what is Cross-Pollinate
Cross-Pollinate is an accommodation agency for bed & breakfasts, guesthouses, and private apartments (both vacation rental properties and homes rented by owners occasionally).
We aren't a marketplace website that simply puts guests in contact with property owners. We are travel experts (with our own hotel in Rome), who set out to know the cities we operate in, know the properties we list, and know their owners. We communicate on your behalf and personally inspect all reservations to make sure they're done right. Everything on our site is a personal recommendation, and we like streamlining our choices.
our story
It begins in 1999 when - as a newly married couple - we flew by the seat of our pants to Rome and opened a hostel/hotel called "The Beehive". It was a risky endeavor, done without even a shoestring (we had a Swiss army knife and a handful of credit cards though). The first night we had 5 guests and have been full since.
Riding this wave of success, in 2000 we began one of the first online accommodation websites in Rome that specialized in non-hotels: private spare rooms and apartments, B&Bs, and anything else we could recommend to the many guests we couldn't accommodate at The Beehive. With a small, dedicated staff, our company has grown organically - by reputation and word of mouth - to include other European cities that we know and love.
our travel philosophy
When we travel we want to experience the uniqueness of a place, even if that means
straying from our
comfort zone. We seek out private homes, B&Bs, and self-catering
apartments owned and run by both
locals and expats that represent what life is
really like in that city. We find that this results in a richer
and more authentic
experience of the way others live, and helps us understand ourselves,
and
the world, better.