New Twists on Home-Sharing: 4 Airbnb Alternatives

New Twists on Home-Sharing: 4 Airbnb Alternatives

They are small, ambitious and target savvy travelers. But their main goal is to improve the home-sharing experience for hosts and renters alike.

Golightly, a women-only, home-sharing platform, lists some 600 properties, most of them in the United States and Europe. Above, a four-bedroom rental in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.Credit...GolightlyJuly 15, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET

In 2017, Victoria O'Connell rented her London apartment via a home-sharing site to a man who looted and wrecked the place during a party that drew the police. He disappeared, but left her a review on the platform, saying, "Great host.“

The violation convinced her there had to be a more secure way to share homes than dealing with total strangers. Earlier this year, she founded Golightly, an invitation-only platform for women.

"I wanted some kind of accountability, to know the renter as a friend or the friend of a friend,“ she said. "I felt I would feel more safe if I had a woman renting.“

Golightly is among several new home-sharing platforms that, in one way or another, aim to improve on the Airbnb or Vrbo models based on who has access to the homes, the kind of units for rent and the fees that hosts pay to list with them.

In