Home Is Where The Art Is: Flexible Accommodation In London

By Sponsor Last edited 102 months ago
Home Is Where The Art Is: Flexible Accommodation In London

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Wimdu, who invited us to do a secret shopper style review.

Holiday accommodation has become a whole lot more flexible recently. We can now book anything online from someone's spare bedroom to their entire luxury pad. One such provider, Wimdu, invited Londonist to trial their service. The site itself is fairly simple: specify check-in and check-out dates plus a location and away you go.

The results come back in list and map format, the latter being especially handy as the search isn't too London-savvy. For example, type in "Putney" and Wimdu directs you to properties in Putney, Vermont. There are basic letdowns like the "sort" function (which doesn't) but we liked the option to select whether the place has a TV or a kitchen. We chose an "entire home/apartment" in Fulham as we were going to a party there.

The accommodation itself was one of the most unusual this Londonista has ever been in. From the outside, it's a cabin in an industrial estate; not even the estate's gatekeeper knew it was a living space. Inside, it is every bit the professional interior designer's dream hideaway, a one bed residence with separate kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and lounge area. All the rooms are decked out with classy ornaments from ornate Italian lamps to what looked like real Banksy pieces.

Exploring Fulham's Kings Road by day was a real joy, especially as we like cake and antiques. Megan's is a recommended spot for brunch or afternoon tea with its laidback demeanour, elegant platters and quality quaffables while plane nuts should set their sights on Hatchwell Antiques which has both large model planes and functional homeware made from plane parts including a turbofan table and a massive mirror made from the engine casing of a 727.

Would we use Wimdu again? The site's quirks won't put us off but, rather than London, we would now be more tempted to use it to book holiday accommodation abroad and avoid the beige option of hotels or b&bs.

By Franco Milazzo

Last Updated 08 September 2015