When you go away do you ever wish you could find somewhere to stay that has a piano? To sit at a beautiful instrument in a unique location, perhaps with a stunning view, is to many the ultimate holiday experience.
A while ago I put up a message on a community board asking just this question, and over the past year I’ve been contacted by a number of people who would really like to find places to stay that have a piano they can use. So I thought maybe this was a matter worth pursuing.
Airbnb Piano Filter
Airbnb seems the obvious place to start. When searching for a place to book, the Airbnb search engine offers various filters to help you find what you are looking for. You specify, location, dates, number of rooms etc, and up comes a selection of available properties. In addition there is a section headed Amenities, which enable you to find homes that offer various facilities such as gyms, hot tubs, a pool, free parking etc.
I feel that adding “Piano” to this list of amenities would be a most worthwhile option. I previously contacted Airbnb about this and they felt there would be insufficient demand. They may be right, but I think, with your assistance, it is worth taking things a stage further… so if you feel this is a good idea, the piano playing community need your help.
If enough people contact Airbnb with a request to include a search option for “pianos”, we might just get it actioned.
Message Airbnb Today
It seems the best way to get Airbnb to take notice is to send them a Direct Message via Twitter. Simply log in to Twitter, search for @Airbnbhelp, and choose “Follow” them. You can then send a Direct Message (DM) by selecting the “Messages” tab. Your message should include a simple request that they offer a Piano checkbox in the list of a property’s amenities. Let us know if you get a response.
Owners of Properties with Pianos
If you already list a property on Airbnb, and it has a piano, please also message the company with this request. In addition always include a photo of your piano in your listing and mention its availability. Having a piano (and telling people about it) can dramatically increase your occupancy rates.
You might also like to add a comment beneath this post, stating that your rentable property has a piano. Feel free to do this even if you list your property on websites other than Airbnb, or if you are part of a house swap program.
Help Take Things Further
This is the first stage in this campaign. Hopefully we can make Airbnb reconsider, and include a piano filter. But also, if there is enough of a response, we can create our own database of properties for rent that offer a piano. Have you ever rented somewhere with a piano? Let us all know below.
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Thank you for the great post. Your concerns about finding convenient practice rooms as a traveling musician are the exact reasons why we started Piano.House.
We don’t have any affiliation with Airbnb but we sometimes pitch ourselves as “Airbnb for piano practice rooms.” People with pianos at home can list their available pianos on our platform for people who are looking for pianos to book and practice.
We also offer many other services to assist teachers finding students, performing artists getting gigs, and tuner & technicians acquiring clients.
Piano.House is founded by a team of piano players with the mission of helping other piano players in mind.
We have launched our app as well: which is now available on iTunes and Google Play. Find out more about us by downloading our app or check out our website. It’s free to sign up and download app.
http://www.Piano.House
This is great! We have been contemplating doing a corporate/longer term (30-day+) Airbnb/VRBO with our home and the biggest hurdle is what to do about our Steinway grand piano. I would love to figure out how to make it available to musicians who would treat it with respect. I would be very interested in hearing any success stories on how this has, or might work, and also would be happy to contact airbnb to add a piano filter.
Doesn’t really need a specific piano filter, a simple keyword filter would probably do. Much more likelihood of airbnb implementing that (bit surprised they haven’t already).
Love this idea! Since we own a Loft in Porto – next to the Cathedral – where we have a dearly loved grand piano, I was wondering how to make it available to travelling piano players that really appreciate a stay at our property and treat the piano and the remaining interior respectful. Any ideas?
What state are you in?! Is piano place available Dec 31 to Jan 3?
Hi everyone, there is now a website that is like Airbnb but for music spaces, it’s called mushRoom (find-mushroom.com). If you are looking for a space to practice in UK or France when you travel, the website can be useful!(You can find piano rooms in churches, schools and in people’s homes) Or if you know anyone who is happy to share their piano spaces to build this community, do invite them to list on the platform 🙂
Hope this helps!!
We randomly rented a house in France that had an upright in the kitchen/living space. It became the highlight of the evenings as we’d listen/ sing the night away! Caused us to not leave the house! Since then I’ve been obsessed. Just using google with keywords including Airbnb piano gets some decent results.