To lower the bill, the Toulouse platform Wayf offers shared accommodation… on vacation

Share a cottage or house rental to lower your vacation bill. After car-sharing platforms to reduce gas and toll costs and couchsurfing to avoid paying for a hotel, Toulouse’s public platform Wayf offers Internet users the opportunity to go on vacation at a lower price. Launched in early January, the WAYF platform, an acronym for “Where are you from?” allows travelers to share accommodation in France for periods ranging from weekends to one month.

“It allows you to meet people”

“The idea for this project came to me at the end of business school, after I wanted to rent a house by the sea, but since I couldn’t afford it, I told myself that I need to find roommates for the holidays, explains 26-year-old Clarissa Laborde, founder of Wayf. It is more economical to combine housing costs in order to have access to a large house, rather than renting 10 m2. And then it allows you to meet people.

Once the destination is chosen, all that remains is to find other platform members with the same expectations or areas of interest: location, budget, events… Nearly 200 travelers are already registered and have access to about 300 accommodations, mainly in the mountains, on sea ​​or countryside. Members pay online through a shared booking and payment system. “For owners who are often on other platforms, this optimizes the chances of renting their home and increases occupancy rates,” explains Clarissa Laborde.

Platform Toulouse refers to spacious living spaces with a minimum of two bedrooms located in Occitania, New Aquitaine, Paque and Corsica. It offers accommodation in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Pays de la Loire and will have 1,000 registered travelers by the end of the year. In France, the average price of renting a house for a week is 1133 euros.