The villa is stunning. The private swimming pool; the lush, landscaped terrace with firepit; the long dining table with its expansive balcony view; the pingpong table; the piano. But the jewel in the crown, according to the Airbnb listing, is the experience of watching the sun rise over the nearby mountains from the luxury of the generous master bedroom.
The villa with views of the Judean mountains is in a settlement located on land seized from Palestinians and considered illegal under international humanitarian law. Only a handful of Palestinians are allowed to enter this, and other, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, usually as labourers with special permits.
Exclusive analysis carried out by the Guardian found 760 rooms being advertised in hotels, apartments and other holiday rentals in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, on two of the world’s most popular tourism websites.
I already don’t use airbnb but booking.com? Almost all holidays. That would be really hard to replace. Does anyone have any alternatives (other than directly calling the hotels obv)? I guess one could atleast minimally search from booking.com and then first check if the hotels you are interested in have their own online reservation systems. But it will probably be much less guaranteed than booking.com and one could easily end up with a holiday ruined and a mere apology for “making a reservation mistake”
Hotels are generally fine but if you really need the warranty it is difficult to decouple. Most alternatives are daughter companies of booking.com.