Welcome Beyond

About us

About Welcome Beyond

Welcome Beyond hand-picks small hotels and vacation rentals that are truly original.

Many reflect their owners’ passion for distinctive architecture and design. Some border on quirky, several are quite posh. And a few are downright rustic.

What all properties have in common is that they’re exclusive — in the best sense of the word. Each is singular, memorable and definitely worth writing home about.

Welcome Beyond is a curated travel platform and hospitality company based in Berlin, Germany, that offers a collection of hand-picked boutique hotels, holiday homes, villas, and unique vacation rentals in destinations around the world. The company emphasizes distinctive architecture, design character, and personalized stays over conventional hotel listings.

The platform features a range of properties, including boutique hotels, villas, beach houses, bed & breakfasts, and other distinctive accommodations across numerous countries. The company selects properties for their individual character, aesthetic appeal, and unique guest experiences. Welcome Beyond has been featured in travel and lifestyle publications as a noteworthy online resource for holiday rentals.

Guests can browse listings and book stays directly through the platform.

Welcome Beyond is a partner of Miles & More so guests can collect 1 mile for every Euro they spend.

There are no booking fees and Welcome Beyond offers the same prices as booking directly at the property. Have you found your stay cheaper elsewhere? Contact them and they’ll always try to match the price.

Selected Press & Awards for Welcome Beyond

October 7, 2025

Condé Nast Traveller — 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards

The Highlight: Welcome Beyond was again named among the best villa rental companies in the world in 2025, as previously in 2024, 2022, and 2021.

January 28, 2025

Livingetc — Vacationing With These 6 Airbnb Alternatives Is Like “Entering an Interiors Magazine” — We’re in for the Trip

The Highlight: “If your usual short-term rental platform isn’t satisfying your design urges, these other options will have you immersed in awe-inspiring décor”

October 2024

Condé Nast Traveller — 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards

The Highlight: Welcome Beyond was named among the best villa rental companies in the world in 2024.

June 5, 2024

AD Germany — Destination Designhotel

The Highlight: “These 5 websites are the best addresses for your hotel search… let these inspiring sites lead the way.”
Auf der Suche nach dem richtigen Reiseziel? Machen Sie die Reiseplanung dieses Mal nicht von einem Ort, sondern von der Traumunterkunft abhängig – diese inspirierenden Websites weisen Ihnen den Weg.

June 23, 2022

GQ — The 12 Best Holiday Rental Companies

The Highlight: A handpicked selection of sites for those looking for “places with soul.”
Whether you’re looking for small places with soul or unique destinations to indulge in, we’ve handpicked the best holiday rental accommodation sites to book your perfect stay.

November 2018

The Sunday Times — The Villas Handbook

The Highlight: This guide ranks Welcome Beyond among the elite villa companies globally, particularly for its “mirror-clad houses” and high-design pads available at “real-people prices.”

June 2018

The Wall Street Journal — 7 Best Sites for Unique Homes

The Highlight: This piece specifically calls out Welcome Beyond as the choice for “design-minded iconoclasts.” It praises the platform for prioritizing properties that favor “personality over pretension.”

June 22, 2017

The Wall Street Journal — How Airbnb Rivals Win Over Hotel Snobs

The Highlight: Explores how Welcome Beyond caters to sophisticated travelers who seek character over corporate luxury.

July 25, 2016

Travel + Leisure — Best Villa Rental Agencies: Global

The Highlight: T+L has featured them multiple times (2015, 2016, 2020). They consistently highlight the agency as a “testament to the founders’ passion,” focusing on the rigorous, hand-picked nature of the collection.

May 27, 2012

The New York Times — Hey, how did you find this place?

The Highlight: Praised as the antidote to overwhelming, uncurated sites like VRBO.
Recently, I logged onto VRBO.com, only to find my head spinning at the length of its roster. Scrolling through Hotels.com and Airbnb.com, I almost gave up. Welcome Beyond offers lodgings with personality: a six-bedroom, cliffside villa in Phuket, Thailand, goes for 1,338 euros per night (chef included), and a cozy forest hut in Sweden with no electricity costs 44 euros. Welcome Beyond is best for the adventurous traveler who can appreciate the unusual.

July 15, 2011

The Guardian — The Best Travel Websites Ever

A foundational piece that established the platform’s architectural integrity.

Who’s behind this

Welcome Beyond was founded by two Berlin-based brothers who’ve spent their lives studying and working around the globe. In addition to a lot of genes, they share a fundamental insight about travel – that where you stay is as vital to the experience as what you see and do.

Oliver Laugsch has been a designer and art director with agencies in the US, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK, creating the only known connection between clients such as Deutsche Bank and the Chemical Brothers. Oliver channeled his lifelong love of design and architecture into formal studies at the Art Center College of Design.

Chris Laugsch worked in finance for a German multinational, ultimately taking on a management role with its Brazilian subsidiary. He was educated at the European Business School in London and Santiago de Chile. Chris alternates between German and English with his older brother – and throws in some Spanish or Portuguese to keep it interesting.

Hand-picked selection

We review every property carefully and only accept those that meet our high design & quality standards — in all price ranges.

Property application

Personal service

We want you to find your perfect stay. If you need help, email us:

Contact us
Welcome Beyond Google Reviews

Best prices & a little extra

Found your hotel cheaper elsewhere?
Contact us and we’ll always try to match the price. Guaranteed. And you’ll also often get a gift or upgrade when you book with us.

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The Sunday Times: The Villas Handbook

Best Villa Companies 2020

November 2020

Wow is what you’ll utter when you step into any one of Welcome Beyond’s properties, available in dozens of countries from Mexico to Germany. Personal touches (you actually know who the owners are) and design feature heavily in their preened pads — from mirror-clad houses in the wilds of Italy to California farmhouses — and while they do cater for that top end of the spectrum, there are plenty of flash places to be had at real-people prices, too.

The Wall Street Journal: For design-minded iconoclasts

For design-minded iconoclasts

June 2018

Founders Oliver and Chris Laugsch, Berlin-based brothers, curated a collection of unusual houses (and small hotels) in 41 countries that they say favor personality over pretension. That might mean a rustic 19th-century barn in Tivoli, N.Y., with curtains for walls or a fully staffed Swahili beach house built by native artisans on Kenya’s Lamu Island.

Spiegel Online: So finden Sie Ihre Traumunterkunft

So finden Sie Ihre Traumunterkunft

January 2017

Aus Berlin stammt das Konzept für Welcome Beyond. Oliver und Chris Laugsch sind mit ihrem Portal immer auf der Jagd nach ausgefallenen oder hippen Unterkünften für Individualisten – angefangen von hübschen Boutique-Hotels, Strandhäusern und Apartments bis zu ausgefallenen Schlafplätzen in einem Hausboot auf der Spree oder im Jurtenzelt in Patagonien.

The New York Times

Hey, how did you find this place?

May 2012

Recently, I logged onto VRBO.com, only to find my head spinning at the length of its roster. Scrolling through Hotels.com and Airbnb.com, I almost gave up.

Welcome Beyond offers lodgings with personality: a six-bedroom, cliffside villa in Phuket, Thailand, goes for 1,338 euros per night (chef included), and a cozy forest hut in Sweden with no electricity costs 44 euros. Welcome Beyond is best for the adventurous traveler who can appreciate the unusual.

Travel + Leisure: Best Villa Rental Agencies 2015

Best Villa Rental Agencies 2015

July 2016

This rental company is the brainchild of two brothers from Berlin, and is a testament to their passion for architecture and design. They hand pick every property, currently available in 38 countries around the world.

The Guardian: The best travel websites ever

The best travel websites ever

July 2011

For a property to make it on to this site it needs to be architecturally interesting and something of an interior design delight. Choose, say, between a cave in Sicily or a rooftop apartment in Buenos Aires. You can search by location or interest, whether that be culture, nature or simply staring at the (beautifully decorated) walls.

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