WITH AN EXPANDED PRESENCE IN THE U.S.
Recognized as a global benchmark for quality, innovative vacation booking platform, Plum Guide (www.plumguide.com), the world’s most recommended homestay company, is extending its footprint worldwide with an expanded presence in the United States. A success story since it launched in London in 2016, Plum Guide has attracted $57 million in investments and has become the premium alternative to Airbnb.
Ready for the post-pandemic global travel boom anticipated with this holiday season, Plum Guide offers the affluent traveler access to exceptional properties across the United States, such as New York, Los Angeles, Aspen, Miami, Joshua Tree, and the Hamptons among their roster of 500 destinations worldwide including some of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities.
According to Co-Founder & CEO Doron Meyassed, “Restaurants have the Michelin Star. Books have the New York Times Bestseller List. Vacation homes now have the Plum Award. Our mission is to find and award the best homes in the USA with our mark of trusted quality.” He adds, “It’s time to upend our competition’s model of letting anyone rate a home. We are taking a powerful new stance on quality control by allocating a team of trained professional home-reviewers dedicated to ferreting out ‘home truths.’ Our quality standard is one the world can trust.”
Plum Guide is more than simply a booking platform. It is, in essence, the Michelin guide for home rentals. With standards so high that they eliminate literally millions from the 5,000,000+ vacation homes listed online, accepting only 3% of submitted places to stay. Understanding that the pandemic postponed travel plans for many, leaving some with a residual sense of travel anxiety, Plum Guide takes the guesswork out of booking a stay with their highly curated approach to global vacation home selection. Guests can expect excellence; quality is guaranteed no matter the price point.
WHAT SETS PLUM GUIDE APART
Plum Guide has a unique model for curating homes unlike their competitors. They use a combination of technology, data, and human expertise. The quality control process culminates in an onsite visit from a specially trained “Home Critic” and only homes who have passed this final test receive the Plum Guide Award.
“Home truths” are revealed on each listing —such as, assessments revealing if the kitchen is indeed fully functional, or if the living area really has enough dedicated space for a family of four. It is this highly curated approach that sets Plum Guide apart. Explains Co-Founder and CEO Doron Meyassed, “Not only has every nominated and awarded home been subject to a meticulous vetting process but our comprehensive price-checking assures that our prices are consistently the best available.” Given the stringent testing before being accepted as a home rental option, only one in a 100 pass the 150 different criteria set forth by Plum Guide. It is important to note that such “musts” include only properties in a desirable neighborhood with three places for breakfast within a five-minute walk. Additional “musts” include rooms with plenty of natural light, ample space for socializing, bedrooms quiet enough for restful sleep, showers with strong water pressure and fast Wi-Fi connection.
THE BACK STORY
The origins of Plum Guide are personal, rooted in a vacation home Meyassed booked in Tel Aviv. “I felt like I won the lottery. I asked myself, ‘Why isn’t it always like this? Why is booking a home so hit-and-miss?’” Then he realized, “Every time someone books a holiday, it shouldn’t feel like a lottery.” So how to avoid the gamble? A team of architects, travelers, interior designers, and psychologists was assembled to scientifically decode the secret ingredients of the perfect stay. 150 criteria determining everything from shower pressure to Wi-Fi speed as well as design credentials became the stringent standards allowing just the smallest fraction of homes submitted to be accepted as Plum Guide properties.
THE PLUM AWARD
The Plum Award is a coveted honor. To earn it, homes must pass all four stages of The Plum Test, successfully meeting 150 criteria, with a personal home visit from an independent Home Critic as the final deciding factor. Leaving nothing to chance, with every new city or country opened, Plum Guide creates a database of available homes which are then systematically reviewed. The multi-stage vetting process allows travellers to select from a remarkable selection of the world’s best homes in the US as well as global destinations including Paris, Milan, and Rome. New locations are constantly being added as Plum Guide continues to delight customers with their rigorous selection of only the best homes available from a worldwide catalogue.
