The End of the Airbnb-Promoted Style: “Airspace” Becomes a Thing of the Past

The “AirSpace” style apartment is defined by simple, modern and at the same time “Instagrammable” furniture that looks good in photos. Add white or light gray walls and such standard decorations as books on the table and shelves, graphics and photos from the Internet on the walls, colorful pillows and motivational sayings and artificial plants placed in various places.

All of this was supposed to create the atmosphere of an “authentic” private apartment, but over time such arrangements began to resemble the interiors of hotel rooms more and more. Apartments in the “Airbnb aesthetic” have become the same as the “international breakfast” in hotels for many: they are supposed to please every guest, but in fact, no one likes them.

Airspace: Airbnb-style interior design

The numbers speak for themselves, and these are provided by lifestyle website NSS, which recently looked at the decline of the “Airbnb aesthetic.” Since 2020, the popularity of the “Airspace” style has fallen by 26 percent on the internet, while posts with the hashtag #airbnbstyle have dropped by 41 percent in the past two years.

On the other hand, eclectic, “imperfect” and therefore more authentic interiors are gaining popularity among tourists (especially young ones). According to last year’s data from the Booking.com platform, 58 percent of users prefer interiors in this climate.

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The whole phenomenon has a much broader context. The antipathy towards Airbnb, as well as the aesthetics of apartments that can be rented through this platform, is contributed to by mass tourism, which has been a problem for residents of many tourist cities for years.

Between 2016 and 2024, the number of apartments on Airbnb in Milan increased by 300 percent. In Barcelona, ​​seven out of ten summer apartments are designated for tourist rentals.