BUSINESS
Gay BnB Site Searches for the Key Spark
Two gay founders work to broaden their home-sharing platform offerings
BY MATT TRACY
Door-to-door canvassing
and postcard mailings
are typical components
of a political campaign,
but Victor Mantilla Colon and Phillip
Seymour aren’t running for offi
ce.
The New York-based duo are
employing these marketing tactics
as part of their goal of expanding
GayStay, the home-sharing business
they founded together in 2016
in response to the lack of BnB operations
that cater to the diverse
LGBTQ community.
Their operation is still in the
early stages of development — they
currently offer about 40 listings
encompassing domestic and international
locations — and the
founders aim to eventually reach
100 listings. The domestic listings
are scattered around US cities as
The GayStay team, including co-founders Victor Mantilla Colon (center) and Philip Seymour (right),
outside of the Stonewall Inn during WorldPride festivities.
well as rural areas and Puerto
Rico, and there are a handful of international
locations from Curaçao
to Italy.
The men are in the process to
seeking outside investors to raise
several hundred thousand dollars
to inject more fi repower into their
marketing effort, but for the time
being they are combining digital
VICTOR MANTILLA COLON
efforts with old-fashioned face-toface
canvassing runs in neighborhoods
like Harlem, Williamsburg,
Park Slope, and Gramercy Park
in search of host venues. They’re
also delivering postcards to LGBTQ
friendly bed and breakfast
locations to invite them to list their
locales on GayStay. Their digital effort
includes posting social media
ads and emailing press releases to
players in the industry across the
nation, and they have presented
GayStay opportunities at travel
conferences.
There are other similar operations
to GayStay, like MisterBNB,
but many cater primarily to gay
men — and Colon and Seymour
are branding GayStay as an inclusive
option that targets all LGBTQ
people and allies. Thus far, they
said, that has worked to their advantage
because they have noticed
more interest among women than
men.
GayStay also eschews advertising
on erotic sites like Pornhub.
Colon and Seymour require
all participating sites to sign a
nondiscrimination agreement to
maintain safe and respectful interactions
as part of their effort to foster
a friendly environment where
hosts and guests alike can feel like
they’re part of a community. They
also allow hosts to list their homes
for free, giving them an extra incentive.
Aiming to build trust among
users, the duo utilizes a thorough
screening process — something
that they say distinguishes them
from corporate giants like Airbnb.
“Airbnb became a huge conglomerate,
and with recent trouble
they never really paid attention to
their hosts and never really vetted
them,” Seymour maintained. “We
begin by vetting our hosts from the
beginning.”
Like other home-sharing platforms,
the founders must be cognizant
of the ongoing regulatory
attention toward short-term rental
operations. Stories have emerged
of hosts abusing home-sharing
services by turning their residences
into illegal hotels, prompting
demands for legislative solutions
to curtail short-term rentals that
critics say lead to increased rents.
With court challenges, however,
the regulatory environment remains
in fl ux.
Colon and Seymour defended the
existence of home-sharing services
that can assist folks who could use
the cash.
“As someone who grew up as a
marginalized person, that extra
income does help,” Colon said. “At
the end of the day it helps people
pay cell phone bills and stash away
money.”
The duo is confi dent that regulatory
hurdles are largely in the
rearview mirror, at least in New
York. While they initially focused
on fi nding hosts to provide a wide
complement of offerings, they’re
now looking ahead to recruiting
travelers interested in fi nding LGBTQ
friendly lodging options.
“We are starting to market to
guests,” Seymour said. “We still
want to build up the number of
hosts and then market to guests to
come to the host.”
How soon the pair can reach
that magic number of 100 listings
is not clear, but they do have
10 pending listings they are in the
midst of vetting. They’re hopeful
that GayStay’s unique position as
a comprehensive LGBTQ homesharing
service will help them
capture demographic groups that
have previously been left out.
“There are other competitors but
none of them say LGBT and allies,”
Seymour said. “We are trying
to move toward that and get more
people interested in us.”
TOP $ PAID
FOR JUDAICA
COLLECTIBLES
HOUSE
CALLS
SAME DAY
SERVICE
AVAILABLE
SAME SERVICE
AVAILABLE
HOUSE
CALLS
SERVING
MANHATTAN
AND THE ENTIRE
TRI-STATE AREA
ANTIQUES AND ESTATE BUYERS
WE W
PAY $ CASH $ FOR
ALL GOLD, GOLD & STERLING SILVER
COSTUME JEWELRY, ALL COINS, PAPER
MONEY & STAMP COLLECTIONS
ALL GOLD...BROKEN OR NOT
PRE- 1960 FURNITURE, CLOCKS &
WATCHES (WORKING OR NOT)
TIFFANY, BACCARAT, LALIQUE
YERS
The List is Endless
Q
MILITARY
Collections Wanted
Swords, Knives,
Helmets, etc.
SEE OUR AD IN THE SUNDAY POST
516-974-6528
ASK FOR CHRISTOPHER
www.AntiqueAndEstateBuyers.com
for Antique
ANTIQUE & ESTATE BUYERS
We buy anything old. One piece or house full.
WILL TRAVEL. HOUSE CALLS. WILL TRAVEL
ENTIRE
TRI-STATE!
WILL WILL TRAVEL.TRAVEL. WE WE MAKE HOUSE HOUSE CALLS.
CALLS.
1029 WEST JERICHO 37W 47TH TURNPIKE,ST, NYC
SMITHTOWN, L.I.
FREE
Estimate
November 28 - December 4 34 , 2019 | GayCityNews.com
/www.AntiqueAndEstateBuyers.com
/www.AntiqueAndEstateBuyers.com
/GayCityNews.com