Imagine waking up in a glass pod suspended from a cliff, or going to sleep under an icy glacier ceiling in Greenland. Today we’re diving into some of the world’s most extreme short-term rentals They will definitely push your limits, but also gets you thinking of what’s possible or maybe a potential trip in the future.

Stay tuned as we disconnect just a little bit and take a look at what some of the world’s most extreme short-term rentals have to offer.

Welcome back to the Short-Term Rental Riches podcast. I’m happy you’re here again. If you’ve been tuning in for a while, or if you’ve been in the short-term rental industry for a while, you know that there is a massive range of types of properties available. We have imit, we have Lakeside, we have Oceanside, but we also have a lot of extreme short-term rentals today.

And we’re gonna break down some of the world’s most extreme. But before we do, why is it that people are wanting to stay in these properties, and why is it that they can charge so much money? Well, the [00:01:00] first thing is because they’re in extreme locations, it makes it really difficult for a big hotel chain like Marriott or Hilton to go in and actually do that development.

The cost would just be too high, and so. That’s why it’s usually left to individual units. Why are people booking these? Well, they’re looking for new adventures. They’re looking for a digital detox.

Lots of guests just wanna unplug and reconnect with nature and off-grid, short-term rentals, give them the opportunity to do that.

Before we dive into some of the handpicked ones that our teams found across the world, I wanna give you a personal story of one of the most extreme Airbnbs I ever stayed at. This was deep in the jungles of Columbia, and if you’ve been tuning into the show for a while, you know, I spent a lot of time over the last decade living in Columbia.

In fact, we’re building a boutique resort there, but this property I booked for my birthday. I had a [00:02:00] Jeep there at the time. I wanted to get away, I wanted to disconnect, and so we headed out of the city. I was with my currently wife, girlfriend at the time. This was years ago, and we got out of the city and then we finally got off road and I’m following the instructions that were in the Airbnb, but they’re down a dirt road, a rocky, a bumpy road that needed four wheel drive.

I had four wheel drive, so I was prepared there, but I was not prepared for the rain to start pouring down, and then also eventually the sun to go down, and there were no streetlights out there. So it may get into this short term rental, incredibly hard. There was actually a point where I thought we were gonna have to turn around.

We were sliding down the mountain, going back and forth and back and forth, but there was so much rain that I just couldn’t make it. Luckily, a Colombian came by on their motorcycle from who knows where, and offered to push, and so [00:03:00] I’m there in the Jeep just shooting mud everywhere, unfortunately, over this poor Colombian ’cause he’s, he’s behind us, right?

There was no other way to do it. He was wearing a poncho, luckily. So he’s helping me get up, but we still cannot get up. And then out of nowhere, I swear another guy shows up on a motorcycle also in a poncho because the rain’s pouring down and Colombians are so nice. If you haven’t visited the country yet, you really need to check it out.

It’s highly recommended. And so I have two Colombians Complete strangers I’ve never met in my. Behind my Jeep, helping to push it up the mountain. And I’m just shooting so much mud over them. I swear we’ll have our editor put in some video clips. I know my wife was recording and taking photos as we were trying to make it up the mountain, and eventually we did.

I feel really bad though, because I couldn’t stop. If I were to have stopped, I would’ve slid right back down the mountain. And so of course I wanted to pay them for their support. Uh, but I couldn’t. So we took off. Finally we [00:04:00] made it to the short term rental, which was truly beautiful on the side of the mountain, in the jungle, super peaceful jacuzzi.

It was very nice, but it was a really hard time getting there, and so that affects your review score. Stay tuned. I’ll tell you how I actually reviewed this property in just a second,

But before we get to the details on that review and why I left it, let’s break down some of the most extreme short-term rentals our team could find.

One of our top picks for most extreme off-grid short-term rental. This one happens to be on a floating glacier in Greenland.

For those of you tune into podcast only, well, you can see all the beautiful photos, the videos if you tune into our YouTube channel at short-Term Rental Riches. I’m on this website for this property right now, and you can tell right away that this property offers an experience.

And by the price tag, you could expect it to be a pretty good experience. Well, north of $1,000 a [00:05:00] night, remember, the higher your nightly rate, the more expectations your guests are going to have.

This property has some amazing photos of people standing underneath glaciers of the sort of yurt looking, uh, tents, but very luxurious inside, floating on top of the water helicopters taking off, I mean. This is definitely an experience and this is what people are looking for. A lot of people, I should say, they’re looking for adventure.

Quick side story, my partner, Justin, who you’ve probably heard on the podcast, if you’ve been tuning in for a while, sent me a message not too long ago, earlier this year and said, Hey, Tim, something last minute came up. I’ve been wanting to do this trip. I’m heading to Greenland to do it. Get this an 80 kilometer hike through the snow.

I was like. Dude, are you serious? Uh, and you’re going by yourself like, that sounds pretty crazy. Uh, he ended up having an amazing experience. He stayed in [00:06:00] several different accommodations. It turned into a dog sledding adventure. He met people and that’s why people are looking for these types of experiences because they’re never going to forget them.

So we’ll see if we can find some clips from his journey and include them on this video as well.

Next up we have the Sky Lodge Adventure Suites, and this is one, I have to confess that. I might not even want to stay out because it is so extreme. This is a property suspended from the side of a cliff.

In order to get to it, guests either have to climb or take a zip line. Obviously, there’s a lot of liability that comes along with this type of property. The ones that we’ve picked for you today are around the world, and so insurance requirements and all those things change depending where you are.

This one happens to be in Peru, and it definitely offers some upscale amenities like gourmet meals and wine, and it reflects in the price tag as well at [00:07:00] over $600 a night. And for a property in Peru suspended on the side of a cliff, that’s a pretty high price tag. I gotta say. I don’t think I would probably want to stay in this one.

I got a little, little fear of heights.

But I would say if I ever did stay in it, I definitely wouldn’t forget it. ’cause I probably wouldn’t be sleeping.

Next up, we have a yurt in Mongolia surrounded by National Parks, lakes, and waterfalls. Some of the available tours include eagle scouting.

You’ve got local opportunities to go out there with eagle hunters. How many people do you know that have been hunting eagles? Actually, that sounds. Kind of crazy. I think that’s definitely illegal, uh, in the us. But who knows In Mongolia, maybe there’s just an extreme amount of eagles out there. You’re in the wilderness.

If you’re checking out the photos or the video, you can see that this place is surrounded by snow. Definitely remote. Definitely a place or an adventure or an experience. You will not [00:08:00] forget.

You also note that this property is a lot cheaper at $135 a night. So while it is very extreme, it’s not offering a lot of those luxury amenities like the gourmet meals and wine and Peru, for example.

So remember, our price tags have to match our guest expectations and our listing profiles have to do a really good job of explaining exactly what our property is like.

Otherwise, you’ll find yourself with not so great reviews.

All right, next up, no one would be expecting this one, but sleeping underwater with sharks in Paris. And I know you’re probably thinking what that, like where in Paris? How could you do that? Well, it’s actually in a giant aquarium, and this is a property that partnered with Airbnb e.

It’s called the Glass Shark Suite and it’s surrounded by 360 views. Have you guessed it? Sharks?

A truly unique stay was [00:09:00] actually designed to raise. Shark awareness and they offer one night stays there. I do not know the price. It’s very possible that this property just got booked up and it’s not available at all. And that’s something that we find with unique stays, right? Because they’re unique and they’re extreme.

There are not a lot of them. And so when the word gets out and people understand or see how great these experiences are, more people want to book ’em. And those calendars fill up quickly. Also, another great reason to have a direct booking website. These types of properties also lend themselves really well to social media because they can go viral, right?

How many properties do you know that you can sleep in an aquarium with sharks?

So a couple quick tips on extreme stays or accommodations if you’re planning on having one yourself or renting one yourself, and then I’ll give you my final review score for that Columbia property. The first thing is you gotta make sure that it’s [00:10:00] accessible. Set those expectations really, really clearly.

If you are in a place that’s really hard to get to, we’ll make sure that you have required transportation, for example.

You wanna pull out things that guests love about your property. If you’re offering one of these unique type of stays, we can find all those comments in the reviews. But we also want to ask them for their feedback as well. And one of the things that’s undoubtedly gonna be a common thread through these types of properties is just disconnecting from the city life or the work life, doing something different and creating an incredible experience.

You wanna remember to price according to the uniqueness and the exclusivity. If you are charging too much and you’re not meeting those guest expectations, then you’re not gonna get that greater reviews.

People still want to be comfortable, even if it is an extreme accommodation. So if you’ve got a really high price tag, [00:11:00] make sure that you’ve included as many of those modern comforts as you possibly can. And if you’re not able to, that any of those things that someone would expect are clearly mentioned in your listing.

All right, so there we go. Those are some of the world’s most extreme off-grid short-term rentals. I left the Columbia property a. Five star review because it just was such a great experience. I mean, it was really out in the middle of nowhere. Uh, a lot of things go into that though, right? I mean, I’m sort of biased because I’ve been working with short term rentals for over a decade.

We’ve had thousands of thousands of guest reservations, and our team works with hundreds of properties in over 40 cities. So I guess for, uh, an individual owner. Uh, especially in Columbia where the standards are a little lower than they might be in the US or Europe. Uh, I just have kind of like a soft spot for someone trying to do a really good job, and my feedback to them is make those expectations more clear.

But [00:12:00] you absolutely have amazing property. I loved it and I would recommend it.

So while these retreats aren’t for everyone, there’s definitely a segment of the market that’s looking for them and willing to pay for them. If you’ve got some crazy short-term rental stories of your own, we’d love to hear about ’em.

Please put ’em in the comments. It’d be a lot of fun to read. Until next time, I hope you have a fab this week.