# Holistay — Vacation Rental Platform

> Holistay is a vacation rental platform where every listing has a mandatory video tour. Guests can watch a property before booking. Two ways to book: instant booking at a fixed price, or negotiate your own price directly with the host.

## About
- Website: https://holistay.io
- Type: Vacation rental marketplace
- Differentiators: Mandatory video tours (YouTube/Vimeo shorts), direct price negotiation with hosts
- Coverage: Worldwide — Europe, Asia, Africa, Americas, Oceania
- Currency: EUR (primary)

## How It Works

### For Guests
1. Search by destination, dates, or browse the world map
2. Watch the video tour of any listing before booking
3. Book instantly at the listed price, or make an offer to negotiate with the host
4. Host can accept, decline, or counter-offer — negotiate until you agree

### For Hosts
1. Create a listing in 5 steps: location, photos + video, price, availability, publish
2. Set a nightly price and optionally accept negotiation offers
3. Receive offers from guests, respond with counter-offers or accept
4. Manage bookings and availability from the host dashboard

### Price Negotiation
- Guest makes an offer for their stay dates with an optional message
- Host sees the offer immediately and can accept, decline, or counter-offer
- Guest and host go back and forth until they agree on a price
- Accepted offer becomes a confirmed booking with dates blocked automatically
- Both parties can decline at any point to end the negotiation

## Listing Information
Each listing includes:
- Video tour (YouTube or Vimeo, mandatory)
- Photos (minimum 3)
- Property details: type, bedrooms, bathrooms, max guests, size
- Amenities/utilities (WiFi, kitchen, pool, etc.)
- Noise level assessment (1-5 scale with wall type, window type, insulation details)
- Nightly price in EUR
- Availability calendar

## Destinations
Travel guides available for 106 cities: Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Bangkok, Bali, Tokyo, Dubai, New York, Cancun, Rio de Janeiro, Marrakech, Cape Town, Sydney, Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Porto, Athens, Santorini, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Berlin, Dubrovnik, Split, Nice, London, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Krakow, Istanbul, Singapore, Kyoto, Seoul, Hanoi, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Krabi, Koh Lanta, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao, Pai, Ayutthaya, Kuala Lumpur, George Town, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Lima, Zanzibar, Queenstown, Punta Cana, Havana, San Juan, Nassau, Montego Bay, Panama City, Antigua, Tamarindo, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hoi An, Phu Quoc, Cusco & Machu Picchu, Torres del Paine, Cartagena, Cairo & the Pyramids, Serengeti & Ngorongoro, Victoria Falls, Great Barrier Reef & Cairns, Uluru, Fiji, Siem Reap & Angkor, Agra & the Taj Mahal, Goa, Maldives, Luxor, Masai Mara, Mauritius, Galápagos Islands, Iguazú Falls, Medellín, Grand Canyon, Banff & the Rockies, Tunis & Carthage, Algiers, Palawan, Cebu & Bohol, Hong Kong, Beijing & the Great Wall, Bogotá, Foz do Iguaçu, Punta del Este, Tahiti & Bora Bora.
Each guide includes: best months to visit, monthly temperature chart, currency and exchange tips, ATM advice (including which ATM networks to avoid), transport options, must-see highlights, food tips, safety advice with a 1-5 safety rating, things to do, and nearby day trips.

## Guides
Explainer articles covering how the platform works:
- How price negotiation works on a vacation rental: https://holistay.io/guides/how-price-negotiation-works — How negotiating the nightly price of a holiday rental works: making an offer, what hosts see, counter-offers, and when a negotiated price becomes a confirmed booking.
- How to make a fair offer on a holiday rental: https://holistay.io/guides/how-to-make-a-fair-offer — What a reasonable offer on a vacation rental actually looks like: how much below asking is realistic, which dates give you leverage, and the mistakes that get offers declined.
- Why every listing should have a video tour: https://holistay.io/guides/why-video-tours — Photos are chosen to flatter. Video is much harder to fake. Why a walkthrough video changes what you can tell about a rental before booking — and how hosts should film one.
- How to find a genuinely quiet vacation rental: https://holistay.io/guides/quiet-vacation-rentals — Noise is the most common complaint in holiday rentals and the hardest thing to check before booking. What determines whether an apartment is quiet: glazing, walls, floor level, and street exposure.
- Looking for an Airbnb alternative: what to compare: https://holistay.io/guides/airbnb-alternative — What actually differs between vacation rental platforms: fixed versus negotiable pricing, whether listings must show video, what property information is disclosed, and how to judge a smaller platform.

## For Hosts
- Become a host: https://holistay.io/become-a-host — free to list, five-step wizard, roughly 20 minutes
- Earnings calculator: https://holistay.io/earnings-calculator — gross revenue projection by city and property size
- Per-city earnings estimates: https://holistay.io/earnings/{slug} for 106 cities
Typical two-bedroom nightly rates (EUR, indicative market estimates, not guarantees):
- Barcelona: ~EUR 145/night at ~72% occupancy
- Paris: ~EUR 175/night at ~74% occupancy
- Amsterdam: ~EUR 190/night at ~76% occupancy
- Lisbon: ~EUR 130/night at ~70% occupancy
- Bangkok: ~EUR 55/night at ~68% occupancy
- Bali: ~EUR 70/night at ~65% occupancy
- Tokyo: ~EUR 130/night at ~75% occupancy
- Dubai: ~EUR 160/night at ~70% occupancy
- New York: ~EUR 240/night at ~78% occupancy
- Cancun: ~EUR 110/night at ~68% occupancy
- Rio de Janeiro: ~EUR 90/night at ~60% occupancy
- Marrakech: ~EUR 75/night at ~62% occupancy
- Cape Town: ~EUR 95/night at ~63% occupancy
- Sydney: ~EUR 175/night at ~72% occupancy
- Rome: ~EUR 150/night at ~72% occupancy
- Milan: ~EUR 150/night at ~70% occupancy
- Florence: ~EUR 155/night at ~73% occupancy
- Venice: ~EUR 175/night at ~70% occupancy
- Madrid: ~EUR 130/night at ~71% occupancy
- Seville: ~EUR 110/night at ~68% occupancy

## Pages
- Home: https://holistay.io/
- All listings: https://holistay.io/listings
- Destination guides: https://holistay.io/destinations
- Guides: https://holistay.io/guides
- Become a host: https://holistay.io/become-a-host
- Earnings calculator: https://holistay.io/earnings-calculator
- Search by region: https://holistay.io/listings?region=europe (also: asia, africa, north-america, central-america, south-america, oceania)

## Status
Holistay is an early-stage platform. The destination guides and explainer content are complete; the rental catalogue is still being built as hosts join. Listing counts are therefore low or zero in most cities at present.

## Contact
- Email: noreply@holistay.io