Startups develop websites like Airbnb for marijuana lovers

There’s no doubt the appetite for cannabis-related services is growing each year. This is especially true in US states such as Colorado and Oregon, where buying marijuana for recreational use became legal. But while the app’s success shows what an online service can achieve, tackling the practical issues of consumption, and tourism, are more complicated.

Tourists in Colorado, for example, face the Amendment 64 conundrum, which allows the consumption of marijuana, but only in a private home and with permission from the owner. There are some hotels that allow vaping n rooms but the law allows a maximum of 25% of rooms to be marijuana-friendly.

And by facing this problem, pot-entrepreneurs found a good business opportunity…

Have you ever wondered if there’s an Airbnb for potsmokers? A platform that could provide cannabis lovers a way to smoke weed in strangers’ homes without consequences? The answer is yes, and actually not only one!

Finally, the eternal problem weed smokers face on holiday—“but where can I smoke without getting in trouble?” —has been solved.

Travel THC

Launched in April 2014, AirTHC (the name has since been changed to Travel THC due to potential copyright infringement) helps tourists fulfill the dream of getting stoned legally in a stranger’s home.

Pro-marijuana property owners can list (unlimited) accommodation for a flat rate of $199 a year. Rentals range from the grandiose Blue Sky Ranch vacation estate in Black Hawk, Colorado, from $999 a night, to a modest room in a private Denver home for $80. It boasts hundreds of properties in Colorado and an expanding presence in Washington state and Alaska.

According to co-founder Greg Drinkwater, “The idea came about as I was talking with a group of friends in a pub in Denver. Recreational marijuana had only recently been legalized in the state, but the rules precluded people from smoking in public or in most hotels. There was an obvious gap of 420-friendly places for people to stay and smoke—so we filled the gap.”

Only licenced retailers can sell marijuana legally, so TravelTHC does not facilitate the sale of marijuana, though property owners are not prohibited from sharing the weed. Hosts may leave a loaf of extra-special banana bread waiting for guests on arrival, for example.

Bud and Breakfast

Launched on 1 April of this year, Bud and Breakfast looks and feels like Airbnb, but with a much greener aesthetic. Travelers search for weed-friendly accommodation by entering their vacation destination and dates. Homeowners in states and countries where recreational and medicinal marijuana use is legal offer them places to stay.

The listings also indicate nearby dispensaries and advertise any cannabis-friendly events in the area. Featured properties include a penthouse in Boulder, Colorado; a lodge in Hope, Alaska; and a suite in Montevideo.

Listings also specify where smoking is allowed – inside, outside or just in the lounge, for example – and what paraphernalia is provided. Some places even provide a “wake and bake” experience, offering guests the bud and breakfast from which the site draws its name.

Though Colorado does not have statistics tracking weed tourism, Roby, the founder, said business was booming. Since the site launched, he said, the phone has been ringing off the hook.

“Pot tourism is completely exploding,” he said. “Since we’ve been live, if we could have had more accommodations, we would have been completely filled out for the 4/20 events that went on in all the recreational states … People were desperate to get a place that was cannabis-friendly.”