Airbnb Plans “Hosting Meetup” in Preparation for Philadelphia Papal Visit
How do I rent my place out when Pope Francis comes to town?
It’s a question we’ve been getting for some time now (and even spelled it out for people). But as the Philadelphia Papal Visit rapidly approaches, the tone with which the question is now being asked has transitioned from casual cooler talk to a holy-crap-it’s-in-less-than-a-month-please-help-me-for-the-love-of-God type urgency.
Relax, there’s still some time to make it happen.
Airbnb is running a free “Hosting Meetup” on Thursday night at Pipeline, a co-working space inside the Graham Building at 30 South 15th Street, to get new and prospective hosts acquainted with the process in advance the upcoming large scale events, including Made in America over Labor Day weekend and Papal Visit at the end of September.
While the event is free, those looking to attend must RSVP via Airbnb’s website and space is limited. As of today, nearly 150 people have signed up to attend the meetup and attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop, tablet or smartphone to access their account, photos of the space or home and, if possible, a write-up or rules of the house for the listing.
According to data provided by Airbnb, the renting site has seen a 270% increase in listings on the platform since April 2015. There are currently 5,900 listings available in the region during the weekend of the Papal Visit, with the neighborhoods of Rittenhouse, University City, Southwest Center City, Germantown and Fishtown seeing the most bookings for that time period.
The event runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on August 27. Here’s schedule for the evening:
- 6:00pm: Welcome, mingle and cocktails
- 6:30pm: Presentation – “Airbnb & Hosting”
- 6:45pm: Presentations from special guests on the Papal visit:
- Mayor’s office (invited)
- Councilman William Greenlee
- Visit Philadelphia
- Philadelphia Convention and Visitor’s Bureau
- SEPTA (invited)
- 7:30pm: Breakout and Hosting Q&A sessions with an expert
