In Ghent start-up Gitoo is now renting out student digs to tourists during the summer months. Often student rooms remain empty at this time of year. The company wants to do something about this and promises that landlords and students will be able to make a little money as a result. The city authorities have reservations about this initiative, but don’t yet want to impose strict rules. Gitoo is currently focusing on Ghent but hopes to expand to other Flemish cities soon.
‘Our mission is to do something about student digs that stand empty during the summer,’ say Thomas De Baerdemaeker and Gianni Vermeire. They are the two student entrepreneurs behind the start-up. The new company claims that 8 out of 10 students with digs in the city rarely or never use them during the summer.
The idea is to sublet the rooms in July and August. The start-up is in charge of administration and cleaning. The landlord and students earn a little extra. For students with an annual contract - 96 per cent of students in digs in Ghent - it means paying less in the months they are not there.
50 to 150 euros a night for a room
Mssrs. De Baerdemaeker and Vermeire say two weeks is the minimum for a rental period. ‘We pay the student about 70 per cent of the rent for that period, landlords get the remaining 30 per cent. We earn the cash thanks to what we charge tourists. We plan to charge between 50 and 150 euros per night, depending on the location and size of the student room.’
‘We are developing our own platform, but primarily we want to offer rooms via Airbnb and Booking.com. We are starting in Ghent but would like to expand to the rest of Flanders and Brussels soon. The aim is to sublet the first rooms as early as this summer.’