Several homeowners in Singapore are now opening their homes for short-term rentals.
While the idea is popular in the US and Europe, the trend of short-term home rentals has just caught on in Asia with some major short-term room rental websites set up in Singapore.
“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,” said Ng Wei Leen, Vice President of Asia for German short-term rental website 9flats, which has already gained approximately 100 listings in Singapore and 500 across the region.
Rates for a room in Singapore on such a website range from US$15 per night for a shared room in a HDB flat to US$800 per night for the exclusive use of an entire 2,250 sq ft penthouse condo in Newton.
“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,” said Ng.
While this scheme gives homeowners the freedom to set their daily home rates, Roomorama Singapore believes that homeowners should charge around 30 to 40 percent less than hotels within the area.
“If you are trying to attract a high-end audience, you will obviously want to set a higher price for your home,” said Teo Jia En, Co-founder of Roomorama Singapore, which is publishing a guide this month with pricing by area for homeowners to use as a reference.
“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,” Teo added.
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