User:Alissamiren/sandbox

PermaGO, Inc., is an American social-travel company based in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by Perry Chan and Alan Pan in 2012, PermaGO designs and builds physical, shared lodging spaces, called "Bridges," within residential apartment for its members, of which many are in the technology, freelance, startup, and small-business subculture communities. Members can use the service to find lodging within the Bridge network, or apply to become hosts themselves in order to host other PermaGO members once their homes have been converted into a Bridge. Members also have access to an internal social-travel network called "Iceberg," which allows its members to meet up instantly through events proposed by other members. As of 2019, PermaGO has locations in New York City, New York, and Jersey City, New Jersey. PermaGO is a wordplay on the concept of being "Permanently-on-the-GO."

History
While working as an assistant in 2008 in Los Angeles, California, Perry Chan conceived of a company that would allow anyone to simply relocate their entire life by helping them to set up employment, lodging, and even a social network. After leaving this position to pursue his entrepreneurial interests, the following year he traveled to Hong Kong for the first time in his life, and experienced the shared living lifestyle at the Yes Inn hostel in Fortress Hill. It was here that he would meet a constant stream of travelers and backpackers almost every day, which greatly influenced his concept of the company that would later become PermaGO. Returning home to New York City, he decided to rent a loft apartment at 33 Gold Street in the Financial District of Manhattan to test his concept of offering shared accommodations where all guests were expected to behave respectfully towards one anotheróat all times. In October of 2011, he began offering nightly accommodations under the name "Stay Inn NYC," to travelers on both the Airbnb, and Hostelworld platforms, both of which earned his accommodations high marks and reviews. In February of 2012, while designing and building a second Stay Inn NYC apartment at 33 Gold Street, he would meet Alan Pan, a travelers from Taiwan in New York City for a job interview, who had been attracted to the Hostelworld reviews and pictures. During Panís stay, the two discussed and shared many ideas regarding travel, design philosophy, and their life goals. After relocating to New York City from Taiwan, Pan and Chan founded PermaGO in July of that same year.

Accommodations
PermaGO provides a platform for homeowners and renters to convert their homes into shared lodging environments to accommodate its members with short-term lodging. PermaGOís live-in hosts are trained to operate the PermaGO system in order to provide a consistent "home-away-from-home" environment for its registered members. Under this closed-network platform, both hosts and members agree to adhere to the platformís golden rules which are: to remove shoes at the door, to not invite any unauthorized guests, and most importantly, to always respect everyoneís privacy and property at all times.

Iceberg - The Social Travel Network
Iceberg is a free social-travel network developed by PermaGO. Launched in the summer of 2014, users (nicknamed "Icebergers") can propose instant events by simply filling in the blank to the question: "Anyone up for [ suggestion ]?" Icebergers can access the network on the web, or, by downloading the smartphone app on either the App or Google Play store.

Custom Furniture
In the first quarter of 2013, PermaGO began production on a custom bunk bed design in order to better accommodate the average dimensions found in many New York City apartments. These bunk beds were introduced into the PermaGO Host program and helped doubled the average guest capacity.

In 2016, PermaGO expanded its product offerings to include entire homes under a corporate-lease program. Introduced that same year was the standalone PermaGO Murphy bed, which allowed members to convert a queen-sized bed into a loveseat sofa.

Operations
PermaGO opened its first office in the now defunct Sunshine Suites, a co-working office environment, in 2013. PermaGO's current headquarters is located in the Financial District in Manhattan, New York City, with two satellite offices in Midtown, Manhattan, as well as Jersey City, New Jersey.

Controversy
On June 9, 2019, the Wall Street Journal published a story about an illegal Airbnb sublet enterprise at the Atelier Luxury condominium building, which were raided by the mayor's Office of Special Enforcement in November of 2018. It was allegedly operated by individuals who had sought advice and consultation with PermaGO's co-founder, Perry Chan, long before the raid. Speaking with Josh Barbanel for the story, Chan stated on the record that he had discontinued his consultation services with them once it became clear they "were taking too many risks" and that "he disagreed with their strategy of reinvesting profits to expand its network at the Atelier because he believed a large presence in the building would increase the likelihood of regulatory scrutiny."