Have you ever considered subletting your apartment via Airbnb while you're on vacation? Considering Munich's rental prices, it's not such a far-fetched idea. However, many people shy away from the organizational effort. Airgreets wants to change that and, as an Airbnb service provider, make renting out their own home as easy as possible for their customers.
1. Who are you and what do you do? Please briefly introduce yourself and your startup!
We are Airgreets and take the work off Airbnb hosts' hands. We—Julian, Florian, and Sebastian—are long-time friends from school and university. We all come from consulting backgrounds and would have been our best customers in our previous jobs as frequent travelers. Since such a service didn't exist in Germany, we decided to quit our jobs and offer this service ourselves.
After launching in Munich in the summer of 2016, we now offer the first Germany-wide Airbnb management service. We're solving a real problem. Anyone who wants to rent out their apartment through Airbnb quickly realizes that it involves a huge amount of effort. How do I create an attractive profile? What price should I charge? Which guests can I accept, which ones can't I, and how do they get into my apartment while I'm not there?
We take care of all of these issues, making it possible for anyone who would like to sublet their apartment during their absence to do so completely effortlessly and participate in home sharing. This, of course, relieves the burden on hosts, as described, but also offers travelers significant added value compared to traditional Airbnb rentals. We personally welcome guests to our apartments, ensure they are cleaned and prepared, and act as a contact person on site. This clearly distinguishes us from many providers who take a much more impersonal approach in this regard.
Pole position in Germany
2. But that's been around for a long time!
Well, not really. There are a few companies abroad that offer similar services, mostly locally. In Germany, however, we are the only ones offering Airbnb services in multiple cities. Furthermore, we are clearly on the side of home sharers, meaning our customers are private individuals who want to rent out their own homes while they are away, and not just vacation homes or similar, as is sometimes the case with our competitors. After launching in Munich and Frankfurt, we have now expanded to Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Düsseldorf, making us the leading provider of Airbnb services in Germany.
3. What has been your biggest challenge so far?
Since we operate a city-based model, it's a major challenge to establish appropriate structures at all locations without losing the central overview. Of course, this only works with excellent, reliable, and motivated colleagues on site. Fortunately, we quickly found them, and they now identify so strongly with Airgreets that we have a responsive and motivated team.
“Business is booming”
4. Let’s get down to business: How is business going?
Business is booming, even though the travel season is only just beginning to pick up again. Since we began last summer, we've already managed well over 1,000 nights and are firmly rooted in our six cities. We've established the necessary structures and can now focus on growth. We've already provided several thousand guests with an exceptional travel experience. The positive feedback from both guests and hosts motivates us every day to further improve our service and drive business forward.
5. What does Munich mean to you?
As children of southern Germany, the far north and the big B were never really an option for us. In Munich, we found great talent who actively support us in developing our business. Furthermore, the large startup scene with weekly events offers fantastic networking opportunities. Munich no longer has to hide behind other locations in the startup scene, and we are happy to have put down our roots here.
Personally, Munich and its surrounding area offer us mountain and ski enthusiasts the perfect retreat from stressful days. Here, we can unwind, unwind, and also find inspiration while barbecuing on the Isar River.
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
Unicorn or not, we're well on our way to building and developing a logistically challenging, yet highly lucrative and promising business model. There are several interesting opportunities that can expand our business model and complement our core model. We're looking forward to the next few years of Airgreets and to further reviving the home sharing trend in Germany.
7. Isar or English Garden?
Isar – we simply live too close to it 🙂
