A new app is connecting people with private bathrooms available for rent on-demand.
"It's kind of like how Uber changed the way that we get taxis. You used to have to go to the taxi line. Now, Uber is available to you where you are and when you need it," said Nancy Asare, who co-founded the Restspace app with her partner.
The app uses a phone’s location to connect people who want to use the restroom with nearby hosts. They rent out their bathrooms and other spaces in their homes, starting in 15-minute blocks.
Prices usually start at $15.00, though users could opt to pay more for a rest space with more amenities. Asare rents out the first floor of her home in San Diego's Little Italy, which has a bathroom, desk and printer available in an area she otherwise wouldn't use much.
"It's really allowing people to earn extra income on something that they already have. It's not an inconvenience," she said. "You're already there. It's meant to be super easy."
Asare said about 400 people have already used the app in San Diego and Dana Point, California, and that the app gained popularity during Comic-Con in July.
Austin Grabish / Scripps News San Diego
But who’s using it?
"You're talking about nursing mothers. You’re talking about people who've just missed their flights," Asare said
Asare said the idea was born out of frustration during the COVID-19 pandemic when she got tired of playing "restroom roulette."
"The spaces that we wanted to access were really difficult to get into," she says.
Her dream is to get more users to download the app and hopes to expand it to other cities in the future.
This story was originally published by Austin Grabish at Scripps News San Diego.
