Airbnb plans to test the Orlando area for branded apartments that the home-sharing platform won’t own, instead allowing a developer use the Airbnb name in an arrangement similar to what hotel brands like Marriott have with real estate developers.

It’s an arrangement in which hotels don’t own buildings or the real estate they’re built on, but help ensure hospitality standards on the property, industry experts said.

The arrangement raises political and legal questions for Airbnb. Apartment landlords and developers have been critical of the short-term-rental Airbnb site, but now many are starting to realize they can make money from it.

Airbnb is trying to create more revenue sources. Listings are expected to slow down in some cities where the platform is popular, and short-term rentals are increasingly regulated.

The company also is trying to have more control over the quality of listings on its platform as it tries to grab more travelers accustomed to mid-tier and luxury hotels, The Information reported.

From The Information. Story by Cory Weinberg.

Airbnb is working with a South Florida-based real estate developer, Newgard Development Group, on the design of the building. But the travel company won’t own any of the development or subsidize its construction, a person close to the transaction said. The branded apartment complex is one of several experiments that Airbnb is running, according to another person briefed on the matter. If successful, it could lead to more Airbnb-branded buildings.

The building, expected to have hundreds of apartment units, is planned for the city of Kissimmee, Fla., near theme-park-heavy Orlando, Fla. Newgard would look to attract young renters who work part-time in the Orlando area and live elsewhere the rest of the year, but want to make money from subletting rooms or entire apartments when they aren’t in town, two of the people said. It isn’t clear how many nights tenants would be allowed to put rooms on the platform, but regulations on Airbnb have generally been loose in Florida, and listings have grown sharply in the state over the past year. The state has historically been a stronghold for Airbnb rivals like Expedia-owned HomeAway.

The tenants, Newgard Development and Airbnb each would take a cut of the revenue earned from apartments rented on Airbnb’s platform. The relationship appears similar to the way hotel brands like Marriott work with real estate developers, in which the hotels don’t own buildings or underlying real estate but help ensure hospitality standards on the property, industry experts said. It isn’t known if Airbnb will charge a fee for Newgard to use its brand name, as hotel brands do.

Airbnb would help deploy some technology to help the building function as both a de facto hotel and an apartment building, two of the people said. Newgard also could use the prospect of extra rental income to help finance the construction of the apartment building, an approach that might tempt developers in other cities if traditional rental demand softens.

Read more at The Information.