The growth of Airbnb in Amsterdam hasn’t escaped the attention of the Shallow Man. The finer establishments of this city are full of people, who unusually for Amsterdam are happy flashing the cash they are making by renting out their spare rooms, apartments etc.
In fact there are currently over six thousand rooms available in Amsterdam on Airbnb.
Now what I’m about to say might shock you, but the Shallow Man, does have a conservative streak running through his finely attired self. I have been tempted to partake in what looks to be an easy way to make money, but have resisted using Airbnb for several reasons.
- The amount of  work that will be involved in creating an ad, photos etc.
- The Dutch press is full of stories about how the Amsterdam gemeente has brought in new rules about subletting apartments via Airbnb
- Concerns I have about having strangers staying in the Shallow Man bachelor paradise. I have an extensive home theatre system and many fine custom made outfits, what if something happens while I’m away?
- What if a tenant loses their keys while out partying and calls me at four in the morning?
The best way to address the concerns I’ve outlined above is to use a middleman, a property agent service of which in Amsterdam there are several at the moment.
The advantages of using a middleman with Airbnb
Speaking personally, I simply couldn’t be bothered to rent out my property using Airbnb. The idea of firstly, having to run around taking photos of my apartment, then going through the hassle of dealing with potential renters, just doesn’t appeal to me at all.
The Shallow Man is busy enough. This added to a couple of Airbnb nightmare situations that I’d read about, didn’t help.
To put it bluntly, the last thing I want to risk is having a bunch of young guys, in Amsterdam for a weekend of boozing, whoring and drug taking, staggering back to my apartment every night, annoying my neighbors, something that I can do quite well by myself.
Take the stress out of Airbnb lets
To avoid having to deal with all of this, and as a simple act of risk mitigation, this is where using a middleman that specialises in Airbnb lets comes in very handy.
The ideal situation is quite simply that I can tell the middle man (or lady) when my apartment will be available and leave the rest to them. This is where bnbmates come in. As part of the service they offer, they’ll take care to make sure that the appropriate people stay in your apartment.
It’s run by a couple of Dutch ladies who understand all of the local laws and rules in Amsterdam that need to be followed when subletting your apartment in this way, a big advantage as the last thing I need is to have unnecessary dealings with local bureaucrats.
What really appeals to the Shallow Man about this service is that from start to finish, all contact with the people hiring your apartment will be dealt with by them.
This means that while I’m out shopping in the Rue de saint Honore, I won’t receive a frantic call from a complete stranger asking me if I have a spare set of keys, as they last saw them slipping between the cleavage of a friendly lady in a dodgy part of town.
Enjoy your luxury holiday and have someone else deal with your Airbnb rental
Money, Money, Money
With everything taken care of, all you have to do is sit back and count the cash, and think about which fine dining establishment or cocktail bar you’ll be spending some of the money. Or if you happen to be Dutch, which of your high interest saving accounts you’ll be depositing the money into.
There is a huge demand for holiday rentals in Amsterdam, and Airbnb continues to grow. My personal advice would be that if the reasons I mentioned above, were also putting you off using Airbnb yourself, do the smart thing and get a middleman (or woman) to manage the process for you.
Using Airbnb doesn’t have to be a gamble
No drunken tourists walked into a bike lane during the writing of this post.
To contact bnbmates click here
