Luxury Aussie Airbnb rated world favourite

A luxurious beachfront retreat in Victoria has topped international getaway destinations to become one of the most-liked homes on Instagram.

Airbnb revealed the retreat, overlooking the South Gippsland coastline in Walkerville North, south of Melbourne, was among the top listings favoured on the homestay’s 5.5 million-strong Instagram page.

Known as Jacky Winter Waters, the private house is “engulfed by majestic limestone cliffs upon the shore of a famously magic beach” and is ideally sized for 1-2 people, the listing states.

“Designed by Imogen Pullar Architecture, the concept for Jacky Winter Waters was to provide the essentials of living, a place to rest the mind and body, and connect with nature,” the listing continues.

“It’s not a tiny house, but it’s not a full beach house.”

The retreat has an overall footprint of 30sq m.

It’s encapsulated by its exterior mural Deep Drift, created by artists April Phillips, Beci Orpin, Carla McRae and David Booth.

“The artwork asks visitors to engage their curiosity at the door and attempt to discover a still space to rest – something we have endeavoured to provide,” the retreat’s listing on the Jacky Winters site states.

The listing raked in more than 3900 likes when it was posted on Instagram in July last year.

It comes as Airbnb revealed Melbourne cracked the company’s list of the top trending global destinations for travellers to set their sights on this year.

“Many of the listings featured are part of our Guest Favourites collection, which includes 2m of the most-loved homes on Airbnb based on ratings, reviews and reliability data from over half a billion trips,” Airbnb said of the data.

“Guest Favourites have excellent reviews and are rated above 4.9 stars on average.”

The Walkerville North listing ranks among other first-class destinations featured on the high-profile account, such as a 45sq m loft overlooking Quintay’s Bay in Chile that drew in 7830 likes.

Another two-bedroom “eco house” in Bali amassed 6869 likes when it was posted in June last year.

The listing states Aura House is perched on top of the Ayung river, located about 25 minutes from the town of Ubud.

Additionally, Richmond and East Melbourne are among the top local destinations for Australians looking to travel in 2024, based on worldwide Airbnb searches.

Rockhampton, in central Queensland, topped the list.

Last year, Airbnb was ordered to pay $30m in penalties and compensation by the Federal Court of Australia after the company admitted it misled consumers about the currency of the prices on its accommodation platform.

Airbnb acknowledged that it displayed only a dollar sign without indicating which currency on more than 63,000 listings between January 1, 2018 and August 30, 2021.