Urban Shortstay is a (seemingly outdated) rental platform. It offers apartments and studios for short stays, typically between several months and a year. While Urban Shortstay is promoted in several rental guides for Rotterdam, the platform shows no signs of being active. The most recent articles were published in 2016, all housing options are marked as rented out, and many of its pages (such as About, How it Works, and Services) are hidden unless accessed via direct URLs.
The concept of Urban Shortstay is straightforward: browse available homes, select one you’re interested in, and create an account. However, there’s a catch: to create an account, you must first pay a €100 registration fee, which includes the ability to book a viewing. While Urban Shortstay claims the fee is 100% refundable, it’s only refundable under very specific conditions:
Once you’ve created a paid account, and if there is availability, you can react to listings and schedule a viewing. However, viewings are only possible for homes with a minimum stay of six months or longer.
What’s unclear is why the platform, which appears inactive, is still accepting payments. This raises questions about its current reliability and transparency.
Urban Shortstay charges €100 to create an account, which in most cases is non-refundable.
Many TrustPilot reviews highlight complaints about Urban Shortstay not refunding the €100 registration fee, with one reviewer even claiming that the security deposit was not returned. There’s also a discussion on TripAdvisor, though it lacks substantial feedback. Additionally, the company does not disclose its legal name on the website. Overall, Urban Shortstay seems to be very suspicious.
That’s about it — beyond this, there seem to be no significant advantages, given the lack of new listings and credibility issues.
Urban Shortstay operates in multiple cities across the Netherlands, including Rotterdam, Delft, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven, and Capelle aan den IJssel.
Listings on Urban Shortstay appear to be managed exclusively by the platform itself. They seem to operate as a real estate agency, renting out properties on behalf of other property owners or landlords, rather than allowing private landlords to post their own listings.
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