Plum Guide Review - How It Works, Cost, Locations & More
Those searching for the best home away from home on their next vacation will not be short on properties to sift through.
Sites like Airbnb and VRBO have long since been the favorites of tourists looking for accommodation in cities across the globe.
And newcomers like Harvest Host and Plum Guide offer travelers a new perspective when it comes to rental properties.
Plum Guide launched in 2016, and since then they’ve allowed guests to reimagine what it means to stay in a vacation rental.
If you’ve never heard of Plum Guide or are looking to learn more about it, continue reading for an in-depth overview of the site along with our honest review.
What is Plum Guide?
What sets Plum Guide apart from other vacation home rental sites is that you won’t find thousands of properties on their website. Marketing itself as “The official selection of the world’s best stays,” Plum Guide is expertly curated.
Of the thousands of vacation rental properties available in any given city, Plum Guide lists just the top 3% of homes available in each price bracket.
While a smaller selection may seem like a bad thing, it’s actually a huge time-saver. The people at Plum Guide have done the searching for you and only showcase the very best of the best.
Rather than spending hours scrolling to find the perfect rental property for your next trip, you can utilize your extra time planning excursions, booking flights, or mapping out the perfect road trip.
The Plum Test
You may be wondering how the folks over at Plum Guide actually determine which homes make it into the top 3%. There’s one quick way to weed out the bad apples - they come and inspect the houses with their own two eyes.
First, they establish a database for each location. Then, an expert systematically reviews every single home in the area. The ones that make it to the shortlist based on design, reviews, and location are selected for an interview. To win a Plum Award and make it onto the site, you have to pass the Plum Test.
The test is a lot more intense than just checking off a few boxes. In fact, there are 150 criteria and 500 data points to test the home, the homeowner, and even the neighborhood in which the property is located.
Some of the main things the Plum Test checks for are comfort, aesthetics, atmosphere, and convenience. The main reasons homes fail the test include unpleasant smells, poor mattress quality, low-quality furnishings, noisy neighborhoods, and unresponsive or unreliable hosts.
Needless to say, the homes that pass the Plum Test and receive the Plum Award absolutely deserve their place amongst the top 3%.
Plum Guide Cost
Listings on Plum Guide start around $100 per night and can go as high as thousands of dollars per night.
The average price for one of their homes seems to be around $300-$700 per night.
The cost of your rental will be determined by the size and location of the place you’re looking for. There’s options for all types of budgets.
Plum Guide reviews
Don’t take our word for it. Check out some of the reviews from real verified users of Plum Guide.
Trust Pilot has over 1,500 reviews of Plum Guide, most of which are positive. The site’s overall rating of Plum Guide is 4.3 stars.
While about 85% of the reviews for Plum Guide on Trust Pilot are 5 stars, there are a few negative reviews from customers.
Most are complaints about customer service wait times and last-minute booking cancellations.
The fastest way to reach their customer support team is via LiveChat, which is manned 24 hours a day with less than a 5 minute wait time.
Plum Guide matchmaking service
Plum Guide goes above and beyond to ensure you have a successful stay, and aside from the Home Critics who inspect the homes, the company also offers a premium MatchMaking service.
You may think that a service like this is way beyond your budget, but it’s actually completely free for all guests!
Using the data collected during the Plum Test, local MatchMakers work closely with guests to find the perfect home and location. Along with the basic details like dates and number of guests, MatchMakers dig deeper and seek out the details that really matter to you.
Say you want to be steps from the beach, need a place with no stairs, or hope to stay close to relatives. These are all things that the MatchMakers take into account to find you your perfect vacation home.
How it works
The process of booking your first Plum Guide Vacation home is fairly straightforward and can be completed in 6 easy steps.
1.) Create an account
To get started, you’ll need to create a Plum Guide account. This should take less than 30 seconds, and all you’ll need is your name, email address, and location.
2.) Begin searching
After you create your account, you can begin searching for vacation rentals. You can search based on guest count, dates, location, or all three. You can also apply filters for price, property type, specific features, and more.
3.) Work with a matchmaker
If you couldn’t find exactly what you’re looking for or you simply don’t have time to search, you can work with one of Plum Guide’s expert MatchMakers - free of charge.
To get started, simply contact the 24/7 LiveChat. You can also click the “need help?” button on any listing to get matched with a local expert.
4.) Request to book
Once you’ve found the perfect vacation home, make sure the dates are available and request to book. Note that you will be charged for your reservation as soon as the Host confirms your stay.
If you reserve a home on Instant Book, you will be changed immediately. Some hosts also charge a security deposit, and some charge extra for things like heated pools and cleaning fees - so be sure to read the Host House Rules and Home Truths sections thoroughly.
5.) Check-in
The check-in process will vary depending on the host, so be sure to read the ‘key details’ section on the listing. Most hosts will meet you at the property to give you a run down, but some offer self-check-in via a keypad or lockbox.
6.) Check-out
Check-out also varies by the host. Some will meet you to collect the keys, while others will have a designated place for you to leave them.
Cancellation policy
Plum Guide’s cancellation policy is not straight across the board. Instead, each home has a specific cancellation policy that fits into one of 7 different categories. Be sure to read the policy carefully before booking.
Here are the cancellation policy categories:
Relaxed or Premium Relaxed: guests will receive a full refund for cancelations made at least 24 hours before local check-in time.
Reasonable or Premium Reasonable: guests will receive a full refund for cancelations made at least 5 days ahead of local check-in time.
Moderate: guests will receive a full refund for cancelations made at least 30 days ahead of local check-in time or a 50% refund for cancelations made at least 7 days before the local check-in time.
Firm: guests will receive a 50% refund for cancelations made at least 7 days before the local check-in time.
SuperFirm: guests will receive a 50% refund for cancelations made at least 14 days before the local check-in time.
SuperFirm30: guests will receive a 50% refund for cancelations made at least 30 days before the local check-in time.
SuperFirm60: guests will receive a 50% refund for cancelations made at least 60 days before the local check-in time.
Locations
Plum Guide got their start in London and has since expanded to serve dozens of different countries and countless cities across Europe, the U.K., and the United States.
New cities are constantly being added, and while the company has plans to expand to more countries in the future, they strive to ensure the same quality across the board. Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all.
You’ll find Plum Guide vacation rentals in the following countries:
Austria
Barbados
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Mexico
The Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
and more!
Plum Guide vs. Airbnb
Plum Guide is an excellent alternative to Airbnb. There are plenty of similarities between the sites, but some things set them apart.
Interface
Like many of the other most well-known vacation rental sites, Plum Guide and Airbnb are peer-to-peer sites. This means that the company does not own the properties they are listing. Instead they just act as a marketplace for hosts and guests to connect with one another.
Both of the sites’ interfaces work similarly. The process of searching, filtering results, booking, and paying are nearly identical.
Property Types
The types of properties on both sites are also comparable. You’ll find run-of-the-mill offerings like houses and apartments, but there are also more unique rentals like castles, houseboats, and countryside villas on both Airbnb and Plum Guide.
The major difference between the two is that Plum Guide does NOT offer private rooms, shared spaces, or empty campsites like Airbnb.
Price
The price is also comparable between the two sites, with homes available in every price bracket. If you’re really looking to squeak by with a low-cost vacation rental, then Airbnb may have more budget-friendly options, but you always run the risk of unsanitary, seedy, and overall disappointing stays.
With Plum Guide, quality is always guaranteed, thanks to the Plum Test.
Quality vs. Quantity
Plum Guide runs the whole gamut of testing on properties they list on their site. Not only does this save guests time when it comes to searching, but it also ensures that only the best homes are listed on their site.
Listing just the top 3% of all vacation homes on the market may seem like your choices are limited, but Plum Guide has over 12,000 properties across 21 different countries.
Ratings
Unlike Airbnb, Plum Guide does not have user-generated ratings or reviews on its platform. The company made a conscious decision not to include reviews, mostly because they believe them to be flawed and unreliable.
Instead, they rely on the quality of the homes that they select, and allow guests to leave private reviews for the hosts and Plum Guide staff.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Save Time Searching
Because Plum Guide only lists the top 3% of vacation homes, they do the hard work of weeding out the bad properties for you. This saves you time when you search, and you can even utilize the help of a local MatchMaker for free!
Quality Guaranteed Thanks to the Plum Test
The Plum Test also ensures that only the best homes make it onto Plum Guide. They skip no corners when it comes to accessing the properties to guarantee that guests have an exceptional stay.
Home Truths
While quality is guaranteed when you book with Plum Guide, perfection is not. On each listing you’ll find a ‘Home Truths’ section that gets into the nitty gritty details of each home. Lots of stairs? Patchy Wi-Fi? Too much grout in the bathroom tiles?
Plum Guide lays it all out, so you know exactly what you’re in for. This way, your expectations for each property can remain high without being unrealistic.
Photos are Taken By Plum Guide, Not the Hosts
This is a bonus for both guests and hosts. Guests can be assured that the photos of the listing are authentic, while hosts get free, professional photos of their home to show off its best assets.
Cons:
Limited locations
As we mentioned, Plum Guide is currently only available in certain countries. This puts them at a slight disadvantage to other vacation rental sites, though they do have plans to expand in the future.
No App
Plum Guide has yet to come out with an app, which means that you’ll need to book directly on their website. This isn’t a huge disadvantage, though it is a bit of an inconvenience.
Is Plum Guide worth it?
Absolutely! If you’re looking for quality digs without all the hassle, then Plum Guide is definitely worth your while. While it may not be available in every city just yet, don’t hesitate to check them out if you’re visiting a place where Plum Guide is available.
With plans to expand globally, Plum Guide may dominate the vacation rental market in the coming years thanks to its dedication to quality accommodation for its guests.