Airbnb in NZ a women’s domain

Colleen Pollard has been renting out a bedroom on Airbnb for about 18 months.

The Auckland grandmother of seven had a career in accountancy but said her strength had always been in dealing with people. This new venture allows her to meet visitors – and top up her pension at the same time.

‘‘I love it,’’ she says. ‘‘It’s a lifestyle.’’

Her family were initially worried about security issues but she had never had a problem. ‘‘The people we’ve had through are lovely.’’

The income she gets isn’t large and there’s a reasonable amount of work involved in cleaning between guests. She charges $80 a night.

But Pollard says it’s a valuable addition to superannuation.

New data shows Pollard is in good company – New Zealand women lead the world in their take-up of Airbnb.

Seven in every 10 Airbnb hosts in New Zealand are women. That is the highest proportion in the world on the platform. Internationally, 55 per cent of Airbnb hosts are women.

Between them, the female Airbnb hosts in New Zealand earned $147 million on the platform last year.

An Airbnb spokesman said there were a variety of reasons it appealed to women, who were often in charge of household finances.

The gender pay gap could also play a part – ‘‘home sharing gives women an opportunity to overcome barriers they might face in their professional life and become their own microentrepreneur.’’