⭕️ Chapter-1: The small world of Airbnb: opportunities and advantages in 2022
Airbnb, Airbnb, AIRBNB...what a buzzword! In the tourism sector, the platform is the most popular short-term rental website. But how does it work? On the platform, you list your apartment, house, or a room on the site and let people rent it out. If you're a host, you have to pay a fee to the company, Airbnb, and its payment processors. Airbnb is a great way to earn some extra cash while you're out of town or if you have an extra room in your house that isn't being used. Really easy to do, no?
But...where Airbnb was born? Let me start from the beginning of this wonderful story: everything begins in California with some guests that wanted to sleep on someone's couch for a few bucks.
Airbnb's story starts with Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, two of the three founders of the company. Initially, the two young guys wanted to make hair dryers and personal care products. Their goal was to create a new design for the hair dryer, instead, they came up with a new vision for the company and a shirt made of soap. Chesky graduated from college and Gebbia moved to San Francisco, and only a few years later, in 2007, Gebbia brought Chesky to San Francisco to rent a bedroom in the same apartment without having money to pay for the rent. Back together, they started brainstorming how to raise money to extend the staying, remembering that San Francisco was hosting the World Design Conference, so hotels would be full and prices would be high. For this reason, they decided to rent the apartment and bought some air mattresses to increase the revenue for their first guests. The next step was to create a website to get the bedroom booked, and when the first guest came, asked for the air mattresses/airbed and breakfast. They were officially renting for the first night someone, giving the actual name to the company! (BnB + Air mattress = Airbnb).
l will be honest: it sounds like a lot of work to host someone at your place. But there are some benefits to renting out your space as an Airbnb host that might make it worth your while.
Referring to the Italian market, I would point out just one piece of data about the real estate market: there are 31 million properties, and 7 million of them (22%) are secondary properties (Istat). Is this incredible, no?
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The advantages of renting out your home or apartment for short periods of time are well-documented: you can make money without having to deal with the hassle of maintaining it. You don't have to be present (or worry about being present) when someone needs to stay there. And most importantly, if you have got a unit that is not being used full-time—like an extra bedroom or den—you can rent it out while still keeping it available for family members who need it.
From a different point of view, it could be a way to make money without having to buy or lease property. You can rent out your place while you are away, and use the money to help pay for your trip, for example. It's also a great option if you need extra cash and you do not want to mortgage your home in order to get it. You can use the money from renting out your place to pay for things like insurance and maintenance costs. If you're looking for a way to make some extra cash, or if you need help paying for your vacation home, renting it out can be a great solution:
Airbnb is a great two-sided platform that helps people in sharing their properties, gives opportunities, and maximaze revenues from private assets (owning them or not). By the way, even if it seems easy to create value (money) on these platforms, the management of a listing on Airbnb is getting more and more professional.
Do you agree? Let me know what's your opinion in the comments below.