All photos courtesy of Marc McAndrews for Airbnb
The Staten Island home that served as Don Corleone’s residence in the 1972 classic film The Godfather is now available to rent on Airbnb. Located in the neighborhood of Todt Hill, the English Tudor-style mansion was featured in the movie’s opening wedding scene. Just in time for the 50th anniversary of the iconic mob drama, the current owners are renting out the home for the month of August, for $50/night.
Photo Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
New York City is suing an operator of an illegal short-term rental in Midtown East who officials say ran more than 78 Airbnb listings and “deceived more than 6,500 guests.” According to the lawsuit, announced on Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams, Arron Latimer, a licensed broker, Apex Management, and Esther Yip, used several limited liability corporations to run a short-term rental operation at 344 East 51st Street in Turtle Bay. The lawsuit is the first under a new city law that requires short-term rental platforms to regularly report data on listings and their hosts.
All photos by Kate Glicksberg unless otherwise noted
The too-big-to-be-true rent-stabilized apartment of fictional character Carrie Bradshaw will soon be available to book on Airbnb. The company announced this week it will rent, for two nights only, a recreation of the New York City brownstone seen on Sex and the City. The apartment has been decorated with a mix of vintage and designer furniture, with the style guru’s massive walk-in closet the highlight of the stay.
For baseball fans, this Airbnb stay is pretty Amazin’. The New York Mets and Airbnb are teaming up to offer a one-night stay for four at Citi Field this month for $250. Not only does the promotion include a once-in-a-lifetime sleepover, but the winning guests will also get a VIP private suite to watch two games and throw out the first pitch during one of them.
All photos courtesy of Regina Fleming Photography
Last week, the Hamilton Heights house made famous in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums hit the rental market for $20,000 per month. This week, Airbnb announced the iconic mansion will be available to book this Memorial Day Weekend for just $20 per night. Bookings will open on May 26 at noon for one, two-night stay at the 1899 brownstone beginning May 29.
All photos courtesy of Airbnb
To wrap up 2020, Airbnb released the top 50 most wish-listed unique rentals across all 50 states. The properties range from an Alaskan log cabin under the Northern Lights to a pirate-themed cottage in California. Here in New York, those looking to get away were most taken with a luxury treehouse in the Adirondacks, complete with a cable bridge, outdoor fire pit, and waterfall. The property in the town of Remsen rents for $498 a night, but it’s booked solid through March 2022!
All photos courtesy of Airbnb
Airbnb is searching for the world’s most unique and unusual short-term rental home as part of a new contest. Ten people will be awarded $100,000 each to design a groundbreaking home that is both livable and a space for social good, the company announced on Tuesday. Proposals can include renovations to an existing Airbnb property, a project in progress that needs funding, or a totally unbuilt project.
Queensbridge Houses. Photo credit: Metro Centric via Wikimedia Commons
The New York Times recently told of a pair of visitors from Boston who signed up for a sweet Airbnb deal on a Chelsea pad for $90 a night–and were surprised to have it turn out to be a seventh-floor unit in the neighborhood’s 11-building NYCHA Fulton Houses complex. The would-be guests noticed that “something seemed off,” starting with the roach trap next to the bed. The travelers tipped off the company, who refunded their money, and their story quickly became internet history as yet another way homestay platforms are being taken advantage of and another log on the fire of the debate that rages over what to do about it.
The Jersey City waterfront, via Pixabay
A big-money battle between Airbnb and the hotel industry may leave small hosts stranded after a decisive vote in Jersey City Tuesday. Voters in New Jersey’s second-largest city faced a referendum on new, beefed-up regulations on short-term rentals intended to limit the reach of Airbnb and other home-stay companies. According to the New York Times, voters overwhelmingly decided in favor of a law that will require owners of short-term rental properties to get a permit from the city, put a cap on the size and number of units that can be used for short term rental purposes, and limit short-stay rentals to a maximum of 60 days a year if the owner is not physically on-site. The ordinance also bars all renters from using their units as short-term rentals.
412 West 46th Street. Image via Google Street View..
The city has named the owners of three Hell’s Kitchen buildings in a lawsuit filed this week in Manhattan Supreme Court for operating illegal short-term rentals in rent-stabilized apartments, the New York Observer reports. The city says the owners of 410 and 412 West 46th Street and 452 West 36th Street have neglected their buildings, harassed tenants to get them to move out, deregulated units and kept units vacant to rent out on a short-term basis. Tenants of one building were left without gas or a roof for six months in 2015 due to a fire; the other two are awash in building code violations.
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