By Jenna Oden

When Lyndsay Taylor and her husband bought an old 1920s gas station building three years ago, they never thought they would be turning it into an “Airbnb” bed and breakfast, The Station on Love Street.

“At first the building was being used for dry storage for our restaurant Sips on the Square,” Taylor said. “We just fell in love with the downtown area and wanted to invest more into it with property.”

The idea of The Station came about one year ago and the progress of renovating the building started six months later.

“I knew it was going to be something big for us,” Taylor said. “We asked ourselves, ‘why don’t we build something that would do the work for us instead of us working so hard into another business venture.’”

The building still has a back area for storage for the restaurant, but everything in the front part of the residence is set for two to three people to stay in Troy in style. Visitors can expect a private hot tub, a king-sized bed, complimentary snacks, a Trojan barbeque pit and more.

“This has been definitely something fun to introduce to the Troy area because a lot of people in the community did not quite understand the concept of Airbnb,” Taylor said.

Basically, Airbnb is a company that provides on online marketplace for travellers to find short-term lodging from one of over 5 million lodging options in over 80,000 cities.

Taylor said she chose the service because of its intuitive nature and the ease of renting out the building through the service.

At first Taylor said they were very nervous to open the business.

“We had put our heart and love into the location and really just wanted people to love it and love Troy,” Taylor said. “We have had extreme success with this business so far. There have been zero issues and we love meeting some of the people that stay in the building.”

This fall will be the the first football season that the Station will be open, and Taylor expects the games to bring plenty of customers.

“We are already booked for multiple home games for Troy University,” Taylor said. “We knew a lot of alumni would want to stay here for games and such. We even added the special touch of the Trojan ‘T’ on our barbeque pit to show our love for the Trojans.”

She says that the experience of opening a new business that also gives back to downtown Troy has been very rewarding for her and her husband.

“Revitalizing the building and keeping that rich history of the gas station is a good feeling,” Taylor said. “Everything about this is rewarding. Being able to see our visitors fall in love with the town and our building is my favorite part.”

To rent the room, go to www.airbnb.com and search The Station on Love Street. Whether you’re local and want a “staycation” or an out-of-towner and want to experience all that Troy has to offer, the five-star Airbnb is something to check out.