被愛(ài)彼迎改變的房屋租賃行業(yè)

At first glance, San Francisco’s Victorian-era apartment buildings do not seem to have been much affected by tech innovation.

乍一看，舊金山那些維多利亞時(shí)代的公寓樓似乎沒(méi)有受到科技創(chuàng)新的多大影響。

However, the city’s biggest landlord knows differently. Veritas Investments, which has $3bn of real estate under management, says new customer demands for flexibility and convenience are upending the lettings industry.

然而，該市最大的房東知道事實(shí)并非如此。管理著30億美元房產(chǎn)的Veritas Investments表示，客戶對(duì)靈活性和便利性的新需求正在顛覆房屋租賃行業(yè)。

Companies such as Airbnb have made the practice of staying in a stranger’s home seem normal, and real estate companies and landlords are now grappling with how to deal with this change.

愛(ài)彼迎(Airbnb)之類的公司讓住在陌生人家里的做法似乎變得正常，房地產(chǎn)公司和房東正在苦思冥想如何應(yīng)對(duì)這種變化。

It is a particular challenge for apartment buildings: if much of the space in a building is let through Airbnb, it can become a de facto hotel, even though management has not been set up with this in mind.

公寓類建筑面臨的挑戰(zhàn)尤其大：如果大樓里的很多公寓都通過(guò)愛(ài)彼迎出租，那么這座大樓事實(shí)上就與酒店一般無(wú)二了，即便管理方對(duì)此沒(méi)有思想準(zhǔn)備。

Yat Pang Au, founder and chief executive of Veritas, says that the rapid pace of change prompted him to launch a tech incubator, Veritas Innovations, which works with real estate and accommodation start-ups.

Veritas創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官Yat Pang Au表示，快速變革促使他推出了一個(gè)科技孵化器Veritas Innovations，與從事房地產(chǎn)和住宿業(yè)務(wù)的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)合作。

“We are really trying to activate those homes with amenities and services that customers want, and that includes home sharing,” said Mr Au, citing features such as “smart” locks, which homeowners can use to let someone in remotely when they are out.

“我們?cè)噲D通過(guò)提供能夠滿足客戶需要的便利設(shè)施和服務(wù)來(lái)盤活那些房屋，其中一項(xiàng)服務(wù)就是房屋共享，”Yat Pang Au表示，他列舉了“智能鎖”等功能，房主可以在外出時(shí)利用智能鎖遠(yuǎn)程安排房客入住。

“Unlike the new apartment developers, where they can build out a roof-top bar, our buildings are too small for that, too old for that, but we are able to embrace that world of shared economy services.”

“那些新的公寓開(kāi)發(fā)商可以建造露臺(tái)酒吧，可我們的大樓都太小太舊，建不了這樣的設(shè)施，但我們樂(lè)于進(jìn)入共享經(jīng)濟(jì)服務(wù)的世界。”

It is not always easy for apartment building owners to deal with high volumes of Airbnb guests, who are often unfamiliar with building rules and can also pose a security risk if they forget to lock a door or leave a key lying about.

對(duì)公寓大樓所有者來(lái)說(shuō)，管理大量愛(ài)彼迎房客并不總是很輕松，房客通常不熟悉大樓的規(guī)定，如果他們忘記鎖門或者隨意放置鑰匙，還可能帶來(lái)安全風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

One of the first start-ups backed by Veritas Innovations, Pillow Homes, is trying to help solve this problem.

Veritas Innovations支持的首批初創(chuàng)企業(yè)之一Pillow Homes就試圖幫助解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題。

San Francisco-based Pillow sells software to apartment building owners to help them manage the Airbnb guests staying there — for example, allowing building staff to see a list of current guests, or helping hosts to book cleaning services.

位于舊金山的Pillow Homes向公寓大樓所有者出售軟件，幫助他們管理在大樓入住的愛(ài)彼迎房客，例如，讓大樓管理員可以查看當(dāng)前房客的名單或幫助房東預(yù)定清潔服務(wù)。

The software can also help enforce regulations about the number of nights a tenant is allowed to let out their room.

這款軟件還能幫助貫徹實(shí)施有關(guān)租戶可出租房間天數(shù)的規(guī)定。

“Just like wifi, laundry, parking, we see this as a standard amenity for the future, one that all tenants will want,” said Sean Conway, chief executive of Pillow.

Pillow首席執(zhí)行官肖恩•康韋(Sean Conway)表示：“就像wifi、洗衣、停車一樣，我們把這視為未來(lái)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的便利設(shè)施，是所有租戶都需要的。”

When a guest stays in a participating building, their payment is divided between the host, the apartment building, Pillow, and Airbnb.

當(dāng)房客在某一棟大樓入住時(shí)，他們支付的房費(fèi)由房主、公寓、Pillow和愛(ài)彼迎分成。

The host still usually keeps about 75 per cent of the payment, but the building owner also receives some extra income.

房主通常仍能拿到房費(fèi)的75%，而大樓所有者也會(huì)獲得一些額外收入。

Hoteliers and travel groups have also been attempting to diversify in response to the rise of Airbnb.

為應(yīng)對(duì)愛(ài)彼迎的興起，酒店業(yè)者和旅游公司也一直在嘗試多樣化經(jīng)營(yíng)。

In 2015, Wyndham Hotels took an undisclosed stake in London-based start up LoveHomeSwap, a subscription service that allows people to swap homes.

2015年，Wyndham Hotels購(gòu)入了總部位于倫敦的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)LoveHomeSwap的股份，但持股比例未披露，后者是一家預(yù)定服務(wù)機(jī)構(gòu)，為人們提供換房居住服務(wù)。

Over the past two years, Accor, the French hotel group, has acquired Onefinestay, the UK-based luxury home rental site, Squarebreak, a French home rental start-up, and Travel Keys, a US group that acts as a broker to hire luxury villas.

過(guò)去兩年中，法國(guó)酒店集團(tuán)雅高(Accor)收購(gòu)了英國(guó)豪宅租賃網(wǎng)站Onefinestay、法國(guó)房屋租賃初創(chuàng)企業(yè)Squarebreak以及美國(guó)豪華別墅租賃經(jīng)紀(jì)公司Travel Keys。

“Accor should be going into the travel space, which means not just being a hotels provider,” said chief executive Sébastien Bazin.

雅高首席執(zhí)行官塞巴斯蒂安•巴津(Sébastien Bazin)表示：“雅高應(yīng)進(jìn)入旅游行業(yè)，這意味著它不僅僅是一家酒店供應(yīng)商。”

The desire for flexibility among commercial property occupiers is also causing changes, particularly in response to the rise in popularity of WeWork, the office space company backed by Japan’s SoftBank.

商業(yè)地產(chǎn)使用者對(duì)靈活性的渴求也在引發(fā)變革，主要是為了應(yīng)對(duì)WeWork的流行，這家提供共享辦公空間的公司得到日本軟銀(SoftBank)的支持。

Industry executives say some companies no longer want long-term leases, or even their own front door, but are looking for flexible space that they can increase or decrease as required.

行業(yè)高管表示，如今有一些公司不想長(zhǎng)期租賃，甚至不想要自己的門臉，而是想要能夠按照需要擴(kuò)大或縮小的靈活空間。

The traditional model of 15-year leases on large areas of space is thus being challenged and property owners such as British Land are trying to offer more flexible office space options in response.

因此，找個(gè)大辦公室一下子租15年的傳統(tǒng)模式正面臨挑戰(zhàn)，針對(duì)這種狀況，英國(guó)地產(chǎn)公司(British Land)等房地產(chǎn)所有者正試圖提供更為靈活的辦公空間選擇。

WeWork has even bought the flagship New York store of 191-year-old department store chain Lord & Taylor, which will be renting floors from WeWork from the new year.

WeWork甚至買下了有著191年歷史的連鎖百貨商店Lord & Taylor的紐約旗艦店，從明年開(kāi)始，該店將向WeWork租店面。

Additional reporting by Murad Ahmed 英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》穆拉德•艾哈邁德(Murad Ahmed)補(bǔ)充報(bào)道