Airbnb makes it easy to get off the grid.
The site boasts a retro trailer in Anglet, France, a villa with five pools in Black Rock, Trinidad and Tobago, and a tree house in Costa Rica. But with two houses listed in Millburn, Airbnb makes it easy to stay right here.
Airbnb is a global marketplace for people to list space in their homes for rent. The site spans 190 countries, 34,000 cities, promotes unique travel experiences, and recently expanded to Cuba.
Though the Paper Mill Playhouse attracts playgoers from around the world, and Manhattan is located 25 miles away, Millburn is an unlikely vacation destination for ambitious travelers. Consumers on Airbnb likely have other plans for the local properties posted on the site.
Township resident Sandra Scher posted her Sagamore Road home on Airbnb four months ago, and the two inquiries she’s received were far from conventional.
“One was from a company looking to do a commercial photo shoot, and the other was from a bride who needed somewhere to put her bridal party,” said Scher, who is renting out her house for the two weeks in August, when she will be vacationing with her husband and two children.
“The house suits a big group,” she added. “Small numbers are not interested in big properties.”
The other Millburn property on Airbnb is on Wyndham Road, and is listed on the site as being in close proximity to MetLife stadium, in East Rutherford. The property was posted in January 2014, just before Super Bowl XLVIII. The Item of Millburn and Short Hills reached out for comment. No phone calls were returned.
On the website, Scher described her house as a four-floor 1902 Georgian Colonial, with a renovated kitchen, 3.5 bathrooms, and a .69 acre park-like garden. Other amenities include off-street parking for four cars, wireless internet, a chef’s kitchen, laundry room and children’s toys.
Scher has been on both sides of the rental arrangement. After college, she would sublet apartments in Manhattan, and before moving to Millburn, Scher rented out her home in London.
Though there are no background checks for guests or hosts, Scher said she uses social media to scope out potential renters, at the site’s advise.
“Airbnb will link to your Facebook, so you can see the other users’ profiles,” she said. “If I see less than 20 people in the other person’s friend list, that’s how I know they’re probably not a real person.”
The site provides other suggestions, too. For example, hosts should lock all of their valuables in one room, and put tape across kitchen cabinets with food inside.
Should a problem arise, hosts are covered by Host Protection Insurance, which Scher says gives her peace of mind. The policy covers certain situations within the United States, according to an Airbnb representative who introduced himself as “Michael.”
“The policy is listed clearly on our website,” Michael told The Item of Millburn and Short Hills. “Users can make a claim during or after reservations are made, and we will be able to provide coverage.”
Host Protection Insurance would cover accidental injuries to the guest, but would not cover accusations of slander or defamation of character, intentional acts resulting in harm, property issues such as mold or bed bugs and automobile accidents, according to the website.
Scher has never been involved in an incident that required insurance coverage, but once paid out of pocket to cover damage done to her home.
“We had Italians staying at our house in London. I mailed them the wrong key and they couldn’t get in when they got there,” she said. “It was a holiday, and it was midnight, so we had to call an emergency locksmith to come and cut out the lock.”
Usually, the most Scher has to do to prepare for a guest is lock away her valuables, clean the place and change the sheets.
She says she tries to coordinate renting with her personal travel plans, and uses Airbnb when she vacations with her family.
Though she does know people who have made Airbnb their main source of income, Scher says she has no intention of making renting into a fulltime gig.