被爱彼迎改变的房屋租赁行业

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

乍一看，旧金山那些维多利亚时代的公寓楼似乎没有受到科技创新的多大影响。

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，该市最大的房东知道事实并非如此。管理着30亿美元房产的Veritas Investments表示，客户对灵活性和便利性的新需求正在颠覆房屋租赁行业。

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.

爱彼迎(Airbnb)之类的公司让住在陌生人家里的做法似乎变得正常，房地产公司和房东正在苦思冥想如何应对这种变化。

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.

公寓类建筑面临的挑战尤其大：如果大楼里的很多公寓都通过爱彼迎出租，那么这座大楼事实上就与酒店一般无二了，即便管理方对此没有思想准备。

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创始人兼首席执行官Yat Pang Au表示，快速变革促使他推出了一个科技孵化器Veritas Innovations，与从事房地产和住宿业务的初创企业合作。

“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.

“我们试图通过提供能够满足客户需要的便利设施和服务来盘活那些房屋，其中一项服务就是房屋共享，”Yat Pang Au表示，他列举了“智能锁”等功能，房主可以在外出时利用智能锁远程安排房客入住。

“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.”

“那些新的公寓开发商可以建造露台酒吧，可我们的大楼都太小太旧，建不了这样的设施，但我们乐于进入共享经济服务的世界。”

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.

对公寓大楼所有者来说，管理大量爱彼迎房客并不总是很轻松，房客通常不熟悉大楼的规定，如果他们忘记锁门或者随意放置钥匙，还可能带来安全风险。

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

Veritas Innovations支持的首批初创企业之一Pillow Homes就试图帮助解决这个问题。

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.

位于旧金山的Pillow Homes向公寓大楼所有者出售软件，帮助他们管理在大楼入住的爱彼迎房客，例如，让大楼管理员可以查看当前房客的名单或帮助房东预定清洁服务。

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

这款软件还能帮助贯彻实施有关租户可出租房间天数的规定。

“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首席执行官肖恩•康韦(Sean Conway)表示：“就像wifi、洗衣、停车一样，我们把这视为未来的标准的便利设施，是所有租户都需要的。”

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

当房客在某一栋大楼入住时，他们支付的房费由房主、公寓、Pillow和爱彼迎分成。

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费的75%，而大楼所有者也会获得一些额外收入。

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

为应对爱彼迎的兴起，酒店业者和旅游公司也一直在尝试多样化经营。

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购入了总部位于伦敦的初创企业LoveHomeSwap的股份，但持股比例未披露，后者是一家预定服务机构，为人们提供换房居住服务。

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.

过去两年中，法国酒店集团雅高(Accor)收购了英国豪宅租赁网站Onefinestay、法国房屋租赁初创企业Squarebreak以及美国豪华别墅租赁经纪公司Travel Keys。

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

雅高首席执行官塞巴斯蒂安•巴津(Sébastien Bazin)表示：“雅高应进入旅游行业，这意味着它不仅仅是一家酒店供应商。”

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.

商业地产使用者对灵活性的渴求也在引发变革，主要是为了应对WeWork的流行，这家提供共享办公空间的公司得到日本软银(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.

行业高管表示，如今有一些公司不想长期租赁，甚至不想要自己的门脸，而是想要能够按照需要扩大或缩小的灵活空间。

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，找个大办公室一下子租15年的传统模式正面临挑战，针对这种状况，英国地产公司(British Land)等房地产所有者正试图提供更为灵活的办公空间选择。

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甚至买下了有着191年历史的连锁百货商店Lord & Taylor的纽约旗舰店，从明年开始，该店将向WeWork租店面。

Additional reporting by Murad Ahmed 英国《金融时报》穆拉德•艾哈迈德(Murad Ahmed)补充报道