Like, what even? Why do we even bother to live anywhere permanently anymore, guys? We can totally just live off each other for the rest of eternity. Can I Stay with You While I Rent My Place on Airbnb? is a new site that allows people to, well, couchsurf while they rent out their own apartments on Airbnb. It’s a great solution, I guess, for an issue that apparently exists in our increasingly shared economy.
Can I Stay with You While I Rent My Place on Airbnb? is simple: the service pairs Airbnb hosts with people who are willing to offer them a place to stay while they rent out their own place on the website. The service is completely free to anyone who wants to sign up, and it essentially serves as a kind of Craigslist for those who ever find themselves in these kinds of situations. In exchange for housing, the service suggests that guests offer up a six-pack of beer, a portion of their Airbnb earnings, or a night swap between both parties’ residences.
According to the post on Product Hunt, Can I Stay with You While I Rent My Place on Airbnb? was co-created by William Fendler and Micah Kullish. “Airbnb is already a pretty tight-knit community, so creating something that will help hosts help each other out will be even more tight-knit,” writes Fendler in describing the kind of community they want to create through Can I Stay with You.
I, however, did not find it on Product Hunt; rather, I found it posted by a friend living in San Francisco. It took me about fifteen minutes of Internet searching and reading until finally settling on the unfortunate conclusion that this is indeed something that exists. While there is undoubtedly a market for such a product (seeing as people took the time to make this and there has been a lot of genuine interest in it), are there no limits to our understanding and acceptance of what real-life institutions fall within the “sharing economy”? What kinds of additional regulation should we expect to encounter in light of this new service? Haven’t we just devolved into a kind of modern-day feudalism? Will this service actually help me find someone to stay with while I rent my place on Airbnb? Yes? Oh, okay then, never mind.
*Side note: I’m just kidding – I have never rented out my apartment…in case my landlord is reading.