The problem with an early hotel checkout is that it often means lugging a suitcase around. That’s soon to change in the District.
Stasher, a startup offering a sharing economy solution to storing luggage, just launched in D.C. after a successful trial in Los Angeles, New York City and New Orleans.
The service connects travelers with hotels and local businesses where they can store their bags while waiting for a flight or exploring the city. It launched in 2015 in London and grew from a team of three people to launching in 170 cities worldwide in two years.
Now it’s looking to make the U.S. its next big market, with D.C. one of its early adopters. It launched the first handful of “StashPoints” – small businesses and hotels with extra space – in the city two weeks ago.
Customers book storage via the Stasher website, pay online and drop the bags off, then pick them up at the allotted time. To date, over 250,000 bags have been stashed through the network with no insurance claims processed in conjunction with any of the bookings, according to Stasher.
Each item left at a StashPoint is insured against damage, loss and theft up to the value of about $1,000. And the startup sends a representative to vet every location before it joins the network, along with background checks and other due diligence.
“We’ve wanted to move into the US for a while, and are extremely proud to have reached our goal,” co-founder and CEO Jacob Wedderburn-Day said in a statement. “It’s great to be helping out tourists, whilst giving businesses in Washington, D.C., a way to earn an additional stream of income.”
Marketing Manager Elsa Corcione said customer demand is high in the District, given its position as a tourist and business destination, with plenty of hotels and Airbnbs. It has five StashPoints so far and will roll out more once demand steadies, but could eventually reach the scope of London, which has 140 StashPoints.
“We find that because of Airbnb and the sharing economy generation, people are more aware of services out there like us,” Corcione said. “We’re seeing the market is ready for a company like us.”
