Airbnb taps luxury market with 50,000 franc a night Swiss chalets
Got a spare 50,000 francs for a night’s stay in the Swiss Alps? Holiday rentals site Airbnb is moving into the luxury market, with many high-end properties in Switzerland now available to rent through the popular portal.
More than 2,000 carefully selected luxury properties around the world can now be booked through Airbnb Luxe, a new initiative from the company marketed with the strapline ‘extraordinary homes with five-star everything’.
Launched on Tuesday, Airbnb Luxe aims to provide customers with properties that are a “destination in themselves”, said the company in a press release, from the villa in Jamaica where Ian Fleming wrote his 007 novels, to an entire island in a private atoll in French Polynesia.
Vetted by the company, properties signing up to the scheme must not only offer luxury accommodation and outstanding design, but also services such as a concierge and chef.
Booking a property through Airbnb Luxe also comes with a dedicated trip designer who can help renters organise other aspects of their stay, such as airport pick up and booking a local Michelin-starred restaurant or massage therapist.
Of course none of this comes cheap - especially in Swizterland. A stay in a four-bedroom penthouse in Zermatt costs 4,357chf ($4,469) a night, with a seven-night minimum stay. And that’s at the lower end.
At the top end, the eight-bedroom Chalet Aurora near Verbier costs a whopping 49,999chf ($51,293) a night. For that you get a spa, a driver and a chef, but airport transfers, spa services and childcare cost extra.
According to Airbnb, demand for luxury properties is increasing, with the number of bookings for listings worth at least $1,000 per night increasing by more than 60 percent in 2018.
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More than 2,000 carefully selected luxury properties around the world can now be booked through Airbnb Luxe, a new initiative from the company marketed with the strapline ‘extraordinary homes with five-star everything’.
Launched on Tuesday, Airbnb Luxe aims to provide customers with properties that are a “destination in themselves”, said the company in a press release, from the villa in Jamaica where Ian Fleming wrote his 007 novels, to an entire island in a private atoll in French Polynesia.
Vetted by the company, properties signing up to the scheme must not only offer luxury accommodation and outstanding design, but also services such as a concierge and chef.
Booking a property through Airbnb Luxe also comes with a dedicated trip designer who can help renters organise other aspects of their stay, such as airport pick up and booking a local Michelin-starred restaurant or massage therapist.
Of course none of this comes cheap - especially in Swizterland. A stay in a four-bedroom penthouse in Zermatt costs 4,357chf ($4,469) a night, with a seven-night minimum stay. And that’s at the lower end.
At the top end, the eight-bedroom Chalet Aurora near Verbier costs a whopping 49,999chf ($51,293) a night. For that you get a spa, a driver and a chef, but airport transfers, spa services and childcare cost extra.
According to Airbnb, demand for luxury properties is increasing, with the number of bookings for listings worth at least $1,000 per night increasing by more than 60 percent in 2018.
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