We were singled out in Vicky Baker’s recent article on goinglocaltravel.com for being part of a trend for travel buzzwords by our coining of the word ‘unhotel’. “How long before people start calling themselves ‘un-travellers’?” she asked.

A flurry of debate broke out on the blog’s comments. Were these travel buzzwords (unhotel, untour, staycation) just marketing gaff or necessary so people can understand what on earth it is you’re talking about. I went for the latter. You do need to leave some sort of clue in the name when creating a new category, and we did consider ‘ghost house’ as an alternative to ‘unhotel’, but that sounded a bit creepy. 

And a kindly gentleman thus commented:

“I unhate unhotel; it’s unboring. I was intrigued enough to look it up. Some terms are meant to be twisted and subverted, others not so much. You wouldn’t buy un-nappies or fly in an unplane; but a maturing hipster, who already drinks unbeer and wears unclothes, would definitely stay in an unhotel.”

So it looks like for now we’re getting away with our trendy buzzword, and with that I’ll leave you with the 1970s uncola advertising campaign for 7UP.  

Following onefinestay being spotted on springwise, a little birdie tweeted “There's unmarketing, unschooling and now the unhotel”

That’s right. 

And this is it. 

Brewer Street living room. 

Enter the unhotel. onefinestay asks people to kindly lend us their homes while they’re away, and then treats you right while you stay in them.  

The best bits of an hotel without the boring bits. 

Hotel corridor. One of the boring bits of an hotel. 

Say ‘so long’ to the check in desk. Never again walk through faceless corridors or shower in a bland bathroom. 

The main bathroom at Faroe Road. Bland it is not. 

With difference comes variety. Rebelling against uniformity, each onefinestay home is unique. There is no formula. Just like people, no two homes are the same. 

From modern Gothic...