Airbnb Meets 50 Shades of Grey: What Will They Think of Next?
Adventurous travelers can now rent a dungeon on KinkBNB. (Photo: KinkBNB)
Thanks to the proliferation of the sharing economy, you can rent just about anything online when you travel. Need a tent or a set of cross country skis? Zilok.com can help. Want to rent a houseboat? Head over to getmyboat.com. If you need to borrow a car, check out GetAround.com, and then use Parkingpanda to find a place to park.
You name it. There’s someone willing to share, rent or loan it.
But collaborative economy experts say the movement is still in its infancy.
“These websites are giving the power of the corporation to the individual,” said Robin Chase, founder and CEO of Buzzcar, co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, and author of Peers Inc. “It’s changing the power structure — and we’ll definitely be seeing more of it.”
New platforms are popping up everyday, bringing products and services to the collaborative table that we might never have considered sharing with our neighbors.
Like dungeons.
The newest player in the travel peer economy game is KinkBNB. The site launched May 1 with a little more than a dozen rentals, featuring amenities that would make even Christian Grey blush. At launch, KinkBNB’s listings ranged from a prison cell near Leipzig, Germany to a 2,000-square foot dungeon in Seattle.
No one’s particularly surprised the sharing economy would cross into such adventurous territory. At the end of the day, it’s all about market segmentation.
“How different is this from eBay?” said Chase. “EBay makes it simple for me to sell my stuff. This is exactly the same thing.”
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The options available aren’t all dark red and black motifs; here’s a surprisingly chic and colorful “play space” in LA. (Photo: KinkBNB)
It all started in March when a friend of Galiotto’s had her room rejected from a mainstream home sharing site — he won’t name names, but said “it’s the most popular one” — for being too provocative.
The friend, a professional dominatrix, had certain items in her photos that were deemed inappropriate. The listing site also didn’t like that she included photos of her workspace.
“That’s when we realized there was this niche that needed to be served,” said Galiotto.
So he and good friend Darren Mckeeman got to work, reaching out to friends who might have a spare room — or cage — to rent out. The goal is to help travelers find rentals where hosts won’t judge what consenting adults do for pleasure.
Related: 11 Things You Need to Know About Airbnb Before You Book
History fans will enjoy this medieval-style space. (Photo: KinkBNB)
Reservations work similar to Airbnb. Hosts list a room, guests reserve it, and KinkBNB takes a cut from the booking. It’s the only such service Galiotto knows of.
Experts say the nature of the listings may make the company more susceptible to the scrutiny of those tasked with trying to regulate the sharing economy. A site that offers a place to rent adult playrooms might be put under policy-makers’ microscopes before a site that offers a place to rent lawnmowers.
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This Seattle dungeon, with its restrained decor, should appeal to the minimalist’s design sensibilities. (Photo: KinkBNB)
“In the sharing economy, as in any economy, there’s stuff we have knee-jerk reactions to,” said Chase. “If a kinky bookstore opened up down the street, wouldn’t that be looked at?”
But Galiotto, who co-founded San Francisco’s kinky Wicked Grounds coffee shop and also helps run the Shibaricon rope conference in Chicago, thinks the platform is addressing a unique need in the travel space.
He hopes the site will appeal to people looking for novel lodgings, and to those who might not have the room or budget to act out their fantasies at home.
“Clearly there is a market for this,” said Rachel Kramer Bussel, sex columnist and editor of Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories. “I will be curious to see how they do.”
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