A group of nuns in Spain decided to reinvent themselves to find resources and decided to register a 16th century monastery through a rental platform.
The Poor Clare Sisters of Santa María de Jesús in Seville struggled to earn an income. They tried bookbinding, laundry and baking.
The latter was the only venture they continue to undertake, but it is not enough to raise the necessary money.
Amidst their hardship, they decided to adapt to technological advances and decided to rent a 16th-century monastery through Airbnb.
They realized that tourism represented an important source of income for Seville and they could not miss this opportunity.
There are all kinds of options in this house rental application, but very few offers with accommodations that have more than 500 years of history.
“The sale of sweets is not enough to cover the costs,” said the superior, Sister María Lucía, in an interview with the newspaper El Debate.
In this way, these nuns began offering a service to tourists at the Santa María de Jesús Convent, in the heart of Seville.
The nuns have converted the space to offer apartments and have begun hosting tourists.
The roof repair forced them to reinvent themselves
The deterioration of the monastery’s ceilings resulted in these nuns incurring costly repair costs.
These rooms had been abandoned after the death of one of the nuns and therefore resources had to be found to intervene in them.
The apartments are located above the area in which they work daily and were in danger of collapsing.
With this in mind, they decided to seek help and the mayor at the time granted them help in building a new roof.
The nuns managed to intervene on site and incur debts in order to be able to equip the apartments so that they could offer the best service to tourists.
When posted on the Airbnb platform, they assured that it was a “perfect place to rest after a day full of activity and fun.”
In addition, they offer services such as a coffee machine, an electric kettle and a dishwasher. Even though they have only been on the application for a few months, the guest reviews have been more than good with a total of 4.75 stars.
The nuns rent these rooms at different prices. Two nights for 90 or 180 euros, depending on the number of rooms. The costs also include cleaning costs between 30 and 55 euros.
The 18 nuns who live in the monastery have found a large source of income by renting out the rooms of the 16th century monastery
This story is also familiar at a time when the Church is facing a serious decline in religious vocations in the world.
In Spain alone, it is estimated that the number actively devoting their lives to religion has increased from 55,4000 members in 2017 to around 40,000 in 2019.
The deaths of nuns and priests and the lack of vocation of young people have led the Church to close convents and monasteries around the world.
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