This Rental’s Design Was Shaped by the Owners’ Good (and Bad) Airbnb Experiences

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Patricia Azze and her husband, Jazz, had never visited the Berkshires when they chose to buy a house there. The couple live full-time in Miami with their dog, Roo, yet they harbored dreams of running a hospitality business. “We like to say we got there through neither romantic nor cold-hard research,” Patricia says with a laugh. The home simply met all their criteria.

The pair wanted a rental property somewhere with seasonal appeal (so it wouldn’t sit empty half the year) and within roughly three hours’ drive of at least one major city—the Berkshires sits practically midway between New York City and Boston. Other boxes to tick? Recreational marijuana had to be legal in the area, and there should be a cool, open-minded community for guests to tap into (a natural wine bar didn’t hurt).

“I had all these unusual requirements, because they would let us grow into a boutique hospitality brand,” explains Patricia (that brand is now called Warm Welcome Stays). As it happened, an 1886 farmhouse in the much-searched town of Great Barrington met every one of these requirements—and held real potential inside, too, after some TLC. Ahead, Patricia shares how they applied everything learned from staying in previous rentals (the good and the bad) to their own retreat.

Since the pair was rental shopping during a pandemic (they tackled the project this past summer), they wanted a house with enough space for guests to spread out on vacation. “This home had a lot of ‘chill zone’ potential,” says Patricia. In other words, there were enough rooms and bedrooms (five total, though they converted one into an office) so guests wouldn’t be on top of one another. “And you wouldn’t have to be precious about keeping your voice down if someone wants to watch a movie in one space while another sits and enjoys a cocktail elsewhere,” she adds. (The sustainable cork flooring throughout the home also helps dampen sound, plus it’s antimicrobial.) The kitchen, though, became a more active, cozy communal room with bistro tables and a built-in bench where visitors can keep the group’s designated chef company or enjoy morning coffee while overlooking the wetlands.

Their chief advice for others investing in a rental in an unfamiliar area: ask people you trust who are local plenty of questions, such as who they’d recommend as a real-estate agent and contractor. For the Azzes, the questions ranged from: Do we need wool blankets? How does a wood-burning fireplace work? Is this a normal heating system? “We’re tropical creatures, so suddenly we had to learn a great deal about the New England cold and how to handle it,” says Patricia. “Central AC is an absolute must in Miami, but it’s not a big deal in the Berkshires.”

Carving out areas where multiple guests could work remotely was a top priority. “We attended a wedding where the house was full of people but the Wi-Fi was weak and there weren’t good, private work zones, so it was a headache for those working and those who weren’t,” recalls Patricia. So the couple designed three desk zones—two inside bedrooms, plus one private office (ideal for long-term guests seeking a “designated work area,” as Airbnb calls it). “Especially with kids, you want to be able to close the door for privacy during calls,” she adds.

“I’ve been on plenty of trips that come down to rock, paper, scissors for the ‘bad room’ (aka the twin bed or sofa),” says Patricia. Nobody wants the short end of the stick simply because they’re the youngest or the single one. So she made a point of choosing all queen-size beds (plus one king). One room has two queen beds sharing a nightstand, preserving that sleepover-hotel feel while giving everyone room to stretch out. And it’s fine if the bed takes up a fair amount of space. “You don’t need many other furnishings in a rental—just a place to sleep and a place to stow your clothes,” she notes.

Even though the couple’s Miami home is nearly all white, they chose to have fun with paint in the rental. “You might not live with all this color, but it’s fun for a vacation,” says Patricia. Her brother arrived on site with a friend two days after the couple reached the house to begin cosmetic renovations and set straight to work painting. “He was ready, so we had to decide on colors super-fast,” she recalls. Her gut instinct led her to a blue kitchen, a violet bathroom, and a “Kermit the Frog” green bedroom. “Everyone thought I was crazy for that. Now it’s the favorite room in the house,” she says.

Discover this much-booked Massachusetts getaway here.

Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. Today, she writes and edits home and renovation stories, including house tours, before and afters, and DIYs, and leads our design news coverage. She lives in New York City.

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