How The Airbnb Friendly Buildings Program Could Have You Asking Tenants To Participate

If you own or operate multifamily, you likely spend a few hours a week trolling for sneaky Airbnb hosts in your building. Airbnb director Jaja Jackson wants you to rededicate that time to facilitating safe Airbnb transactions in multifamily units...and says it could boost your bottom line.

Landlords want low risk and turnover and higher profit margins while renters want lower rents. While this dichotomy has always existed, areas with especially high rents are now more than ever driving away otherwise ideal tenants. Class-A apartments in hot (usually urban core) submarkets are inadvertently making prohibited Airbnb hosting more appealing as residents try to offset expensive rents.

Jaja wants landlords to ask themselves how they can leverage their buildings to improve residents' lives and add additional value. He believes he's got one way: Airbnb is piloting the Airbnb Friendly Buildings Program in several cities in the hopes of making landlords and tenants into partners.

Jaja laid out the benefits of the program at Bisnow's Multifamily Annual Conference South last week. Both parties get additional income (because landlords take a 5% to 15% cut from each Airbnb transaction in their building), it promotes fewer move-outs and it deepens tenant loyalty. 

As for the cold, hard facts? Airbnb hasn't piloted the program long enough to have much empirical data, but Jaja says he'll share as it becomes available. 

Here's Paradigm Tax Group's James Sutton, Paradigm's Alex Pace, Jaja and DHR International's Sayres Dudley at BMAC South.