
Rent the country of Liechtenstein for $70,000 a night with Airbnb - jamesjyu
http://blog.airbnb.com/rent-anything-from-a-couchto-a-country
======
furyg3
Ahh Liechtenstein. Random trivia: the Swiss once invaded the country by
accident and nobody noticed.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/02/markoliver>
[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/opinion/13iht-
edstamm.4893...](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/opinion/13iht-
edstamm.4893796.html)

~~~
krolley
As a foreigner living in Switzerland, it can feel the same. Driving with a
Swiss it's like "are we in Liechtenstein yet?" because you'd never know it
otherwise.

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plnewman
Fun fact: Liechenstein actually voted itself into an absolute monarchy in
2003.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein_constitutional_re...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein_constitutional_referendum,_2003)

~~~
caf
So when Alexander Lukashenko is described as the "last dictator in Europe",
they're forgetting Hans-Adam II.

~~~
eru
He's lovingly pronounced Han-Saddam by the locals.

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1053r
It must not come with legislative powers, because at $70K per night, that's
only $25.55M a year. The GDP of Lichtenstein is 5.05B according to a quick
google search (google for "lichetenstein gdp" and you get a result from google
public data sources). I'll pay $25.55M for the right to tax the people of
Lichtenstein for one year! Even if I only raise taxes 1%, that's a cool $25M
profit!

~~~
JonnieCache
It's not people of Liechtenstein you'd be taxing, it's the many multinationals
that send their profits there.

~~~
kahawe
I would assume the number of those has rapidly been dropping since 2008

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Liechtenstein_tax_affair>

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csomar
I can see lot of potential for this.

1\. The buyer. He benefits from a unique and authentic experience. He amazes
his audience because he doesn't just rent a hotel or a room, but a whole
location and customize it to fit.

2\. The seller. $70K/day, if they get booked 50 times a year that's $3.5
million. The country habitants benefits too from the incoming tourists and
currency.

3\. AirBnb. It's like having 1,000 clients in one time.

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JoachimSchipper
AirBNB sure knows how to pull a nice marketing stunt.

~~~
daniel1980fl
is it only me that "I dont get the idea"... (I was wrong many times before)

~~~
Groxx
I doubt you're their target market for renting a country. If you can drop 70k
for a night without breaking a sweat, feel free to tell me I'm wrong.

Given this is a partnership with Xnet, and:

> _Rent a Village by Xnet partners with these destinations to transform them
> into highly customized settings for events, corporate retreats, conferences,
> and more._

I imagine this is more about "events" than a single person renting a country
so they can sleep in it for the night. But that, too, is a possibility, if
they wanted to just so they could say they did.

~~~
klochner
If you can drop $70k/night, do you really need airBnB to secure an island for
a week?

Definitely more marketing stunt than anything, but also definitely brilliant.

~~~
Groxx
"An island", not really (usually). "A village" or "an entire country", that's
a bit harder - people live there. The location's purpose isn't entirely to be
rented. _Tourism_ , absolutely, but not temporary ownership.

~~~
klochner
So I wonder what happens if someone had a trip booked and someone else decided
to rent out the village for that day?

Presumably they could be denied access to any public or private venue.

~~~
Groxx
Hmmm... that's a good question...

Personally, I hope the village-renters have to agree that any current tourists
retain access to any normally-public venues. Private is debatable.

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edanm
Let's get an HN super-meetup going. If everybody pitches in $100 it won't take
too many members to rent out Liechtenstein for an all-HN users weekend!

~~~
nikcub
I call dibs on controlling that army

~~~
bobds
You can't control chaos.

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jacques_chester
It's a "too good to check" story, I'm afraid:

<http://clubtroppo.com.au/2010/07/04/rent-a-state/>

Or rather, "rent a country!" sounds sexier than "rent a few hotels!"

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delackner
Somehow this feels like the uncanny valley of human reality. Along the lines
of renting a family for the afternoon, or a puppy for a walk, only on a
massive scale.

I once had a dream that I was the king of the city, and they marched in parade
to honor my name. No wait, that was last weekend in Leichtenstein at
SuperBlingFest2012.

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joejohnson
Liechtenstein is 160 km². That's only $437.5 per square kilometer!

~~~
hugh3
Compare to your average room at your average Holiday Inn Express, which is 25
square metres and rents for $100 a night. That's four million dollars per
square km. Liechtenstein is a bargain!

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alexg0
Do they kick out all the 34,000 people that live that for the time? What do
you actually get?

~~~
prawn
I'd guess: a parade, meeting the mayor, key to city/country, some dedicated
accommodation, organisational support in running a major event, etc. Think of
it more as a novel way to host a massive launch event or corporate end-of-year
party than actually running the country for a day.

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JonnieCache
Are legislative powers included?

~~~
schintan
Should be, otherwise how would that be different from renting a room in
Liechtenstein at $70 a night ?

~~~
GrandMasterBirt
Rich people need ways to show off. Probably get to sleep with the prince or
something...?

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nikhilpandit
Another fun fact related to this story: Snoop Dogg tried to rent Liechtenstein
in the past, but was not able to. (source:
[http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2010/07/snoop-d...](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2010/07/snoop-
dogg-tried-to-rent-liechtenstein/19406/))

He should try using AirBnB next time!

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Splines
Warning: Minimum stay: 2 nights.

And no indoor fireplace? Pfft. I'll pass.

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visava
collect 700 people using groupon like site and then it is just $100/night.This
is an idea for a site if there are more deals like this

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InnocentB
At that point, you may as well stay in a 700-suite hotel for your $100.

~~~
estel
You might as well? Isn't that at least two orders of magnitude less awesome?

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tudorizer
Who's in with me? :D

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reso
I'll pitch $500! Just need 138 more...

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GrandMasterBirt
I'm in. Now we better be getting our money's worth! Now that I think about it.
1 day for a country for 70k is fine. Means we can throw one fucking helluva
party!

~~~
m0hit
Not absolutely sure what the fine print is, but $70,000 is a bargain for such
a huge _cOncert venue_. invite all your favorite bands to play in towns named
after then and streets named after the songs.

~~~
joe42
I was curious about how this would compare to large concert venues / stadiums
/ convention centers?

Anybody know how much those cost, ballpark?

~~~
tudorizer
I remembered correct that Snoop tried this before:

[http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2010/07/snoop-d...](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2010/07/snoop-
dogg-tried-to-rent-liechtenstein/19406/)

This can mean that renting a stadium might be around the same price.

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tudorizer
Wouldn't it be cool to rent this in the name of Hacker News for 2-3 days? With
150 people, it's not that expensive.

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joejohnson
It always strikes me how nice their website is. I really like the design and
layout.

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takinola
It's actually a pretty good deal. The country sleeps 500 so that comes to
about $140 per night. This is comparable to rates on Kayak for the cheapest 4
star hotels in nearby Zurich.

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joubert
I clicked on "Book Now".

Next I was prompted to contact the "host" to confirm availability (does this
mean they kick out the citizens?)

Oh, and BTW, minimum stay is 2 nights, so this will cost me $140,000.

~~~
cosmicray
> does this mean they kick out the citizens?

It means that the citizens will now try to book a group-rate 2-day stay on
Ibiza, then return to clean things up before the next renter arrives.

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jtnt
I'd rather rent San Marino (a country inside of Italy).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino>

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tectonic
If those 500+ rooms are all included, that's only about $140 per night. Not
free, but one hell of a (hacking) conference destination.

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joubert
One should set up a Kickstarter project to raise the $140k required (minimum
stay is 2 nights).

Participants can then be one's guests.

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krmmalik
I wonder if Richard Branson will be listing his Necker Islands anytime soon
;-)

~~~
lasonrisa
Double the regular price and say that all proceeds would to his Virgin Unite
charity. You might actually stand a chance.

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cookiecaper
cf. [http://www.theonion.com/articles/wealthy-swiss-tourist-
offer...](http://www.theonion.com/articles/wealthy-swiss-tourist-offers-us-
government-87-bill,19436)

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svag
The next thing would be to rent the moon, or mars, or any other planet...

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michaelochurch
13 days late, bro.

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presidentender
...Just how far does this rental extend? Can I declare war? 'Cuz this kid from
high school still owes me $50.

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gwern
April 14th. Hm.

