The new competition for commercial rental workspaces
In the recent years commercial workspace rentals like WeWork and many other companies have become popular for startups, freelancers, entrepreneurs who are looking for temporary workspaces.
But there are still a few pain points commercial workspace rentals haven’t addressed a) Most of these rentals are still available only in the city. So getting there still requires commute time, which people are not fond of anymore b) The cost people pay for these rentals are still reasonably high as any commercial space rental in general is high.
And there is a recently formed giant cohort of customer base that’s untapped by these existing commercial rentals “the post COVID 19 remote workers”.
Let’s talk a bit about “the post COVID 19 remote workers” and their problems. Even though many people have reluctantly yet semi-effectively adopted remote working from home, a lot of people still wish they had dedicated workspaces away from home. Specially folks with kids running around the house or people living in small spaces, people working out of kitchen tables cos they don’t have space to get a work desk, people who prefer to keep work and home space dedicated and separate. Imagine if these people could just walk out of their home, and get to a nice work space just a couple of blocks away. This would still give them the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of remote working to their fullest satisfaction. And this could also benefit people who are looking to rent their “COVID hit” business spaces for new income. So it’s a good win-win for all.So non-commercial workspace rentals in every neighbourhood could be the next new deal!
So its a no-brainer why Airbnb went for it and here’s why
-Well established brand and customer base for non-commercial rentals they could easily tap into, 400million across 191 countries.
-Strong rental ecosystem process they could easily expand to include non-commercial workspace rentals.
-Easy to position a winning price strategy, which is one of the major success factors for Airbnb.
-Digital platform and infrastructure that is already built for similar opportunity space.
-Easy to spin a new hybrid model of renting workspace + homes, specially aimed for Digital nomads.
So lets see how Airbnb for work takes off in comparison to WeWork and other commercial competitors in this space. My bet is, with a bit more marketing and reach, it would be a easy win for Airbnb.
