Is Airbnb reinventing the ski holiday?
I’m swishing down my final run of the day - thighs rebelling at being thrown into action again after their 12-month sabbatical. Luckily for me, to say the walk back to my accommodation is short would be an understatement - I am staying a mere 50 meters from the gondola station.
I’m in Mayrhofen - a popular Austrian ski resort in the Tyrolian region, with modern lifts and a lively apres scene, especially since the arrival of the annual Snowbombing (snowbombing.com) and Altitude (altitudefestival.com) music festivals. There are some 100 miles of skiing across the two main mountains, the Penken and the Ahorn, with runs to suit all range of abilities, as well as being home to Europe’s steepest ski run; the Hari Kiri, which drops at a dramatic 78 degrees and is marked at the top by an ominous skull and crossbones.
Despite the prime location, my lodgings are neither an eye-wateringly expensive chalet nor a luxury hotel – I’m testing out the latest accommodation offering to hit the Alps: Airbnb.
I’ve used Airbnb a fair bit for my travels and the experience has always been different; sometimes the hosts were very hands-on and took me out to their favourite haunts, other times, keys were left in a safe and hosts had no involvement at all. But I’ve never before used Airbnb in a ski resort, and I’m intrigued by how it will work.
We are staying in a traditional apartment block, just meters from the new Penkenbahn Gondola station, which completed a £40 million revamp in late 2015 and now whisks some 4,000 skiers and boarders up the mountain every hour. Martin, our Airbnb host for the weekend, refurbished the property in 2008, from small family farm to smart apartment rental and has been listing on Airbnb for the past three years. From my private balcony, I have have almost 360-degree views of the Zillertal Alps, gazing down at me temptingly. The rest of the eight-bed apartment is kitted out with modern fittings including air conditioning, stylish kitchen and basement sauna and hot tub, but not at the detriment to its traditional, wooden-beamed charm.
Airbnb’s latest advance towards world travel domination undoubtedly poses problems for the local hoteliers and chalet companies. Those who would previously have rented a room in Mayrhofen’s five-star hotel for the week are now opting for the more flexible Airbnb listing just up the road. But Airbnb are preaching their usual mantra - supporting the smaller, local businesses in a market currently dominated by large luxury hotel and chalet companies. The hosts seem to like it too.
"The Airbnb guests are always well-behaved," Martin tells me. "They know how the service works".
Unlike some of his other guests, he explains, who hire his apartments through travel operators (where Martin also lists his property), but do not respect the property and have caused damage on previous stays. The experience is more personal for the host, too, Martin says; the guests and host greet each other on first name terms.
Whatever they are doing, it appears to be working. The number of Airbnb listings in Tyrol has increased by 92 per cent since January 2016 and no doubt plans to roll out to other ski resorts are well underway. And everyone seems to be jumping on board. There’s the mountain restaurant, The Schneekarhütte, that recently transformed an outside turret into a luxury Airbnb listing, as well as the White Lounge Igloo bar, with its seven romantic rental igloos recently made available on Airbnb.
The alpine Aibnb listings are sometimes, but not always, cheaper than the chalet and hotel alternatives. But the big draw is the flexibility - most of the Airbnb’s only have a two/three night minimum stay, unlike the seven-day minimum in the surrounding chalets and self-catering apartments. And I do feel something of a local as I’m flying down the 11a ski route to Finkenberger at 4pm, avoiding the tourist throngs racing to get back to town, on Martin’s personal recommendation.
A post shared by ElisabethHotel Mayrhofen (@elisabethhotel) on Mar 11, 2017 at 2:06am PST
Undoubtedly, these are commercial offerings - very different from the home-from-home sell in, for example, inner city properties, but out of the 1,100 hosts in the region, 93 per cent have less than 30 beds. These are still small, local hosts and guests receive a personal experience, for now at least.
Victoria stayed at the Apart Central chalet (airbnb.co.uk/rooms/3693930), which costs from £765 a night for 16 people. British Airways and EasyJet fly direct to Innsbruck. When we checked this week, there were return fares from London from £80.
At a glance | Unusual Airbnb listings
