fbpx

Thibault is the founder of Rental Scale-Up. He owns vacation rentals in St. Barths and Bali. He also leads innovative projects for companies within the vacation rental industry. Feel free to reach out to Thibaut Masson on Linkedin.

The Airbnb-friendly marketplace lets renters can find a place to live and then airbnb it part-time (i.e., the Airbnb Resident Hosting program)

airbnb-friendly marketplace

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

For local inhabitants and businesses, the disaster is also economic. Florida is a big travel market. With great beaches and world-famous attractions such as Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, the state attracts many families who book a vacation rental for their stay. Cities like Orlando and Kissimmee usually rank high in market size for vacation rental revenues.

Airbnb has launched a marketplace of Airbnb-friendly apartments in 175 buildings in 25+ markets across the US. This is not a marketplace for travelers but one for renters looking for a place to live. Once a renter picks a place, she or he can then list it on Airbnb to offset some of the rent cost.

  • For Airbnb, this is a new source of supply of occasional hosts whose listings are exclusive to the platform.
  • For renters, this is a way to occasionally sub-rent their place with the approval of their landlords (and no resistance possible from other tenants in the same multi-family building).
  • For real estate companies owning the buildings, this is a chance to increase their profitability and finally cash in on the Airbnb craze. Owners can elect to earn a share of revenue on every booking. This could result in increased revenue per square foot without raising the rent. The idea is also to attract renters with Airbnb as an amenity.

Everything is up to the host; landlords do not act as short-term rental property managers

In the previous iterations of the Airbnb multi-family programs (see below), key issues such as property cleaning, access to the building, and guest communications were left to the building owners or operators.

Here, the Airbnb-friendly marketplace only connects would-be tenants to landlords. Then, it is up to the renter to list the place on Airbnb, communicate with guests, and clean the apartment.

In most cases, the landlord collects a commission on each booking but does not get involved in the operational side of the business. A crucial role of the landlord is to create rules inside the building so that it does not become an unbearable environment if Airbnb guests come and go every day.

“Rent a place to live. Airbnb it part-time” (or sub-letting made easy)

“Airbnb was founded during the Great Recession when Brian and Joe needed help affording their rent, and now Airbnb-friendly apartments build on that founding story by making it easier for people to reap the economic benefits of hosting. As the cost of living continues to rise, renters can use the extra income earned by hosting part-time on Airbnb to contribute to their rent, save for a home, or pay for other living expenses.”

Nathan Blecharzyck, Airbnb Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer. 

What are Airbnb-friendly apartments available in the new marketplace?

Airbnb is partnering with apartment buildings in the United States to make it easier for renters to find apartments that allow hosting on Airbnb part-time. Renters can explore Airbnb-friendly buildings and learn more about the potential earnings they could receive from hosting their homes on Airbnb.

Airbnb-friendly marketplace in 25+ markets in the US

Renters interested in hosting a spare room, or their entire apartment when they’re out of town, can browse more than 175 Airbnb-friendly apartment buildings, subject to availability, in 25+ markets across the US, including Houston, Phoenix, and Jacksonville.

Airbnb-friendly apartments help unlock hosting for tenants who may be especially cost-burdened right now and whose lease terms and building rules have prevented them from hosting part-time

Renters who are looking for a new apartment can go to airbnb.com/airbnb-friendly to find apartment buildings that allow their residents to host part-time on Airbnb. If they find something of interest, they can contact the building for more information

How Airbnb-friendly apartment renters can sublet their place and become Airbnb hosts (and possibly share revenues with their landlord.

After becoming a resident in an Airbnb-friendly apartment, a renter can create a listing and host when it works for them, so long as they follow rules set by their building, which may be their landlord or the building manager, and all applicable laws.

All residents in Airbnb-friendly apartments have to agree to the Resident Hosting program terms of service to host, and must comply with any rules set by their building, as well as local rules and restrictions.

By agreeing to participate in the Airbnb Resident Hosting Program, hosts agree to a revenue share program with their landlord (e.g., 10% of booking revenues), should the landlord decide to collect a commission on each Airbnb booking. Airbnb will transfer to the landlord the revenue share for each of the future payouts for each participating listing.

Airbnb’s goal: Increase its supply and unlock the next generation of Airbnb hosts

Over the last week, Airbnb has unveiled several initiatives to add new hosts on its platforms

  • Airbnb Setup, a new program whose goal is to remove fears of new hosts around hosting for the first time. It provided 1-on-1 guidance with a Superhost, the possibility to only welcome experimented guests at first, a dedicated support team, and the $3 million Aircover damage guarantee.
  • Airbnb Private Rooms, a new category giving more visibility to private bedrooms that people rent out in their own homes. The possible recession makes Airbnb think that owners will want to make ends meet and that more guests will be interested in cheaper travel options.
  • Airbnb-Friendly Marketplace, where would-be tenants can find places to rent and live, that they can later list on Airbnb as occasional hosts.

Occasional Airbnb hosts are more loyal to the platform

The initiatives fit into Airbnb’s 2022 strategy to “unlock the next generation of hosts”. Airbnb Setup, Airbnb Private Rooms, and Airbnb-Friendly Marketplace probably also result in listings that are unique to Airbnb.

Thanks to its unique tools and program, Airbnb makes it easier for occasional hosts to get started, whether newbies, owners of private bedrooms, or renters who can sub-rent their place legally for a few weeks per year. 

Occasional Airbnb hosts tend to be loyal to the platform. They do not need to add their property to more booking channels to fill in a few weeks. Moreover, Vrbo and Booking are less easy to use for occasional hosts, especially when onboarding as a new user.

How the Airbnb-friendly Marketplace works

Airbnb is partnering with apartment buildings in the United States to make it easier for renters to find apartments that allow hosting on Airbnb part-time. Renters can explore Airbnb-friendly buildings and learn more about the potential earnings they could receive from hosting their home on Airbnb.

Renters who are looking for a new apartment can go to airbnb.com/airbnb-friendly to find apartment buildings that allow their residents to host part-time on Airbnb. If they find something of interest, they can contact the building for more information

After becoming a resident in an Airbnb-friendly apartment, you can create a listing and host when it works for you, so long as you’re following rules set by your building, which may be your landlord or the manager of the building, and all applicable laws. All residents in Airbnb-friendly apartments have to agree to the Resident Hosting program terms of service to host, and must comply with any rules set by their building, as well as local rules and restrictions. Through the Airbnb Resident Hosting program, Hosts agree to provide their building with visibility into hosting activity and the building gains tools designed to help support responsible home sharing. Buildings also have the ability to put rules in place for Hosts and guests in the community.

If members of that management team would like to consider partnering with Airbnb, they can learn more information about the program.

Browse Airbnb-friendly apartments

 Prospective renters can explore a variety of Airbnb-friendly buildings at different price points and locations. They can browse available apartments, view floor plans, and what each building offers.

airbnb-friendly apartments marketplace
Airbnb friendly building floor plan

Earnings calculator

 Prospective renters can use an interactive, custom-built calculator to get an estimate of how much money they could earn by hosting part-time. Calculator users can select various options such as apartment size, or how many nights renters want to host, to receive an estimate of potential earnings per month.

airbnb earnings calculator for airbnb-friendly building

Connect with building management

 – Prospective renters can view additional information on individual buildings, including interior and exterior photos and information about what’s nearby.  Building management also can answer specific questions about a building, schedule in-person tours and start the leasing process.

contact building airbnb-friendly

Access to Airbnb Setup and list your new place on Airbnb

– Earlier this month we introduced Airbnb Setup, a simple way for new Hosts to put their place on Airbnb — from their first question to their first guest. Airbnb Setup will be available to new renters in Airbnb-friendly apartments as they get started hosting– it offers free, one-to-one guidance from a Superhost along with the option to host an experienced guest for your first stay.

airbnb-friendly property resident

Airbnb as an amenity: Airbnb Multifamily becomes Airbnb Resident Hosting program

Airbnb and real estate companies have been talking for years about ways for them to work together. The launch of the Airbnb-friendly marketplace is the result of Airbnb’s new real estate programs. In 2021, Airbnb relaunched its program for multi-family buildings.

From failure and lawsuits to a new Airbnb multi-family program

In 2016, Airbnb launched the first version of its multi-family building program. The concept of Airbnb-friendly apartments was born. In 2017, the partnerships with Pillow and then Niido seemed to validate the concept. Yet, in 2018 and 2020, Airbnb’s real easte program had to face issues as:

  • Competitor Expedia Group bought Pillow in 2017
  • Airbnb sued Niido in 2020. Niido Chief Executive Harvey Hernandez was accused of siphoning at least $1m out of the group’s joint business interests with Airbnb, fraudulently backdating documents, and wilfully concealing details that the short-term rental firm argued had “altered” the value of its investment.
  • The COVID-19 let Airbnb to pause the program in late March 2020.

In 2021, Airbnb launched a new version of its multi-family program. The same year, RealPage, a provider of software and data analytics to the real estate industry, announced that it had partnered exclusively with Airbnb to launch Migo, its apartment home-sharing solution. It enables multifamily owners and residents to participate and profit from home sharing on Airbnb.

Migo is an example of how real estate businesses and building managers can get a slice of the Airbnb cake with their residential properties. The idea is to create a framework where unit owners, and even tenants, can rent out their place on Airbnb when they are away, while the building manager gets its share of the Airbnb revenues.

The  Airbnb Resident Hosting program

Airbnb’s multi-family program is now called the Airbnb Resident Hosting program. It is a way for landlords, property managers, and homeowners’ associations to offer Airbnb as an amenity and enable people in their communities to host on Airbnb. Through this program, Airbnb collaborates with Hosts and building operators to:

  • Create specific hosting rules that work for everyone
  • Provide transparency around Airbnb hosting activity in the community
  • Help landlords, residents, and HOAs share portions of the reservation income

The Resident Hosting program gives building owners access to a customized dashboard that shows when residents participating in the program are hosting, how many guests are staying, and how much money is being earned.

Building owners can define home-sharing terms for participating residents—like requiring guests to submit government ID to Airbnb—in their building rules and property settings. They can then use the dashboard to monitor the hosting activity of participating hosts.

Airbnb as an amenity

airbnb as an amenity

Here’s how Airbnb presents its Airbnb-friendly program to real estate companies:

Offering residents the ability to host part-time on Airbnb supports flexible living while unlocking financial upside for residents and owners.

Drive occupancy

Residents looking for flexibility and the potential to earn extra money when they travel are attracted to properties that offer Airbnb.

Enhance NOI

Owners can elect to earn a share of revenue on every booking. This could result in increased revenue per square foot without raising rent.

Improve resident satisfaction

Residents appreciate the opportunity to earn extra money as well as property management’s controls and visibility into hosting activity enabled by Airbnb tools.

Conclusion

Has Airbnb found a way to make its real estate partnerships work? The company has formal partnerships with real estate developers and building owners, while it is up to the renter to list their place and do the hosting. The approach looks flexible. Yet, if the renter gets tired of hosting, they must talk with their landlord, as it would decrease the landlord’s revenue share.

Table of Contents

Subscribe to get the latest news for you!

Make your Pricing smarter today, for free.

Try out PriceLabs, the leading dynamic pricing solution for Airbnb hosts and vacation rental managers.

Actionable insights

Take the Right Decisions for Your Rental Business thanks to our Weekly Industry Brief.

Exclusive newsletter for rental entrepreneurs.