In the age of airBNB, new digital solutions make homestays a breeze

The way we vacation is now radically different than it had been even a few years ago. No longer are travelers beholden to a limited stock of vacant hotel rooms when choosing the lodging for their time away from the grind. Now, a bevy of services from AirBnB to Flipkey to HomeAway are allowing homeowners to deliver the hospitality vacationers seek, opening up additional revenue streams for hosts while delivering cozier accommodations to travelers averse to the cold-comforts of most hotels.

This has had a major impact on how we vacation in that families can more conveniently rent entire lodgings for their clan – and at flexible terms of stay – that in many cases are both more affordable and comfortable than traditional options. While renting a vacation home isn’t a new phenomenon, these services give travelers access to locales and vantages that vacationers don’t get to experience in tourist-heavy hospitality districts. But while these accommodations may feature most of the comforts of home, they don’t always feature the digital components we now rely on in our modern times.

For instance, you may be able to squeak cell phone reception out of a quaint cabin in the Rocky Mountains, but not every frontier cottage comes with WiFi. Using LINK, vacationers can leverage their wireless data to create an Internet hot spot that the whole house can use to access the Web.

And while you may be dreaming of time spent enjoying the great outdoors, should the weather disagree with your plans in paradise, you’ll want to have some content handy to keep the family entertained while housebound. Your host may have a great collection of VHS tapes on file, but with 2 TB of storage, LINK allows you to bring your entire collection of movies, TV shows and music along for the trip, giving you the freedom to stream as you please – and freeing up space in your luggage.

Although most of these sites verify that hosts are trusted, background-checked individuals who, in most cases, won’t even be present during your stay, you’ll want to be as careful with your personal identification and travel information as possible when staying in a stranger’s house. Avoid bringing hard copies of your travel documents if you can by keeping this information stored on LINK, where you can access it via virtually any device or platform on demand.

No matter where you stay, you can also use LINK to wirelessly store the videos and pictures you take along the way, and share them instantly with loved ones back home

LINK allows you to take advantage of these rental services while resting assured that your information is safe, your family is connected and there’s plenty of backup content to entertain the crew should plans fall through. Learn more about this pocket-sized powerhouse here.