KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Matt Rice and his business partners expected to hear their phones ding with new Airbnb bookings, like they had for months.
Instead, during the end of March their phones dinged with cancellations because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Since Missouri and Kansas implemented statewide stay-at-home orders, Airbnb hosts like Rice have seen their earnings collapse.
“We’ve gone down to where we have less than the number on this hand,” Rice said, holding up his right hand. “You can imagine how our incomes have gone down with that.”
Their bills, however, remain the same. Mortgages, rent, utility payments are still due.
“We find ourselves now without the income we had before, but we still have all of the beautiful things and we thought better to put them to use than sell them off,” Rice said.
Rather than let spaces sit empty, Rice wants other hosts to jump onboard with his idea and rent furniture, TVs, lamps and other household items to people.
“That’s the unique thing about Airbnb hosts," Rice said. "The cost of all the furniture. They have no costs because they’ve collected it over time, so the cost for the customer is nothing.”
More information can be found on the Union Terminal website.
