Coronavirus: Mosman mum offers luxury house for self-isolation

After seeing her AirBnB bookings fall off a cliff, Belinda Selway found an opportunity in people who need a luxury refuge.

Interior and designer Belinda Selway is renting her Mosman home as a luxury pop up for self isolators. Picture: Jane Dempster.

Single Mosman mum and Airbnb super host, Belinda Selway, is offering her palatial Sydney family home as a luxury bolt hole for people caught short in the COVID crisis, with optional extras like “a stocked larder and two week’s worth of vino”.

Ms Selway, an interior designer, says after watching her Airbnb business fall off a cliff over the past two months she is now catering to a whole new post-coronavirus clientele – from health workers to bewildered overseas tourists too scared to fly home.

“People have been caught short in so many ways,’ Ms Selway explains.

“You have local families who suddenly have to leave their own home because someone in the family is too elderly or vulnerable to have the kids in the house or, like my clients this week, they were stuck in the middle of a renovation trying to work from home.

“Now people are cooped up at home all day what might have been workable is suddenly unbearable.’

Ms Selway says Airbnb have been very supportive helping hosts to switch their focus from international tourists to locals in need, especially health workers.

On April 4 it also established a $250 million US relief fund for hosts who were suddenly forced to cancel bookings from March 14 to May 31 after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic on May 13.

Belinda Selway at her Mosman home. Picture: Jane Dempster.

She says her team of cleaners are now prepped to decontaminate her sprawling four bedroom pile, Alegria, following the strict deep cleaning guidelines for COVID-19.

While Alegria normally rents out at $900 a day, Ms Selway says like most other Airbnb hosts still operating, she is offering significant discounts, depending on individual circumstances.

She also has to find her own Airbnb rental while her house is occupied, often a challenge given she also needs a home for her Great Dane and two cats.

While she can’t help but be anxious about the additional risks involved, Ms Selway believes her COVID-19 business pivot could be a godsend for some people. It was also an absolute necessity to keep her and her team employed during the crisis which was almost certainly going to last well beyond 12 months.

“People might think I’m some rich Ab Fab Mosman housewife but I need the income to survive,” Ms Selway says.

“I started pimping out my house to help me make ends meet after my divorce and actually I have really loved it, I’ve made some amazing new friends with people from all around the world.

“This virus changes everything though, and as much as I would love to bunker down with my son and just get through this crisis, that isn’t going to put food on the table.”