The sun has been shining, the birds have been singing, oh and we all lost an hour of sleep on Sunday. Spring is most definitely here...

Spring is almost certainly my favourite season in London - ok so the weather is a little tempestuous (and you can start the day in a summer dress and end the day wishing you had a thick wooly coat), but nothing can beat the true blue of London spring skies and the scent of the year's first mowed grass in the parks.

I took the opportunity to wander London's streets at the weekend and snapped a few shots of St Paul's looking stunning in the sunshine.

For anyone feeling inspired by these pictures, we have a fantastic 2 bedroom home in Carter Lane, just a short stroll from Sir Christopher Wren's iconic masterpiece and perfect for your central London city break! It even has a stunning secluded back garden where you can relax in the gentle spring sunshine!

 

 

Of course the other great thing about spring is that it's a time of new beginnings and growth. The reason I'm using this cliche, is that two things I saw on my London stroll really summed this feeling up:

Firstly...the stunning newly sprouted flower beds that line the city streets - these beautiful yellow and purple blooms absolutely brought a smile to my face:

 

Secondly, rising above the London skyline I snapped this picture of the amazing feat of engineering that is The Shard of Glass. When completed in 2012 this amazing building will be 1017ft tall - in fact it will be the tallest building in the EU and 45th tallest in the world. You can learn more about it here

And this is what the finished product is expected to look like.

Our home at Butler's Wharf  is in a prime location to watch this building grow, with a fantastic balcony for viewing the ever changing city skyline as well as Tower Bridge, so why not book a stay now?

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday last week I took a wander outside the office mid-morning to replenish the onefinestay milk supply (for the third time in two days...our milk consumption has rocketed in recent days as the team rapidly expands, and we started providing free cereals for the morning munchies). Turning the corner off Bowling Green Lane I was greeted by lines and lines of film trailers and double decker buses. I quickly discovered that this temporary trailer park was in fact nothing less than a major motion picture film set on the move!

Highly excited by the prospect of seeing a celeb in the flesh I skipped back to the office to let everyone know that Meryl Streep was outside shooting scenes for “The Iron Lady”, the new biopic about Maggie Thatcher. I even snuck a peak into her wardrobe trailer, which was decked out wall to wall with the somewhat dowdy skirt suits which Maggie was so famous for. Poor Meryl.

I have to admit that looking at promotional shots for the movie, Meryl does in fact bear an uncanny resemblance to the great Iron Lady herself, and am interested to see the film later in the year.

Spot the difference...

It actually got me thinking about the amount of filming that takes place across London. Barely a day passes that I don’t walk past a camera filming something or someone (although rarely on this scale). After all, every street in London has its own story to tell and I often forget how lucky I am to live in a city so full of incredible architecture and history.

It was on this note that a fellow onefinestayer pointed out that one of onefinestay’s apartment buildings actually features prominently in Woody Allen’s 2005 movie Matchpoint. Parliament View, a striking modern curved glass building overlooking Westminster, is where Chris and Chloe find their first home in the movie. Check out the film promotional trailer for some great shots of this building and across London: 

So for anyone fancying a little taste of the movie-star life for themselves, why not check out our very own onefinestay home at Parliament View:

http://www.onefinestay.com/home/parliament-view/

 

 

At onefinestay's HQ, we're always drinking tea and eating cake, so we were delighted when one of our guests gave us the perfect gift for our daily teatime break. Jean, who left London yesterday after spending a few nights at Monmouth Road, gave us some home made jam, all the way 'from the raspberry patches of upstate New York', along with a charming note thanking onefinestay for her 'wonderful week'.

The jam with the note. 

Following much discussion, we decided the best way to eat the jam was with scones and clotted cream.

Tim enjoying the scone.

So thank you Jean!  The jam is delicious and we hope you come back and leave us some more! It was such a lovely surprise, we don't usually expect our guests to leave us gifts, you probably wouldn't leave a present if you stayed in a hotel. But then again, we are the unhotel.

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. 

A ghost house. What the unhotel is not. 

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.  

 

It was important to Mr Forster. His novel of the same name opens with characters grumbling about the view from their hotel room. “A room with a view’, they were promised, only their rooms overlook a courtyard. 

Fortunately, today we have unhotels. Here, there’s no getting away from the views. Here are some of the better ones…

Parliament View: Spy on our politicians both night... 

and day

Cuba Street: A view across the Thames and into the city. 

Or you could capture the view by living on the Thames itself.

Lighterman's Walk: A houseboat on the Thames. 

But if it's football that floats your boat, try watching over Arsenal's Emirates Stadium from the high points of a converted church, or a rooftop terrace near the Caledonian Road. 

A view from all angles across London at Arundel Square

So there you have it, our favourite views out of the window of the unhotel. And interesting views are clearly very important to guests... 

Here at London’s first unhotel, we are big believers in what we do. Our hosts believe in us, too: we provide a service that makes the most of their space while they are out of town and earns them a little extra income to help pay for the next holiday, or offset the cost of the mortgage. Our guests, whether families who couldn’t bear to visit our city unless they can stay in a home, or business travellers who want to cook themselves dinner after a day in the office, seem similarly delighted. And houses are filled rather than standing empty, preventing waste and keeping local shops and restaurants ticking over. Everybody wins. 

So we were disappointed to learn that this past weekend New York passed a law which bans apartment rentals for less than 30 days. 

This law was drafted in response to a very specific activity that’s been going on for years in New York: landlords have converted swathes of apartment buildings into temporary hotels without the necessary zoning permits. Some of the units are even rent controlled or rent stabilized and would otherwise offer affordable housing to those in need. Besides the ethical implications, this practice causes other problems. Because such operators are cutting costs, they often play fast and loose with health, fire and safety regulations and the rooms are often misadvertised, giving the guest limited recourse. Off the back of lightly-policed Internet listing services, which provide free advertising for this kind of activity, the number of these ‘no-tels’ has exploded over the past few years. 

Recently, however, several innovative business models have emerged, which embrace more respectable business practice. Rich photography and apartment descriptions greatly increase transparency. Reviews and user generated content are shown prominently next to listings on sites, ensuring that guests have complete information before committing. Care is taken to exceed statutory fire safety standards. Lines of communication between property owners or their representatives and guests are available during guest stays. Payment is made with reputable means that do not evade tax. And there are is a reliable middle man to mediate should guests be dissatisfied with their experiences.

The law passed in New York was drafted so broadly it doesn’t discriminate between these two extremes. It lumps the respectable entrepreneurs with the shady traders. Unless there are clarifying amendments, when this act kicks in next year it will mean everybody loses. First guests, who can’t afford New York hotel rates of $232 on average will be forced to rely on the anonymous and less reliable alternatives. Next homeowners, who will either find their private arrangements criminalised or be forced to forego much-needed income. Then city authorities, which by criminalising this activity lose the potential for significant tax revenues from a $1bn short-term sublet industry—and exacerbate the issues of transparency, legitimacy and safety. And last but not least, the city itself, whose local restaurants, shops and attractions rely on tourists to keep the lights on: last year, each visitor spent $700 on average during their trip to NYC. 

We want to see unhotels in every major world city, and it would be a great shame if New York wasn’t on that list. As such, we hope that respectable innovators will have the freedom to operate their businesses in a manner that can fully benefit local New York property owners, visitors and the local ecosystem. 

 

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...

to Mayfair grandeur.