Shell out a couple of thousand dollars a night for a vacation stay, and you're not going to have to pretend you're anyone's cousin when you pick up the keys - like you might with some Web-based booking sites where people rent out their own homes to travelers.
In the wake of sites like airbnb.com, VRBO.com and HomeAway.com, there is a new luxury category for those who don't want to spend their big bucks on a simple hotel room. Companies like Time & Place (timeandplace.com), Luxury Retreats (www.luxuryretreats.com) and Villas of Distinction (www.villasofdistinction.com) are trying to set themselves apart from other by-owner short-term rental sites by only aiming for high-end properties and a high-end clientele.
Consider a five-bedroom 12,000-square-foot (1.1-square-metre) home in the Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. For a starting price of $3,750 a night, Luxury Retreats could get you this beachfront mansion, which comes with a staff that includes a chef, butler and housekeeper.
Or how about a nearly 2,700-square-foot (0.18-square-meter) one-bedroom duplex (It has two living rooms) with a view of the Eiffel Tower? Prices start at $2,780 a night through the service Time & Place.
Hotels still get the lion's share of the business, with 44 percent of people staying in hotels for vacation stays, according to a survey conducted for the site HomeAway.com. But now about 12 percent rent homes.
While there are about 3 million vacation homes in the United States available for rent, only a tiny fraction end up on one of the high-end sites. Time & Place, for instance, currently has 230 listings in 45 locations worldwide. Overall, the home rental industry is growing, according to the Vacation Rental Managers Association and is most popular among those who earn more than $125,000 a year.
When It Works
The notion of eschewing the traditional hotel stay in favor of staying at a high-end home can make sense for travelers who want a more local experience or need more family-friendly space - or just want something different.
When Gregory Lung, a 52-year-old oral surgeon from Honolulu, went to France in October, his first thought was: "I want to live like a local." He signed up for a relatively modest $420-a-night apartment, similar to what he would have paid for a fine hotel, through Time & Place. He used the service's concierge in advance of his trip to help get a feel for Le Marais, the section of Paris where the apartment he was going to stay in was located. He came away happy.
"It had a lot of the charm of an old place but the amenities of a new one," he says.