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June 13, 2022
Community Airbnb
The housing market on the islands is beyond repair. On Tiree 46% of houses are in darkness throughout winter and with average prices of £500,000, young people on the island have nowhere to live. While not the answer to the housing crisis caused by second homes, an enterprising community project is offering visitors to the islands a community based alternative to that behemoth of holiday home rentals, Airbnb. IsleHoliday.com. is the latest venture to come out of the endlessly creative isle20.com which emerged in response to the the pandemic’s impact on island-based tourism.
isleHoliday is the new project from Isle Develop CIC: the company behind isle20.com
isle20 was created as a direct response to the impact of Covid-19 on the islands’ tourism sector. It was set up as a marketplace, to allow small businesses to keep selling despite the lack of tourist footfall. The success of this project gave rise to Isle Develop CIC – a Community Interest Company dedicated to putting profits back in the hands of island communities.
isleHoliday is a bookings site, which will reinvest its revenue directly into local island communities.
Like other booking sites, for every booking taken, isleHoliday will charge commission. But that’s where the similarities end. That commission will not only go towards running the business – which already supports 2 jobs in the islands – all surplus will go into the Isle Develop Fund.
That Fund is focussed on supporting small businesses and community and housing projects in the Scottish islands. By keeping profits local, we hope to have a visibly positive impact which will help our communities to thrive for many generations to come. We want to make sure that the islands remain a great place to live as well as a great place to visit.
The Fund can only be used for the benefit of the islands and their residents; not for individual or corporate profit.
With it, we hope to support projects that will enrich the islands; directly investing in community and sustainable development for our islands’ future. The success of isle20 has already allowed us to make positive impacts in the last year in the form of grants for micro businesses, who have used the money to buy equipment that is essential to the long-term viability of their business.
By placing communities at the centre of everything we do, we hope to use isleHoliday to make tourism work better for everyone.
If you are interested in finding out more about isleHoliday – whether you have your own website or are currently using another service, or both or none, drop us a line and we will be in touch!