House or Villa?

I see that there are some new categories for listings. I am not sure whether to choose House or Villa for my listing. My Airbnb Rental is a private house, 2500 square feet, on a 1 acre property with private pool, hot tub, deck, patio, fenced yard. I think of it as a nice house. But based on the description from Airbnb, it seems like I should choose villa. Any suggestions?

I understand the problem, and I think the answer is that the definition would be different in every country, so there is not one answer. I would be totally clueless about what to choose as well. Just to say that I am of no help :disappointed:.

internet says;
“Villa can be very similar to a house in that it can closely resemble a standard, single family home, but villas are also known for being luxurious, larger homes with their own gardens, vineyards or courtyards, hotel-like services and water fixtures, like pools and fountains.”

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Neither am I :slight_smile:
Villa seems to be European to me. Where is the rental?

To build on @Mike_L ‘s comment, in my area golf villas are common. They usually are on the course and have extra amenities (e.g. daily maid service, room service, a ride to the club house…)

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If this helps - our property is a villa (it’s even part of our name). We are located in the Caribbean in a secluded forested area. We have 4000 square feet for a three-bedroom home, with a private pool, regular housekeeping, a driver service available, and cooking and meal-plan services available. We are surrounded by cashew trees and bougainvillea, as well as grapefruit, mango and coffee bushes.

But I would be confused by an American (US) home in the forest being called a villa. I’m American but have never heard that term applied to any US home. Mansion, yes. Villa, no.

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When I lived in the uk ‘villa’ was a popular term to describe a holiday house in a sunny overseas location with a pool.

When living in New England a villa was an older style lakeside home, I think.

Here in NZ it’s more commonly used to describe an architectural style usually from a particular time period. I was confused when I first got here why these houses were being described as villas - they are mainly in urban areas with little outside space, certainly no pool in sight. I’d never heard houses like this described as ‘villas’ anywhere else.

So I guess it depends who your market is and what they’re likely to call it? I’d lean towards your house being a villa

“Villa” is used a lot in marketing STR properties in Spain (confusingly, the Spanish equivalent is “chalet”!) We never refer to our house as a villa (it always sounds a bit snobbish to me) but other people do! The term always refers to a completely detached house, often in an upmarket suburban/coastal area, with garden and usually pool - not always particularly luxurious, though.

I agree, though, that it tends to depend on locality. Perhaps, @PonderosaPines, you could look at nearby listings to see how they are described?

Villa in Australia refers to unit (for example 6-8 units sit on two lots of land. Usually 1 house sit on one lot, but the lot size can usually vary from 500-900 square metres in different suburbs). Many unit/villa here only has a land size around 150 square metres. So it is quite small, no pool, no garden and not luxurious at all :):sweat_smile:

It is really interesting that same word is used to refer to completely different things in different parts of the world.

Same we use" Villa" Damai for our Bali property only, pool, staff, hot climate, beaches.