Last night the Wall Street Journal reported that three of America’s largest residential landlords have held discussions with Airbnb about allowing tenants to market their properties on the website in exchange for a cut of the revenue. Apparently, real estate giants AvalonBay Communities and Camden Property Trust, Equity Residential have all had discussions with Airbnb in recent weeks and are all interested in pursuing a revenue-sharing model with Airbnb that would expand the website’s access to rental units across America. All three are said to be currently examining the legal aspects of the potential deal carefully to ensure they do not fall foul of local laws. A spokesman for Airbnb has (naturally) described such a deal as “win-win for everyone involved”, however critics claim such a deal could fuel concerns that a bigger portion of America’s housing stock would be used as hotel rooms, leading to higher rent for normal residents. “I’m sort of appalled that Airbnb thinks the next answer to their problem of not running a legal business is to try to convince some number of landlords … that they can get in on the deal,” said New York State Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat and vocal opponent of Airbnb.
Last night the Wall Street Journal reported that three of America’s largest residential landlords have held discussions with Airbnb about allowing tenants to market their properties on the website in exchange for a cut of the revenue. Apparently, real estate giants Equity Residential, AvalonBay Communities and Camden Property Trust have all had discussions with Airbnb in recent weeks and are all interested in pursuing a revenue-sharing model with Airbnb that would expand the website’s access to rental units across America. All three are said to be currently examining the legal aspects of the potential deal carefully to ensure they do not fall foul of local laws. A spokesman for Airbnb has (naturally) described such a deal as “win-win for everyone involved”, however critics claim such a deal could fuel concerns that a bigger portion of America’s housing stock would be used as hotel rooms, leading to higher rent for normal residents. “I’m sort of appalled that Airbnb thinks the next answer to their problem of not running a legal business is to try to convince some number of landlords … that they can get in on the deal,” said New York State Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat and vocal opponent of Airbnb.