusually hot London summer looking after two dogs, a cat, and four guinea pigs in Putney. From there, it snowballed.
I won’t regale you with the details of every housesit I’ve done—there’s been 12 in the last 18 months—but I will share exactly how much money I’ve saved travelling this way in 2024 alone. I’ve completed four housesits this year in San Miguel de Allende, New York City, Montreal, and Vancouver. I’ve found Airb’n’b listings in similar neighborhoods of comparable size and quality and tallied their costs.
Vancouver, Mount Pleasant, 7 nights - £1,181
That’s a total saving of £5,968 across 4 holidays. I’ve saved almost £6,000 from January - August just by using an alternative to Airb’n’b. In fact, if I include the money I’ve saved on food, free lifts to and from the airport and the $100 I got for a housesit I did over Christmas, that puts me well over £6,000.
I will say, it’s not for everyone. You need to love animals and be okay with sacrificing some of the freedom that comes with staying in an Airb’n’b or hotel. But for me, the savings, coupled with the reduced impact on local communities, make it worth the trade-off.
Postlude:
I tell everyone I meet about Trusted House Sitters. Most people look at me like i’m running a pyramid scheme and honestly it feels that way sometimes. I encourage everyone to sign up, offer them my discount code and show them pictures of the more extravagant homes i’ve stayed in, hoping to entice them. I share all of this because I’m excited that there are affordable and sustainable alternatives emerging and many of us are willing to try them once we know they’re out there. Trusted House Sitters may not be a perfect or even viable option for everyone but for me, platforms like THS have become my solution, a way to see the world, save money, and ensure that my travels don’t come at the expense of local communities.
- Folly
See You Next Time,
If you made it this far, thank you! Below is a list of other essays I’ve written that you might enjoy and a couple of ways for us to stay connected.
Other Essays You Might Like:
Stay Connected:
Let’s be pen pals - follyelizabethinquiries@gmail.com
Other great alternative is Sonder! They repurpose hotels and office buildings.
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