Maxim Sokolov is a 23 years old photographer from Russia. He has spent most of his adult life in Dubai but moved to Prague in October 2019. Since then, he has been renting his apartment on short-term rental platforms, but due to a sharp decrease in tourism, Maxim realised that medium-term rentals would be the best option.
In today’s post of our Interview Series, Maxim will talk about his experience so far with Flatio and why he thinks midterm rentals are the best landlord solution in the post-pandemic world.
Flatio: When did you become a landlord, and what has brought you to it?
Maxim: I started in October 2019 doing Airbnb because it was a good income and my first job after graduating from University.
Flatio: What do you think about the current shift the market has seen from short-term rentals to midterm rentals being very popular due to COVID-19?
Maxim: I think short-term rentals are pretty much obsolete at this point. The whole EU has significantly suffered from closed borders, and now, it only makes sense to do medium-term rent to students or employees who travel abroad to work for a few months at a time.
Flatio: What were the main challenges you faced when trying to find the right platform to advertise your accommodation?
Maxim: I wanted to find a very user-friendly platform with great support for landlords (Something Airbnb is horrible at), and most importantly, it could bring results.
Flatio: Why did you choose Flatio:
Maxim: I chose Flatio because it matched the needs of a shifting market, and it is much easier to form a proper mid-term contract than on any other platform that I have seen. I have found that Flatio more or less matched the criteria I was looking for and, it is a great platform to use. Much better than Airbnb.
Flatio: What are the main benefits for landlords renting through Flatio, in your opinion?
Maxim: Obviously, the number one benefit is that it finds tenants for my apartments, I have only had two bookings so far, but both were positive experiences, the tenants respected the rules, and the apartment was left in excellent condition. This is why medium-term is much better than short-term because it eliminates crazy tenants who just look to party for a weekend and cause noise and disturbance to the locals that also live in the same building. Flatio captures the former demographic much better. Moreover, the commission fee is also not too crazy; everyone is having a hard time due to Covid, the money earned is enough to get by.
Flatio: What do you expect from the rental market in the next coming months as the world gets ready to start recovering from the pandemic?
Maxim: I don't believe travel as we knew it will resume even in the next four years. For the foreseeable future, the medium-term and long-term rental will prove to be king! People are only allowed to travel for work. Short-term just doesn't make sense.
