家租網豪宅大幅飈升 Super rich join the Airbnb set

Jack Solomon, a 74-year-old industrial chemist from Westchester, New York, had been waiting for the internet home-sharing revolution for years. Looking for a home to retire to in 2005, he and his wife ended up with a house in East Hampton and — as you do — a neighbouring island that sleeps 36.

來自美國紐約州威斯徹斯特縣(Westchester, New York)的74歲工業化學家傑克所羅門(Jack Solomon)多年來一直在苦等互聯網私宅共享革命浪潮的到來。2005年他與妻子四處找尋退休後的住所，最終在東漢普頓(East Hampton)“安營紮寨”，這座鄰近東漢普頓的小島上共住有36人。

He toiled unsuccessfully on craigslist, the local classifieds service, trying to eke out some income from the island when not in use for stays with family and friends. When it came, the new wave of home sharing websites was a godsend; today he has a steady stream of bookings for the island courtesy of Airbnb, TripAdvisor and VRBO (a popular US rental site).

他曾在當地分類廣告網站Craigslist上打廣告，希望房子空置時（自己家人與朋友不在此居住時）能對外出租，但卻以失敗告終。當這一天終於成爲現實時，不斷涌現的私宅分享網站如同及時雨。如今拜Airbnb 、TripAdvisor以及美國知名租賃網站VRBO所賜，預訂他小島住所的人絡繹不絕。

Airbnb reports a boom in short-term home lets by the super-rich. In June, the number of one-bed listings charging more than 1,000 per night was nearly three times what it had been a year before. Asia is leading the charge: high-end apartments — those with pools and gyms — grew quickest in Tokyo (up 78 per cent) and Hong Kong (up 70 per cent). Over the same 12-month period, London listings grew by half and those in Paris a third.

Airbnb報告稱：富豪臨時出租私宅者大幅飈升。今年6月，上網招租的單張牀位數（每晚租金超過1000英鎊）同比增長了近3倍。亞洲租金首屈一指獨領風騷：帶泳池與健身房的高檔住宅的租金在東京與香港同比增幅最大，分別達78%與70%。過去一年，倫敦待租房屋的租金同比增長了50%，巴黎則同比增長了三分之一。

Premium home rental sites are booming. Luxury Retreats, which claims to turn away 95 per cent of those who offer their (mainly) holiday homes, now has 2,800 properties, largely in the US and the Caribbean, with nightly rates ranging from $1,000 to $124,000, for the plushest private island. Onefinestay has been listing plush pads since 2010 in sought-after city locations and now has 2,000 homes across London, New York, Paris and LA, with a combined value of 6bn. , the vacation rental site operated by , which includes plenty of plush pads, boasts 308,000 vacation homes.

高檔住宅租賃網站也快速涌現。Luxury Retreats聲稱把95%有意出租者的度假屋者拒之門外，如今旗下擁有2800套房源（多數位於美國與加勒比海的最爲奢華的私人海島），每晚租金從1000美元至12.4萬美元不等。2010年以來，Onefinestay一直招租城市黃金地段的豪華住所，如今在倫敦、紐約、巴黎以及洛杉磯等地擁有的房源多達2000套，總價值超過60億英鎊。由負責經營的休假房屋租賃網站名下把大量豪宅出租，自詡名下度假房多達30.8萬套。

Second-home owners are getting younger, meaning more look to the internet for smart rental solutions when they are not using their homes themselves. The average age of second-home buyers in the US dropped from 52 to 43 in the 10 years to 2013, according to the US National Association of Realtors.

二手房主越趨年輕化，他們更希望房屋空置時能通過租賃網出租。據全美房地產經紀人協會(US National Association of Realtors)統計：過去10年（截止2013年），美國二手房主的平均年齡從52歲降到了43歲。

Increasingly, people are renting their main homes, too. “Where the super-rich have listed secondary residences for some time, now they’re starting to offer their main homes while staying in other properties or holidaying,” says Olivier Gremillon, who runs Airbnb’s European business.

不僅如此，出租主宅者也越來越多。“富豪過去上網出租自己的次要住宅，如今當自己住到別處或是外出休假時，則開始把主宅臨時出租。”Airbnb歐洲區負責人奧利維耶格雷米翁(Olivier Gremillon)說。

Online home rental sites typically feature interactive calendars allowing owners to switch availability on or off at a moment’s notice, dodging the advance commitment typically required by property rental firms. As importantly, messaging apps and sophisticated review systems provide homeowners with the information they need to vet potential guests.

家租網通常以交互式日曆招攬客戶：允許房主可即刻告知房屋能否出租，從而規避了房屋租賃公司通常要求的提前預約規定。同樣重要的是：短信通知程序與先進的複查系統可給房主提供相關信息，用以審覈有意承租者。

Two years ago, Francesca Diana, an Italian jewellery designer who runs her global business from Rio, bought a private island on a rural nature reserve about an hour and half’s drive from her home. It has become a precious retreat: “I’d never rent it to someone unknown or give up the control over who could stay there,” she says.

2年前，在巴西里約經營全球業務的意大利首飾設計師弗朗西斯卡戴安娜(Francesca Diana)購買了一座私人小島，它位於當地自然保護區內，距離自家約1.5小時車程。“我永遠也不會把它轉租給陌生人、或是把它交給想長住的人。”她說。

Through Airbnb, she corresponds with prospective guests to discover their interests and expectations, then reads reviews from previous hosts to check their form. “I need to know they will respect the national park and aren’t here to use the island to party on,” she says. This choosiness, and the fact that she will only take guests for a week or more, cuts down her rental periods. But like many of today’s premium home-sharers, her motivation is social as well as financial.

藉助Airbnb，她與有意承租者取得聯繫，瞭解對方的興趣愛好及期望值，再通過瀏覽以往招租房主的評價掌握其實際爲人。“我得弄清楚對方是否尊重國家公園的相關規定，租住小島是不是用於操辦聚會。”她說。她的挑剔、再加上其容許的出租期只有一週左右，從而減少了她的總租賃時間。但與當今諸多豪宅共享者一樣，她的動機是社會與經濟目的兼而有之。

Laurent also likes the company. A scion of a large French family — he won’t give his surname — he lets his sumptuous 4,300 sq ft Louis XVI-period spare apartment in Paris. Extra income for maintenance is handy, he says, but his guests, and their generous reviews, are what he gets excited about. He’ll give tours of the house, explaining which family castle features in this painting, which French king once sat in that armchair and when that celebrity came to stay. For between 650 and 1,000 per night, depending on the season, he’ll throw in a few of his own staff of “cleaners, driver, guardian and cooks”.

不願透露自己姓氏的法國某望族傳人洛朗(Laurent)也喜歡與人爲伴，他對外招租的是自家位於巴黎、始建於路易十六時期(Louis XVI)、面積達4300平方英尺的空置豪宅。這些貼補維修費的額外收入唾手可得，他說，入住客戶以及對方的溢美之詞同樣讓他很是受用。他通常會帶客人走馬觀花一番，向對方講述家族藏畫中畫的是哪座家族城堡、自家扶椅坐過哪位法王陛下、以及哪位名流曾下榻此處。每晚租金介於650-1000英鎊之間，具體數額視季節而定，他還會免費安排自己的“清潔工、司機、保安以及廚師”來此服務。

Visitors during Paris Fashion Week can hobnob with models and celebs at one of his exclusive parties. Younger members of the home-sharing revolution pick their guests with more specific aims in mind. Ben James, who is 26 and “predominantly single”, rents out one or both rooms in his Mayfair penthouse, which includes a huge roof terrace. He’d probably pass on a request from a family with young children, he says, “but two young ladies over in London for a party fit more with my lifestyle”. Family in the area means that he can move out briefly if a long booking doesn’t quite sync with his own travel plans; at 700 per night, a three-week stay is, he points out, “a decent chunk of change”.

巴黎時裝週期間，遊客可在洛朗組織的高檔聚會上與參會的名模、名流進行親密互動。私宅共享浪潮中的年輕一代挑選租客時目的性更爲具體。26歲的本礠姆斯(Ben James)崇尚獨身，他把自己倫敦梅費爾區(Mayfair)頂層公寓（帶有面積很大的露臺）的一兩個房間對外招租。他通常願意租給帶有小孩的家庭租住，他說，“但是，兩位住在倫敦的年輕姑娘若是合夥租住，則更符合我的生活方式”。他自己的家庭就在附近，如果長期出租與自己的出遊計劃相沖突，他可以短時搬出去住；他說：每晚700英鎊的租金，若是租上三週，自己就有了“一大筆零花錢”。

James was probably never shy, but others have taken a while to get comfy with the concept of house sharing.

詹姆斯也許無所顧忌，但有些人真正接受私宅共享理念則需假以時日。

Prime Airbnb listings surged last year when the firm hiked its insurance policy from 50,000 — about enough to cover a vase in some London homes — to 1m. Owners can add their own deposit requirements and checking procedures. In 10 years Laurent has lost only a Bose sound system and a few bottles of champagne from the cellar.

去年，當Airbnb把保險賠償費從5萬英鎊（剛夠賠償倫敦某些豪宅中的一隻花瓶）猛增至100萬英鎊後，到Airbnb網招租的豪宅數大幅飈升。戶主還可以要求添加定金要求以及增加覈對程序。10年來，洛朗只丟過一套Bose音響系統以及幾瓶窯藏香檳。

Many rich users once avoided posting photos on their Airbnb profiles for fear of friends thinking they were hard up, says Gremillon. All that has changed: “now it’s cool to be part of the sharing economy; it’s something for people to talk about over dinner parties.” Some have been led by tech savvy kids, who grew up holidaying on strangers’ sofas via , and now rent or sublet their homes on even the shortest trips. Others have been lured by sites that take the hassle out of the rental process in exchange for keeping a share — typically up to half — of what guests are charged. At Onefinestay and LuxuryRetreats, after a rental price is agreed all the owner must do is decide whether to accept or reject subsequent bookings. Onefinestay ships in linen, towels and toiletries, and uses aircraft-style tamper tape seals to signal to guests which rooms or draws are off limits.

很多有錢的房主曾竭力避免把豪宅照片上傳至Airbnb網頁，因爲擔心親朋好友會誤以爲自己手頭拮据，格雷米翁說。但此一時、彼一時也：“如今成爲共享經濟的一分子很潮很酷；它儼然成了各種飯局的談資。”如今的技術男成了引領潮流者，他們從小到大隨家人度假時，每次都睡在陌生人家（通過網承租）的沙發牀。如今他們即便短途出遊，往往把自家房子出租或轉租於他人。其他人則被許諾簡化招租程序的網站吸引，對方開出的條件是租金分成（通常達一半）。在Onefinestay及LuxuryRetreats，租金談妥後，房主只需決定是否接受隨後的房屋招租。Onefinestay備好牀單、毛巾以及化妝品、並使用飛機上的密件啓封方式向客人標示哪些房間與區域禁止進入。

A few users with posh pads may not be super-rich. Lower-income European aristocrats are increasingly employing Airbnb to rent outbuildings on their estates, helping to fix leaking roofs, says Gremillon.

有些豪宅戶主可能並非富豪。越來越多的低收入歐洲舊貴族藉助Airbnb網把自家豪宅的附屬房屋對外出租，以賺取屋頂滲漏維修費用，格雷米翁說。

Others are cash-strapped enthusiasts. Alain Etienne Marcel did a deal with the French town of St Malo, where he lives, to restore a 17th-century fort off the coast in return for a 99-year lease on the property. When he had returned some of the rooms to their original condition, he started to take bookings through Airbnb for up to ㄠ,600 per night. The revenue funds the rest of the work and helps pay for public visits to the fort, his original motivation for the project.

其它熱衷對外招租的豪宅則是因爲資金短缺。阿蘭縠節覄氠庚爾(Alain Etienne Marcel)與法國小鎮聖馬洛（St Malo，他如今居住於此）簽訂協議，他幫助修復一座17世紀的海濱要塞，條件是自己獲得要塞99年的租用期。他把某些房間原樣修復後，就開始通過Airbnb網接受客戶預訂，每晚租金高達1600歐元。收入用於未竟的修復工程以及貼補公衆參觀的費用（這是他最初的動因）。

The new home-sharing economy also offers a radical solution to the fraught uncertainties of relocation.

全新的共享經濟還給充滿變數的異地安家提供了根本出路。

When tech entrepreneurs Leila Zegna and her husband were planning a move from San Francisco to London last autumn, they compiled a shortlist of six central London neighbourhoods. Rather than gamble with a year-long lease in an area they might not like, they used Onefinestay to find three-week home rentals in each of the six areas. The company provided a list of suitable homes and arranged each stay; the couple arrived to a welcome from an agent and a mobile phone preloaded with the owner’s local tips, from restaurants to dry cleaners. Zegna estimates that the rental cost was just 15 per cent more than that of a long-term let. “It was a great adventure: we were incredibly mobile, living out of a suitcase and exploring each neighbourhood every night after work and at weekends,” she says, adding that global firms should follow her lead to make foreign postings more appealing.

去年秋天，當科技創業者萊拉瀠尼亞(Leila Zegna)伉儷計劃從舊金山搬至倫敦時，他們最終圈定了倫敦市中心的6處住宅區。他們沒有選擇在一個小區長租一年（他倆不太喜歡），轉而通過Onefinestay網在每個小區各租住三週時間。網絡租賃公司提供了幾家候選家庭，並妥善安排好了一切入住事宜；夫妻倆每到一處，就有中介公司迎接他們，手機中預裝了房主提供的本地服務信息（從餐館到乾洗店）。傑尼亞估計租金只比長期租住多出15%。“這是妙不可言的經歷：我們來去自如，只需拿個手提箱，每晚下班後以及週末，我們就會在每個小區尋芳探幽一番。”她說，並補充說跨國公司應該積極效仿其做法，如此一來員工駐外肯定爭先恐後。

Growth in demand for prime home rentals has been driven by the changing tastes of super-rich holidaymakers. Since the financial crisis, a shift from ostentatious consumption to sustainable localism — eccentric cafés and hidden farmers’ markets — has seen affluent travellers swap design hotels for homestays, says Mindy Ewing of Virtuoso, a premium travel agent that sources many of their properties through high-end sharing sites.

高端住宅租賃需求增長的動因是外出度假的富豪品味發生了變化。自金融危機以來，從炫富性消費到對風土習俗（怪異的咖啡屋與出世農民的集市）持久偏愛的轉變，讓不差錢的遊客棄住豪華酒店、轉而選擇農家旅舍，來自高端旅行社Virtuoso的明迪尤因(Mindy Ewing)說，Virtuoso通過豪宅分享網站淘選了許多適合招租的房屋。

Frequent business travellers are also a growing market. When 49-year-old Paul Watts was working in San Francisco for a British software firm, he chose home rentals for the half dozen annual trips he made back to London, often with his wife. Now living in London again, they use the site for trips to the Paris office. “It enables us to feel like we have a work-home balance when I’m working abroad; it has been a life-changer,” he says.

經常出差者的市場需求也是水漲船高。49歲的保羅瓦茨(Paul Watts)曾在舊金山爲一家英國軟件公司上班，每年回英國幾次，都是與妻子租房住。如今返回倫敦居住後，他倆到巴黎分公司出差時，常常通過租房網站租房住。“我在國外出差時，租房住可以讓我們感覺工作與居家兩不誤；它一直是改變生活的大功臣。”他這樣說道。

The same appetite for local immersion has driven growth in internet-enabled home swaps. These include , or the smaller, plusher, , which is a sort of a car club for holiday homes. Once accepted, members pledge their homes, specifying the dates they are willing to let them out; in return they get credits equivalent to the swankiness of their home and the desirability of the time slots they are offering. These they can spend by booking other homes.

遊客希望能深度入鄉隨俗，導致網上私宅互換居住行爲不斷增多。這其中就包括了網以及規模更小、也更爲奢華的等網站，後者屬於專爲度假家庭服務、類似汽車俱樂部的網站。一旦接受協議，簽約成員必須嚴守承諾，明確自家願意出租的時段；作爲回報，他們就獲得與自家奢華程度以及可供出租時段相對應的信用分，自己預租別人家的房子時可當現金使用。

The benefits of home swapping are financial — there’s no income from your guests, so no tax to pay — and fantastical — a steady supply of offers from homeowners in Brazil and the Bahamas to swap with your Kensington duplex will feed daydreams to brighten up the rainiest London workday.

私宅互換既能帶來經濟好處（入住客人並不支付房費，因此無須額外付稅），也能讓美夢成真——巴西與巴哈馬的房主源源不斷要求與諸位位於倫敦肯辛頓(Kensington)的複式住宅互換居住，此舉能讓上班的倫敦人浮想聯翩，一掃城市陰雨綿綿的天氣。

As well as the boom in top-end rentals, sites to cater for a range of specialist owners are springing up thick and fast. In the land of the free and home share of the brave, Ryan Galiotto co-founded when one of his friends was barred from a major US home rental site for including pictures of her fully equipped sex dungeon. Back in East Hampton, Solomon may be leading fellow baby boomers into a new dawn of technology-enabled home rental, but that is one site that he won’t be using to list his island.

除了豪宅招租激增外，專爲各色專用房主服務的網站也如雨後春筍般涌現。在崇尚自由、私宅共享的英國，瑞恩加廖託(Ryan Galiotto)一位好友的招租私宅因包含“設施一應俱全”的性地牢照片而被美國某知名家租網站拒之門外，於是憤而與人合辦了網站。再次說說東漢普頓，所羅門也許正把同年齡段的嬰兒潮一代人(baby boomer)帶入科技爲依託的家租新時代，但他不會在上述網站上招租自家的小島豪宅。