Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 1191

Airbnb has been a game changer. I know many people who have made Airbnb their full-time career or who “stay for free” when they travel because they Airbnb their home. Airbnb likes to focus on the “community” rather than on the business possibilities, but regardless, it unlocked space in a new way.

Here’s another take on decentralized vacation rentals: Montreal-based Sonder . Similar to Airbnb, you submit your property to their platform. But unlike Airbnb, they take care of everything from reservations and guest communication to operations and housekeeping. It’s a completely hands-off approach for owners.

The value proposition to guests is that they get a more consistent experience , but with all the “local color” of a traditional vacation rental. And for owners, they get to maximize revenue without having to be as hands-on as with an Airbnb. (Presumably Sonder’s take is greater.) In many ways, it’s like a decentralized hotel chain. Same supply source as Airbnb, but they are now unifying the customer experience.

It’s fascinating to watch this software/internet layer developing on top of real estate. It’s giving me all sorts of ideas.

The New York Times has an interesting article up talking about how Vancouver and Seattle are trying to more closely align themselves and create a unified tech corridor. 

BC premier Christy Clark and Washington governor Jay Inslee recently signed an agreement to that effect, which included more research collaboration between the University of British Columbia and the University of Washington.

Seattle wants this because its companies need talent (read: foreign workers) and Vancouver’s borders are more open. Vancouver wants this because its tech industry is relatively small (go Hootsuite !) and it could benefit greatly from being more proximal to Seattle.

On a side note, Seattle is an interesting case study . In terms of venture capital dollars invested, it is below top tier cities such as San Francisco, New York, Boston, and so on. But in terms of the companies it has birthed (Microsoft, Amazon, Zillow, Expedia…) it is certainly a heavy hitter.

One of the key factors will be physical connectivity. There’s talk of high speed rail and/or a dedicated lane for autonomous vehicles. However it’s done, I think bringing this trip to < 1 hour would be the ideal scenario. There’s a psychological barrier beyond that.

If any of you live/work in either of these cities today, I would be curious to hear your thoughts.

I very much enjoy the branding and marketing side of the development business. It’s probably an architect / designer thing. So I’m always looking out for interesting case studies.

Recently I came across The Flynn in Chelsea, New York. The developer is IGI and the agency is Winkreative .

What they did was create a namesake character named Flynn. Everything then became about a day in the life of. 

The Instagram account is  flynninthecity . They made colorful animations . And they even partnered with the Spring Street Social Society to host in-person performance art pieces. The Being Flynn series was a bunch of vignettes that combined “dance and physical comedy” and highlighted a cast of fictional characters who all, of course, reside at The Flynn.

As you all know, selling condos is typically about selling a lifestyle. A dream. In this case, they created a character to show you exactly what that dream should be.

Real estate marketing can sometimes often be cheesy. But I thought this was a clever and overall creative approach. Winkreative does great work.

What do you think of the approach?

Image: Winkreative