US: Sentral, a network of urban residential communities, has launched in Denver, and in doing so, established a new flexible living category that aims to “redefine the way people live, travel and work”.
The new category, called Home+, is designed to combine the comforts of home with the adventure of travel, and offer both designer furnished and unfurnished homes with flexible lengths of stay, ranging from a night, to a month or multiple years.
Qualifying residents will also have the opportunity to monetise their homes through Sentral’s managed home-share programme, enabling them to offset 25 per cent or more of their total rent while they travel and explore the world.
Having only been founded 18 months ago, Daydream Apartments has rolled out its new name and is upgrading its services in a bid to increase its market share.
Sentral is backed by ICONIQ Capital, which has invested over $500 million in the platform. Highgate, the Bozzuto Group, and Ascendant Capital Partners are investors and active board members.
Sentral CEO Jon Slavet said: “Sentral was founded with a bold vision: to redefine the meaning of home by building the world’s most flexible and connected community. There has been a massive shift to a ‘work from anywhere’ culture that is blurring the lines among home, work, and travel.
“Sentral is answering to a new generation of consumers who want home plus work or home plus travel. Together, we will build a global community of people living life on their own terms,” he added.
The company offer residents and guests two flexible offerings – LIVE and STAY.
LIVE: Offers flexible leases for one month or more in either designer-furnished or unfurnished apartments.
STAY: Offers bookings by the night for up to 29 days in designer-furnished apartments.
Both LIVE and STAY customers will have access to all the comforts of a luxury apartment, flexible workspaces, and premier amenities, including rooftop pools, outdoor firepits, fitness centres, demonstration kitchens, and stadium-style theatres.
Meanwhile, Sentral’s proprietary managed home-share programme allows qualifying LIVE residents to travel the world while offsetting 25 per cent or more of their annual rent. Its turn-key platform is set up not only to make homesharing seamless for hosts, but enhance their financial freedom and fuel their ability to travel and explore.
Sentral’s ‘any length of stay’ business model is due to define a new proptech category, as well as erase the lines between apartments and hotels.
Michael Curtis, formerly vice president of engineering at Airbnb, has also joined Sentral as an advisor on digital and business strategy.
Curtis said: “Living a flexible lifestyle is becoming much more common and the rise in working from home over this past year has accelerated that trend. It’s becoming the preferred way to live for people from all walks of life who aren’t tethered to a single location for work.
“The freedom to travel to different locations and live like a local is highly desirable. Sentral gives people a truly contemporary way to live this lifestyle with the warmth of home, no matter where they are and how long they stay,” he added.
Currently managing a network of 3,000 apartments in seven gateway cities in the United States, Sentral is poised for rapid growth to manage up to ten connected communities, in Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Miami and Atlanta.
Other real estate startups such as Sonder and Mint House have broadened their services during the pandemic to offer more flexible ways to rent out their apartments, which has resonated with digital nomads and young professionals seeking to live and work from anywhere in the world. Similarly, FlOasis is a new booking platform that has launched to address what it perceives to be “a lack of affordable, quality accommodation for remote workers and digital nomads”.
