Brooklyn igloo delights New Yorkers but fails Airbnb standards

Fancy staying in a “Boutique Winter Igloo for 2” in Brooklyn, New York City? Unfortunately, it will no longer be possible after Airbnb removed the listing for an impromptu structure built during the severe winter storm that hit the Eastern US this weekend.

The Airbnb posting described the structure as a “Boutique Winter Igloo for 2″. Image by Patrick M. Horton

An enterprising group of Brooklynites took advantage of a hefty dumping of snow that fell to build an igloo – and listed it on the home-rental site for $200 per night.

Patrick Horton, an advertising art director who built the igloo with friends, tweeted updates of the process and then listed it on Airbnb as a romantic getaway spot for two lucky people. “Dripping with ingenuity and alt-lifestyle aura lays the Snopocalypse of 2016’s most desirable getaway” he wrote, added that the igloo is “built completely by hand all natural”.

But despite some actual interest in the igloo, Horton then tweeted that Airbnb took down the posting “for not meeting occupancy standards”, but noted that “they were nice enough to tell us that it looked very well constructed.”

According to the website Brokelyn.com, the listing was only up for six hours before it was removed. Horton told the site that he and his friends had decided to make an igloo months before and were waiting for a snowy day. Apparently, their igloo-making skills came from watching YouTube tutorials.

The inside of the igloo. Image by Patrick M. Horton

While paying $200 to camp in an “all natural” backyard Brooklyn igloo built by people who learned their skills from YouTube may not seem like the best way to survive a winter storm, the interest from people wanting to stay in a snow cave is fairly unsurprising; igloos are the second-most wished-listed type of abode on Airbnb, topped only by tree-houses.

Read more: Feast your eyes on Airbnb’s most desired properties with tree-houses top of list