What do you think of this? Very common in the West..
http://business.asiaone.com/Business...01-302629.html
S'pore homes open up to short-term rentals
By Debbie Yong
A NUMBER of homeowners here are opening up their homes - for a small fee - to strangers on a daily basis. Though the idea is not new in the US and Europe, the short-term home rental trend has taken root so quickly in Asia that several major short-term room rental websites have set up outposts in Singapore in an effort to venture East.
Says Ng Wei Leen, vice-president of Asia for German short-term rental website 9flats: 'Though I don't see Asia's growth outstripping that of Europe and the US yet, I expect our potential peak to be higher than theirs.'
Since setting up less than a month ago, 9flat's Asian office has already garnered about 100 listings in Singapore and 500 throughout the region. Likewise, competitor portal Wimdu expanded here in May, just a month after the business was founded in Germany. It has 150 local listings so far and more than 5,000 in Asia.
Says co-founder Steven Kim, who runs the Singapore-based South-east Asia office: 'It's hard to find a decent place in Singapore around the $100 per night mark. You will probably end up with a small hotel in a not-so-nice neighbourhood. With rented apartments though, you get much more space and sometimes even a proper kitchen, which is good for large groups or those with young children.'
Prices for a room in Singapore on such sites run the gamut from US$15 per night for a shared room in an HDB flat to US$800 per night for exclusive use of an entire 2,250 square foot penthouse condominium in Newton. Most sites take a cut - typically 12-15 per cent - of the room's daily fee. According to Mr Kim, Singapore hosts are typically retirees with empty nests or childless young couples with an extra bedroom.
Adds 9flat's Mr Ng: 'We find that many of them are multi-cultural and worldly wise. They have enough savings to purchase an extra home as an investment, yet are young and savvy enough to consider listing it on an 'alternative' rental website like ours.'
While hosts are free to set the daily rates for their home, Roomorama recommends that homeowners charge about 30-40 per cent less than hotels in the area. They are publishing a guide to be released this month with pricing by area for homeowners to use as a reference. 'If you are trying to attract a high-end audience, you will obviously want to set a higher price for your home,' says Roomorama's co-founder, Singaporean Teo Jia En, who started the outfit three years ago when she was living in New York. The website branched out to include Asia-based listings in January.
Roomorama is the 'grown-up version' of its competitors, says Ms Teo. 'There is a lot of trust involved in renting out your property, so we didn't want to attract the backpackers and younger travellers who have a limited budget and might end up trashing your place. Our travellers are those who can afford to pay for the local experience, like walking down the street in the neighbourhood to observe the local culture.'
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Originally Posted by land118
