The world’s most popular Airbnb listing isn’t easy to find.
From San Francisco, the journey begins with an hourlong drive down Interstate 280 and a windy traverse of “Killer 17” — one of the most accident-prone highways in California. In the small coastal town of Aptos, you ascend into the Santa Cruz mountains, past centuries-old redwood groves and herds of deer. A few miles in, you lose cell service and have to rely on paper instructions printed out in advance.
When you spot the cluster of weathered mailboxes, you cut right and climb up a steep single-lane driveway until you reach an old, mint green shed. You park and walk up the driveway, past black cats, clucking chickens, and dense thickets of foliage.
In the mid-’90s, Kitty’s parents allowed a friend who’d recently become homeless to build a small cabin on the 10-acre property.
Kitty agreed — so long as the structure was 100 square feet or less.
A local builder sold the woman a set of blueprints for a unique geometric structure; with the help of an ex-Navy SEAL, she built it from scratch and lived there for the next 7 years before marrying and moving out.
After Kitty’s parents passed away, her family sold off the property. But Kitty, who still lived next door, wanted to keep the strange cabin.
“We hired a crane and loaded it onto a flatbed truck,” she says. “And then, I got to see a house fly.”
Today, the Mushroom Dome is so popular that it only has 2 or 3 vacancies in a typical year.
Guests typically have to make reservations up to 8 months in advance. Even Kitty’s own children — now fully grown adults — have to contend with the masses to get a night on the calendar.
Despite its popularity, Kitty has chosen to keep her property relatively affordable at $156/night, ~$100/night cheaper than hotels in town.
“I don’t want just the techies to stay here,” she says. “I want it to be accessible to all different types of people.”
Her guests run the gamut from millionaire founders to lower-middle-class families who save up all year to stay here.
Financially, the Mushroom Dome has been a lifesaver.
Before she joined Airbnb, Kitty was struggling to get by on her $250/mo. Social Security checks.
Today, the cabin brings in $8k/mo. ($96k/year) — more than 8x what the average Airbnb makes.
The extra cash helped her husband, Michael, retire from his job working with international students at the UCSC extension school.
“For the first time in our lives, we don’t have to worry about money,” Kitty says.
https://thehustle.co/inside-the-worlds- ... ed-airbnb/