Airbnb: the business of sharing space

THE BUSINESS OF SHARING SPACE

 More and more people have assimilated travel into their lifestyle.  Traveling – around the country or in other countries abroad – has lately become a priority activity among young people, especially millennials.. The traveling bug derives from their predisposition to acquire new and memorable experiences, more than to acquire material possessions.

Studies show that millennials (ages 24 to 35) travel the most among age groups, at an average of 35 days a year.  They are followed closely by Generation Z travelers (age 18 to 23), who go out 28 days each year on the average.

The increased  propensity to travel among the young population has exerted pressure  on the travel industry to expand and innovate. .

Little wonder that the emergent airbnb industry is now thriving.

Airbnb is an online marketplace that lets people rent out their residences, spare rooms, and other spaces to visitors.  In other words, the facility connects space providers (the entrepreneurs) with space users (the customers). 

Launched in 2009,the facility helped some 21,000 travelers   find short-term living accommodations . More current figures show airbnb clientele to have reached six million a year.

Space being rented range from a shared room to an entire house with various amenities such as a swimming pool.

Basically, this is how the facility works:

Property owners register with the airbnb marketplace  at airbnb.com. Registration involves filling up a form designed to describe the property being leased out.  Other information required are: maximum capacity of the space, specific dates the space is available for rental, and asking price. Pictures of the space are also required.

Once the space is  listed, the owner is  ready to welcome his or her  first guest.

Registration is totally free, but a service fee, generally 3 per cent, is charged on rental payments.  This is automatically deducted from the host payout.

Generally speaking, air bnb is an  industry by millennials for millennials.  In In other words, both suppliers and users mostly come from this age group.

Good supplementary income may be earned from hosting airbnb space.  However, prospective hosts must watch out for some costly pitfalls.

-To be continued –

Photo credits: From digital trends.com