Harvard Startup Lets You Vacation in a Tiny House in the Woods

Cramped, condensed living spaces may be an inconvenient norm of college life, but Harvard Business School graduate Jon Staff and current Harvard Law School student Pete Davis don’t see it that way. With their vacation service Getaway, the two show the benefits of small-space living.

By Courtesy of BEARWALK

Starting at $99 a night, anyone looking to escape the digital grind of everyday life can rent a tiny house in a rural location. The house is at most a two hour drive from Boston or New York, depending on where the renter lives. All the necessities are provided—bed, bathroom, a supply of food, stovetop, and even a few amenities like books and board games—making the house a perfect place to unwind.

Millennial Housing Lab, formed by Staff and Davis while at Harvard, serves as the “catch-all for fresh ideas for housing,” and from those ideas came Getaway. At the intersection of over-priced vacations, unnecessary large homes, and too much stuff in said homes, Getaway perfectly orchestrates your stay so you can put down the cellphone and “do nothing,” as the company puts it.

In order to prevent over-planning, the company does not even tell you the precise location of your house until 24 hours before your departure. For those who identify as type-A and struggle with spontaneity, you may have already made up your mind that Getaway is not for you. However, the tiny-house movement is growing at such a rate that it could become unavoidable, at least that’s the hope of the Getaway team.

By Courtesy of BEARWALK

Seen as more environmentally sound and financially accessible, minimalist living is becoming an increasingly viable alternative to traditional living spaces. Getaway seeks to give people a test-drive of living tiny and show how it’s not as claustrophobic as one might think.

So before returning to the endless parade of eye-tiring computer screens and overstuffed dorms, consider venturing out to the woods, curling up with a book in one of Getaway’s six locations, and enjoying the distance from city noises.