The market for apartments and homes has changed a lot in recent years and Hello Landing is a newer option among them.
Hello Landing offers flexible living arrangements where you can choose the length of your stay including short-term options, but they say you receive the best rates if you don’t choose a move-out date and commit to at least 6 months of staying in their network of homes. They also have membership options where you can transfer between homes in their network for an annual membership fee of $199. Overall, they say they have 20,000+ apartments in 375+ cities.
Overall, there have been a few major issues in the past few years posted on Reddit around the availability of housing with some customers feeling burned by paying for listings for homes they said were no longer available and the fact that they said Landing wouldn’t guarantee that booking confirmation meant they would receive the exact apartment or home they had booked.
For example, Reddit user steepnd said in 2021, “we are realizing the listings Landing have on their site is not guaranteed available. The confirmation email you received from Landing after booking does not mean they have confirmed with the actual building. 2 weeks after booking a seemingly great unit, we just got an email from their rep that the unit requested is "no longer available." The alternative unit their team went "above and beyond" to find for us is in a worse building with less amenities, less convenient neighborhood, and 25% different in price.”
A much longer thread from Reddit user learnthinkact here, as well that recounts their phone conversation from their point of view with Hello Landing’s support team.
On Trust Pilot, Hello Landing has a great score of 4.1 out of 5 overall with 1,056 total ratings. 71% of their reviews were 5 stars, but also 19% of reviews were 1 star.
An example 5 star review from user Jana P, “I have been so impressed with Landing; from the service they offer, to the app they use, to the employees who work for them. I am seriously so happy I found Landing and gave it a try even though it seemed too good to be true. It's not!”
An example recent 1-star review from user Y. Liu is, “Company is a disorganized mess. Landing canceled our booking less than 2 weeks before our move. My partner and I were using the Explorer plan and booked our next spot over a month in advance. During that time, there were a few options we were choosing between in our price range. By the time Landing canceled on us, the only apartments available in the area were well out of our price range ($1000+ per month more than we could afford). The cancellation came as an auto-sent message with no explanation why, no apology, and no consolation/compensation for this massive inconvenience.”
On Yelp, Hello Landing has a low 1.5 out of 5-star rating with 38 reviews, which is a large departure from their Trust Pilot rating.
An excerpt of an example 1 star review from user KH in December 2021 says, “Absolute nightmare of a company to deal with. The website makes it seem like the operate the way AirBnb does-- go on, select your property and dates, reserve and pay and you're done. The reality is you are actually applying for a short term apartment lease, so after you book be prepared to provide them with all of your personal information, proof of income, etc.”
Overall, Hello Landing seems to have a lot of options and most of their Trust Pilot Reviews are great, but their Yelp and Reddit reviews call out specific negative feedback around transparency into what type of flexible housing they actually offer, the response time of their customer support, and their lack of a guarantee that you will receive the specific home you have paid to book according to some of the users mentioned above.
If you’re looking for a shared home with roommates, Alcove is a great option that can be significantly cheaper than a studio and offers preconfigured apartment features to make moving in a breeze.