Will this start-up take down Airbnb? My Kindred experience in LA, plus other harmless gossip.
Will this start-up take down Airbnb? My Kindred experience in LA, plus other harmless gossip.
Welcome to all my new readers by way of Feed Me!
Hello new readers! There are a staggering number of you who have found me via Emily’s mention of my job change in Monday’s issue of Feed Me or perhaps elsewhere. I’m glad to have you! I am a loyal if not obsessive Feed Me reader. My shtick is a bit different than Emily’s, but hopefully you’ll have fun here too. Here is a bit more about me and a helpful primer, my last letter, which was about how I am now fun-employed and the scary-ness of uncharted territory. (Clarification: I do have a job! I just haven’t started it yet. Thank you to all the people who told me I was making a “brave choice” anyways, lol! It’s a W2 job, so like… not that brave, but still appreciated!)
Today’s read is not a personal essay, more a check-in/update/diary entry from me. The next letter I send you will be answering reader questions. So far only founder questions are in my inbox, but if you have anything you’d like me to answer/discuss here, please fling my way via email or comments! This email is a long one, so please read in your browser or the Substack app.
😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈 Glutton’s Corner 😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈
I went on vacation to an island off the coast of Mexico, it was fucking awesome, I am tan, I want to travel more.
This was my third time at Punta Caliza in the last decade, it is a perfect hotel and Isla Holbox is a perfect place, no further questions, your honor. I read a ton of books, there is no sweeter pleasure than pacing ahead of your Goodreads 2024 reading goal.
🥸🥸🥸🥸🥸🥸🥸🥸 Interlude for Business Rant: Kindred 🥸🥸🥸🥸🥸🥸🥸🥸
Have you ever heard of Kindred? It’s a home swapping app that promises to be something like what Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet do in The Holiday. Kindred’s thesis is basically that in our new world, many people who work remotely want flexibility to work from or travel to different places, and hotels and Airbnbs are super cost-prohibitive for longer term stays or for people who have rent to pay. With Kindred, you pay a flat fee to cover the cleaning & service fee— no money is exchanged between the guests and hosts— and you can either do a 1-to-1 swap where you live in each other’s homes or you can live in someone’s home while they’re away. You get “credits” when you list your home, and each stay in someone else’s costs a few “credits”, plus the fees.
I agree with the basis of Kindred’s thesis and I was an early adopter listing my home (though I have yet to actually host anyone— I typically rent my home for money when I am away long-term, via Listings Project or Airbnb, I’m sort of unwilling to just do it for free or for Kindred credits) and had been keeping my eyes open for places to book. A few weeks in LA was the perfect time to test it out and would, we hoped, make a significant difference in the overall cost of a sojourn like that.
My experience so far has been… interesting.