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Metro student willing to break the law to cash in during the DNC

Denver residents renting out their homes for the city's visitors in '08

By Emma Marshall
emarsha4@mscd.edu

As the crowd pours into Denver for the 2008 Democratic National Convention next August, a hotel shortage will erupt in the Denver metro area. One Metro student wants to take advantage of the situation by coming up with a plan that would provide a place to stay during the convention week, while making a large sum of money at the same time.

Toby, a junior at Metro who would rather his last name not be used due to the illegal sublet he is offering, placed an ad on Craigslist.org that offered his spacious two bedrooms, one bathroom loft at a rate of $7,000 for the week of the convention. Besides the excellent location directly above the 16th Street Mall, the perks of his loft include an Xbox 360, a Nintendo Wii, Direct TV and wireless Internet.

“I had to take advantage of the situation. Anything to keep me from getting a real job,” he said.

According to the Democratic National Convention website, Denver should be expecting 35,000 visitors during convention week, but only 17,000 hotel rooms will be put on hold for that time.

Toby was influenced by other people talking about renting out their homes for the convention, and searched Craigslist for the going rates. His loft costs $840 per month, and his landlord doesn’t know that he posted the ad. He doesn’t know what he would spend all the money on, but he would use some of it for a vacation during the week of the convention. If he has a roommate at the time, Toby said he would split it with him or her also.

The risk of letting a stranger staying in Toby’s apartment for a week doesn’t bother him at all.

“Of course I’m going to pick the person who seems the most trustworthy. I would definitely prefer a reputable business man or woman over some rich kids who are just looking to party,” he said.

Toby said he would buy new sheets so the person could sleep in his bed. He also wants to have a maid service come and clean it up to make the stay as nice as possible.

After one month, there have been no calls for the apartment, so Toby is thinking about changing the ad. He wants to make it more mature by deleting the part about the XBOX and Nintendo Wii. Also, he is considering lowering the price by $1,000 dollars.