The Mesh - Lisa Gansky [10]
yours sometimes. own-to-mesh.
Zipcar is what I call a Full Mesh model, meaning that the company owns and maintains the vehicles. By participating, I get the benefits associated with owning, but without the hassles and cost.
The Mesh Sweet Spot: High Cost, Frequently Used Goods.
CASE STUDY:
Roomorama
Jia En Teo and Federico Folcia met on the job at Bloom-berg in New York City and quickly discovered a mutual interest in travel. To help fund their habit, they rented out their apartments, primarily through Craigslist, while exploring the world. The drawback: Jia and Fede had to sift through hundreds of responses to their ads and deal with complicated and separate payment systems. They realized that many hosts and guests alike could benefit from a more convenient way to arrange short-term stays while traveling. So in 2008 they ditched their corporate gigs and launched Roomorama.com—a stress-free peer-to-peer platform for making your home (or second home) a short-stay time-share.
From New York, Roomorama has spread to Barcelona, London, Los Angeles, Paris, and Vancouver. The booking process is simple and secure: all payments occur online. Hosts know that their guests will pay in advance, and guests rest assured that their money is in safe hands (the money isn’t released to the host until the renter verifies that the room was accurately advertised). There is no risk for either party.
By early 2010, 1,500 apartments in New York and over 4,000 listings across the country were available to travelers through Roomorama. The company gained early support by making customer-suggested improvements to the site, such as their “Shoutout” feature. There, renters can send an e-mail to prospective hosts with a last-minute plea to lower the rental price. Maybe the renter can only pay $70. A host who charges $85 per night has the option to meet the request or not.
The company continues to grow, sometimes in unexpected ways. As home prices dropped over the past year, one member saw an opportunity to acquire almost a hundred properties and list them on Roomorama. He’s become a hotelier of sorts, using Roomorama’s reservation platform and collection service. This is what a Mesh marketplace like Roomorama does. In providing a service, it creates opportunities for everyone. Will businesses like this one become the future of the hospitality industry? Or unveil convenient ways to secure more value from real estate? What will services like this mean for traditional hotels or households?
Many of the Mesh businesses operate in this way, making the capital investment and deriving their profit from micro-leasing arrangements facilitated by information networks. Other businesses use an Own-to-Mesh model. They create a platform for people who own things to share them easily and profitably. VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner) and Roomorama, two home-sharing services, are good examples of Own-to-Mesh businesses. You own your home, but can Mesh it when you travel.
In Own-to-Mesh models such as Roomorama, income often derives from transaction fees and partnership deals. Certain car-sharing services also profit from the Own-to-Mesh model by charging transaction fees. RelayRides, a company in Baltimore, has created a platform for people who own cars to micro-lease them to other people. The company underwrites the insurance risk, creates mechanisms for evaluating prospective users, and provides a platform for tracking the cars and matchmaking among car owners and users. WhipCar, in the U.K., DriveMyCarRentals, in Australia, and SprideShare, in the Bay Area, also Mesh owners’ vehicles. Divvycar provides tools and support to anyone who wants to share their own car—or anything else, including boats, bikes, and tools. All