Airbnb adds Starwood to program offering apartment rentals

Airbnb Inc. is adding Starwood Capital Group and other landlords to a program offering rental properties that are also eligible for short-term stays, in a bid to attract tenants who aim to become hosts themselves. 

San Francisco-based Airbnb currently partners with 250 buildings that allow renters to lease their apartments part-time on the home-sharing platform, a 43% increase from when it launched the program last fall. Renters across 38 cities can browse Airbnb-friendly apartments on the company's website and use a calculator to see how much income they could generate through part-time hosting. 

Many cities, including New York, have implemented strict rules to regulate short-term rentals. Joining with landlords could make it easier for people who want to rent out their unit for a portion of the year to find a legal way to do so.

Landlord partners can "effectively reduce their marketing costs rather than having to go spend a lot of money on marketing just by being featured on our website," said Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Airbnb. "The hope is that other landlords, including smaller landlords, will learn from the success of the bigger landlords and this will create a industry-wide trend towards allowing home sharing again." 

GoldOller Real Estate Investments, Milhaus and Space Craft are now some of Airbnb's new partners in the program, joining Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC, Equity Residential and UDR Inc.