Up in the Airbnb
Renting a room, or even an entire apartment on Airbnb has become a pretty commonplace pursuit. When times are tough, it’s helpful to be able to view your one greatest expense as a potential moneymaker. Mathieu Vincent, 28, arrived in Dublin four years ago having finished university in France. His sole motivation for arriving on our hallowed soils was that he had finally managed to locate an internship in financial services, and Dublin was to be his adoptive home for this purpose. Having been offered a job at the end of his internship, he then saved every penny he had in order to put down a deposit on his Drumcondra penthouse, well aware of the fact that the housing market was at its lowest ebb and he would get a great deal.
Living with another flatmate he began toying with the idea of renting out his own room on Airbnb just to make a bit of extra cash. The nature of the apartment – spacious, bright with a wrap around balcony and modern fixtures – sits in stark contrast to the homely nature of Kevin Powell’s place, but meant also that, soon enough, the focus of the rental requests changed: ‘I started to receive some emails stating that people wanted to rent the full unit and soon I was receiving more and more, so I eventually made the decision to get rid of my flatmates. Then I got so many booking that I was making the entire rent for the place in two or three days.’
Mathieu began leaving his apartment to groups and staying in hotels or taking holidays himself when his own apartment was out of commission, funded by the profits of this new venture. Having seen the huge boost in interest since St. Patrick’s Day, Mathieu decided to put the apartment up for rent on Airbnb full-time and took a bed in the apartment below so that he could manage the rentals more easily and as a base when his own place was occupied. Now, just six months later, he’s received confirmation that his bid on a second property, near the Guinness Storehouse, has been accepted. He plans to rent out the three bedroom, three bathroom cottage as well.
For the most part, he also hasn’t really had many negative experiences, save for one incident where a group of ‘butlers’ came home with a hen party and proceeded to steal about €1,000 worth of personal effects. Despite this, Mathieu is surprisingly pragmatic about the experience explaining, ‘It’s one bad experience but I mean if you have one bad relationship that doesn’t mean you’ll stop having relationships. I like doing it, I like having contact with new people and my main goal is to offer them the best service I can and for them to enjoy their time in Dublin.’ He’s currently earning about as much from renting on Airbnb as he does at his day-job in the financial services industry and has set up a separate company for his rental earnings to make sure everything is by the book. He is also currently developing a website for said company, and would soon like to make the move into property full-time.
In some respects he seems like the ultimate poster boy for what Airbnb are trying to do, inspiring someone with only a passing interest in the short-term rental market to begin using it as a full-time means of supporting themselves. When I ask Mathieu what he thinks about his relationship with the parent company he smirks, ‘The funny thing is Airbnb have booked my place twice for international meetings and they were lovely, it was very nice.’ It seems everyone has decided to sit up and take notice of the impressive penthouse.
It seems like some of the best properties in Dublin are too good to be kept to oneself. A common thread with all three of the guys was their willingness to invite others into their home and share the wealth (while sometimes also making a tidy profit) of their surroundings. There is also a very clear sense of hospitality that comes across from all three. It seems like a trend is taking place amongst younger homemakers that allows where you lay your head to take on multiple identities and perform a multitude of purposes. Maybe to get out of our grapples with ever-rising rents and too-grim-to-mention bedsits we might need to start thinking a little bit more laterally to get a place you’d be happy to show off.
Words: Emily Carson / Photography: Killian Broderick
