Home from Home

Olly Mann extols the myriad virtues of Airbnb when it comes to a weekend getaway

- By Olly Mann. Photographs by Daniel Mitchell, Illustration, Dan Rowley, Bifa, Shutterstock

TEN YEARS AGO, Airbnb passed a milestone: the number of people who had used the service to book a night's stay surpassed 4 million. In those days, I had a weekly slot talking about web culture on BBC Radio 5 Live, and I pitched the story to my producer. “Too niche, was his response. “Impressive growth, yes—but in terms of the numbers of tourists, it's a very small player. Let's drop it.

I was reminded of this exchange over the weekend, as I dried myself on the Ralph Lauren towels provided for me by my host, John, in his Eton townhouse (£213.41, house manual on top of the fridge, please do not consume food in the bedrooms). Staying in somebody else's home, or second home, for a short-term break was evidently even recently perceived as the preserve of Silicon Valley nerds and nomadic couchsurfers but has, over the past decade, become the default way I (and my mates, and my mum, and her mates) choose to visit a city.

When our summer family holiday in a five-star resort in the Canaries got covided (for a second time) in 2021, an Airbnb in the Cotswolds was the obvious last-minute replacement (sure, it rained every day, but they had a GIANT CONNECT 4 in the garden!). Equally, I now turn to the website for my work needs: if, for example, I'm seeking space to record a podcast interview, I rarely think to hire a professional studio, especially in the age of social distancing: I use Airbnb. Even our honeymoon, in the Costa del Sol, was in Peter's gaff in San Pedro (I've never met Peter, but I have used his lilo, which feels pretty intimate. And I know from his profile that he lives in Bournemouth, likes bird-watching, and speaks fluent German. Five stars.)