The 'Airbnb of events' lets you rent out swanky apartments, vacant churches, and hip garages

Splacer

A vacant church isn't just a church anymore.

Thanks to Splacer, a new startup that promises to do for events what Airbnb did for overnight stays, an otherwise unusable place of worship — like the one Splacer user Kaitlyn C. rents for $575 an hour — can (and does) transform into a music video shoot, conference center, and concert hall.

While intriguing in its own right — who wouldn't want a brief, voyeuristic glimpse into someone else's life? — the service also serves a crucial need.

Basically, cities are running out of space.

In 1800, for example, only 3% of people lived in cities. By 1950, that rate had risen to 30%, and today it sits at an even split. In developed nations, the rate is even higher — approximately 74%. Urban areas can only get so dense before people are forced to live and work somewhere else.

The opportunity, as Splacer sees it, is that between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. people's apartments remain totally unoccupied. Thus, the space is wasted. Splacer wants to allow people who have unique spaces to open them up to strangers in need.

"It's not only my apartment or your garden," Lihi Gerstner, architect and Splacer co-founder, tells Tech Insider. "It could be your office, a gallery space, spaces between renovations."

SplacerCompanies already have the option to rent out public meeting spaces if they're looking to venture outside the office, but like cookie-cutter hotel chains, these can get old in a hurry.

"Everybody is looking for new stories," Gerstner says. "All these companies — we're allowing them to reach a huge amount of new, interesting spaces."

Splacer began in Tel Aviv, Israel — a country where sharing is woven into the very fabric of daily life. Gerstner's children, for example, attend school at a kibbutz, a traditional communal settlement where families share responsibilities.

Gerstner and her co-founder, Adi Biran, thought it only sensible to bring those ideas of community abroad.

SplacerOne of the supreme values of Splacer, like Airbnb, lies in its transparency.

Renters can avoid the middleman (say, a location manager who might scout places to shoot a video) and go directly to the owner. When that process performs at its best, Gerstner says, people can actually enjoy picking out a spot to hold their event.

"We want to help you have the most confidence about the space, the owner, so the smallest amount of friction possible," she explains.

SplacerMore than 300 people in New York currently list their spaces on Splacer. The company plans to expand to San Francisco, an even more space-deprived city, within the next two months. Dozens more cities have clamored for the kind of service Splacer provides, Gerstner says.

So far, the company's vetting process — visits to the location, meetings with the owner, a detailed questionnaire — has proven successful.

In case an incident does occur, Splacer draws up a contract between the owner and the renter to avoid hairy legal issues.

Since the service has already met such success, Splacer's biggest challenge moving forward will most likely be separating itself from Airbnb. But even that hurdle is fairly low to the ground. Splacer doesn't have to worry about sublet rules since it doesn't operate overnight, and unlike Airbnb, Splacer is multi-use in that owners can determine how they want their spaces used. 

Like Gerstner says, it's not just a bed to crash on. It's a new life to live, if only for a few hours.

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