Goodbye Airbnb: Travelers Are Loving The 'Michelin Guide' For Safer Booking

Any current or past Airbnb user has likely encountered this unfortunately common scenario: After perusing dozens of listings, you've booked a stay for your upcoming vacation, based on the charming photos and wide array of amenities. However, upon arrival, the place looks nothing like the pictures — maybe the clever use of a wide-angle lens made the cramped room look much more spacious? And the featured amenities aren't exactly as advertised; the Wi-Fi is slow, the laundry machine is broken, and the "dedicated workspace" is just a chair facing a wall. You're rightly feeling scammed; there weren't any reviews on which to base your booking decision — one of the Airbnb red flags — and you paid a premium for what was meant to be a cute and homey apartment. Now you're in something that closely resembles a cell at Shawshank. But what if there was a way to ensure that the space you booked was exactly as pictured, its listing verified by an expert to ensure accuracy? Well, that's exactly what you'll get with Plum Guide.

Launching in 2015, the London-based platform aspires to be the "Michelin Guide" of vacation rentals. Similar to the latter, it has an extremely stringent vetting process involving visits from an inspector, known as a home critic. But this doesn't mean that Plum Guide has limited options. While the platform is designed to be exclusive — just 1% of all vacation homes make the cut — you'll still have plenty of places to choose from. Of course, there are fewer listings than Airbnb, which has over 8 million, but it still boasts an impressive collection of more than 30,000 homes across over 40 destinations. So, if you're looking for safer bookings and extraordinary stays, say goodbye to Airbnb and hello to Plum Guide.

Plum Guide takes a novel approach to finding properties: It has built and trained an AI vetting model that is used when the company launches in a new destination. Trawling through all short-term rental properties available on other booking sites, it selects only potential Plum homes — those in safe, pleasant neighborhoods with no negative reviews, among many other factors. This model is so accurate that the company won the title of Industry Innovator at the Skift IDEA Awards in 2023.

Once a shortlist has been established, humans take over. The hosts of the properties are informed that they've been nominated for Plum Guide's collection. Three rounds of home-critic visits are required for quality control, including a host interview, an inspection, and a mock check-in. These critics scour the properties thoroughly, looking for them to meet 500 criteria  created in consultation with travel and design experts — for instance, a kitchen stocked with the essentials. In the end, only 3% of these prospective properties are accepted. And Plum Guide's team writes the host bio and listing so that it's objective and accurate. For even more transparency, it also provides a Home Truths section, where certain features that might not meet a guest's expectations are noted (for example, if a pool is shared or unavailable during certain months). So, whether you've booked a stunning Pacific Palisades home right by Santa Monica beach or a chic Parisian apartment with epic city views, you can rest assured that your dream getaway will be a reality.

For its well-curated collection and customer-centered service, the company has been duly awarded. It made the top 10 on "The Best Villa Rental Companies" list in Condé Nast Traveller's prestigious Readers' Choice Awards in three consecutive years (2023 to 2025).

While sites like Airbnb cater to almost everyone, Plum Guide has a more specific target audience. As stated on its website, it offers "quality vacation rentals for the discerning traveller" seeking a private, luxury stay. This type of traveler isn't going to be impressed with a tacky design, a non-communicative host, or an empty kitchen. Therefore, the home critics must work to assess whether the properties they're reviewing are suitable for this demographic or not.

And although Plum Guide's process ensures that stays are as advertised, there are more insidious reasons why it's necessary. Unfortunately, although vacation rental services have made it more convenient for travelers to find accommodations abroad, scams still abound, along with other horror stories. You may be wary of the fairly prolific bait-and-switch scam that has targeted guests on Airbnb and VRBO, or you might have heard of certain properties containing illegally concealed cameras that tourists tend to overlook. Therefore, the rigorous vetting is necessary to ensure that hosts are credible and reliable, and that accommodations meet high standards (for safety, cleanliness, and more) to provide you with an exceptional experience.

Overall, previous guests seem to agree that the lengthy selection and vetting process is worth it: Plum Guide has a TrustScore of 4.6 (based on around 4,000 reviews) on Trustpilot, an online platform connecting businesses with their customers. One reviewer praised Plum Guide, noting that he has "always been incredibly impressed by their selection of properties, the clarity and honesty of their property descriptions and their prompt responses." So the next time you're searching for a stay that exceeds expectations, has been verified by experts, and matches its listing and photos to a tee, Plum Guide should be your go-to booking platform.