The government is issuing around 240,000 tickets to President Elect Obama’s inauguration on January 20. But many more people than that want to be there, and there are plenty of parties and other activities for them to attend. The big problem, though, is finding a place to stay.
Hotels were sold out long ago, and without a place to stay it’s basically impossible to be there. That’s where CrashTheInaguration comes in. The site is powered by AirBed & Breakfast, which we covered in August.
The service lets people rent out rooms or their entire home to travelers. Unlike services like CouchSurfing, they can also charge for the service, so it effectively lets anyone who wants to launch their own hotel in their home. AirBed & Breakfast charges a fee that averages around 10%; the rest goes to the person renting the room.
Cofounder Brian Chesky says that over 2,000 rooms have been listed for rent since the service launched. Later today CNN will be doing a segment on the CrashTheInauguration service, and I expect the number of listings to jump up sharply.
If you really want to attend the inauguration and you don’t have a hotel room booked, this may be just what you’re looking for. And if you live in or near DC and don’t mind a stranger in your home, you can make a few extra bucks come January.
Get a $20 discount as a renter on CrashTheInauguration for being a TechCrunch reader. Just type TechCrunch at checkout.