City Club apartments in Kansas City offer a chance to stay short term, with use of all amenities, through Airiva, which works like Airbnb.

I recently traveled to Kansas City with my family to catch a U.S. men's soccer game at the MLS stadium there. The game started at 4 p.m., so we could have made the trip there and back in one day, but I figured after a raucous game in the heat, we'd rather relax in a hotel. 

With two teenage boys and a husband (and sometimes our dog), we've pretty much outgrown staying in traditional hotel rooms. Plus, unless you really are just looking for a place to crash, the stay is half the fun. 

City Club apartments in Kansas City offer a chance to stay short term, with use of all amenities, through Airiva, which works like Airbnb.

The recently opened City Club Apartments, about 15 minutes from the stadium in downtown Kansas City's Crossroads Arts District, was exactly what I wanted. It's basically a luxury apartment building, with loads of amenities, but a few of the apartments are furnished and available for short- or long-term rental. We stayed the night in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit for about $250, including taxes and fees. Smaller units run $80 a night there.

Luxury urban apartment rental is an emerging trend across the country. You get more space to spread out, often in the heart of a city for a less touristy experience, with most of the amenities of a traditional hotel.

"For travelers, City Club Apartments offers the unique opportunity to become truly integrated in the communities in which they are visiting," said founder and CEO Jonathan Holtzman, in an email to me later. 

Renters of City Club in Kansas City have access to amenities like a rooftop pool and hot tub, dog park, exercise facility, grocery and, soon, rooftop restaurant and wine bar. Plus the complex is within walking distance to great restaurants (try Pirate's Bone Burgers or breakfast from Mildred's), art galleries, boutiques and night life. 

City Club also has buildings in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville and Minneapolis. A second Kansas City option is near Country Club Plaza. All of their communities have a third party “hotel” partner that manages the short-term rentals. For the Kansas City Crossroads apartments, that partner is Airriva. It leases a number of the apartments, furnishes them and rents them — for a day, a week, month or even years.

I think some kinks were being worked out with the way Airriva has guests access the building. Some instructions about how to retrieve the keys and enter the building were unclear, and perhaps the key fobs weren't working right on our stay. But the property is enough to guarantee I'll return. Next time, for longer than one night. 

More info: cityclubapartments.com; go to airriva.com to book a stay

Read full article by Amy Bertrand for St. Louis Today here