The Human Hotel project was created last year by the folks behind WOOLOO.ORG — an online community for professional artists. The concept is an AirBnB-like service for artistic types who like to travel and meet like-minded people. Visiting creatives get to live in a real community with local hosts who work in the arts. Human Hotel acts as a matchmaker in cities from Amsterdam to Santiago.
Although profit isn’t its goal, the hosts can share their space for free or charge a “reasonable” nightly fee. The guest also has to pay a one-time €25 connection fee to the Human Hotel organization. I haven’t used the service yet, but surfing through the website I discovered many places that I would happily choose over an AirBnB or hotel, including a houseboat in the heart of Amsterdam, an attic room in Lisbon, and a fantastic apartment in central Paris.
What a brilliant idea
Although I’ve had mostly positive experiences with Airbnb and similar services, the reports of increased scams has me dubious. I’d rather trust a community of creatives to keep out the opportunists and crooks.