Airbnb and its partner Niido, a brand from the Florida-based development company Newgard, could open as many as 14 co-branded apartment complexes geared toward tenants who want to sublet their units as short-term rentals, according to a report in Bloomberg.
The second “Niido powered by Airbnb” apartment recently opened in Nashville, Tennessee, following on the heels of another building in Kissimmee, Florida, that opened in 2017.
Tenants in the buildings are encouraged to rent out their apartments on Airbnb when they’re not there, for up to half a year, and Niido provides on-site cleaning services, keyless doors, in-room secure storage and an onsite concierge to handle nightly Airbnb guests.
Airbnb’s Kissimmee project took over a pre-existing 324-unit building in 2017, prompting complaints from residents who didn’t sign up to live in an Airbnb hotel.
The new building contains 328 units in downtown Nashville. In both buildings, Niido takes a 25 percent cut of its tenants’ Airbnb earnings.
Niido does most of the heavy lifting on these projects. The developer purchased the Nashville building. Airbnb connects the apartment buildings with its homesharing platform and slaps its name on the complexes.
Niido Powered by Airbnb co-founder Cindy Diffenderfer told Bloomberg that the two companies could have up to 14 branded apartment complexes around the country by the end of 2019, but Niido and Airbnb both walked back those claims to the publication.
Airbnb declined to comment to Bloomberg, and a Niido representative told the publication that plans could change. Airbnb didn’t immediately respond to request for comment from Inman.
“We have a pretty aggressive growth strategy,” Differnderfer told Bloomberg.
In 2017, a developer said Airbnb and Niido would have around five more buildings in a two-year time frame.
