A new app allows you to rent out a room by the hour during the coronavirus pandemic, giving people a chance to avoid their roommates or new colleagues in their home office.
The app — called Globe — is “a daytime, by-the-hour version of Airbnb,” according to The New York Times. The app simply allows people to rent out a room or an apartment for a few hours. You can’t stay overnight. But you can have the place to yourself for the work day.
Interested parties need to send a photo with a thermometer showing no fever in order to get a room. Safety, of course, remains important for those using the app.
“At a time when people are hanging on to the fringe of their sanity because we are not meant to be cooped up like this, we give people a reprieve,” founder Emmanuel Bamfo told The New York Times.
One user, Brittney Gwynn, rented a room to get a break from her boyfriend. She found a place in Brooklyn to rent for $100 for two hours.
“I brought my anti-bacterial wipes, wiped down the desk, the doorknob, the light switch, any area of the apartment I was in,” Gwynn told The New York Times.
Globe first rose to popularity back in 2019. It immediately had criticisms from people that those who want a reprieve from their home might head to a coffee shop.
But founder Bamfo said he appreciated the challenge, according to TechCrunch. And he doesn’t see his company as an Airbnb knock-off, either.
Airbnb, he told TechCrunch, is “a travel company. We’re localized, with the ability to charge on a minute-by-minute basis. It’s a huge engineering undertaking and, for now, it’s part of our moat, too.”