Airbnb trials sharing rental fee income with landlords

Airbnb in the US has struck a deal with a major build-to-rent landlord in its home city of San Francisco to share profits when tenants sub-let their homes via its home-sharing service. Veritas Investments, which owns and manages over 200 mainly Art Deco buildings containing some 5,000 apartments within the city, is to pilot a scheme that will enable some of its tenants to rent out their apartments via Airbnb, which will then share its fees with the company in return. A separate property management company called Pillow Residential will then handle the bookings and change overs. Five blocks that include 100 apartments in the city belonging to Veritas are included in the pilot scheme and the company is to take 10% cut of any vacation rental fees generated by Airbnb bookings. “If you look at the business models of the 1980s and 1990s you had very clear boundaries, but when you look at companies like Airbnb you realise they are both collaborating and competing on different levels – so it’s not a clear like is used to be, and may never be again,” says James Morris-Manuel, EMEA Director at 3D viewings firm Matterport. More affordable Veritas told The San…