As of mid-March, Furnished Quarters had eight apartments listed as being available to rent in San Francisco. The majority of the one- and two-bedroom units can be leased either in April or May.
The octet is in either of two residential buildings South of Market, 340 Fremont or The Paramount, according to the search results on the company's website at www.furnishedquarters.com. Due to local rental laws, stays in any of the fully furnished units must be at 30 days in length.
At the start of this month, the company told the Bay Area Reporter it didn't have an unoccupied unit in the city for a reporter to visit. It surmised some of its roughly 50 apartments in the city had been leased by people who had to flee the fires that destroyed several Los Angeles neighborhoods in January.
Others had been booked by people coming to town for extended business stays or other reasons. The lack of available units is why the gay co-owned company is feeling confident about a revival in travel to San Francisco this year, a turnaround from five years ago when it struggled to rent out units due to the COVID pandemic.
"We certainly saw it was difficult for us to do business during the pandemic in San Francisco. We were affected by a lot of tech companies moving out of the region and moving elsewhere," recalled Steven Brown, who launched the company with his brother, Gary, during Pride Month in June 1998. "Our business in California struggled for a bit. Now, it is back to a new normal."
Steven Brown, 68, who is gay, is the company's chief executive officer. He splits his time with his husband, Steve Saide, who is Furnished Quarters' executive vice president of interior design, between their homes on Long Island in New York and Miami.
Serving as president is Gary Brown, 66, a straight ally who joked in a joint interview with the B.A.R. that he is "the much younger brother." He spends part of the year in Laguna Beach in Southern California with his wife when the couple isn't at their Chelsea residence in Manhattan.
"We are seeing a comeback in San Francisco. A lot of companies are requiring back to work, that really does push up our business," noted Gary Brown, who previously had lived in Granite Bay outside of Sacramento. "As that happens, business downtown will start to come back."
Furnished Quarters guest services manager for the California market is Andrew Laing, 50, who is gay and lives in San Francisco with his husband. The couple, together 25 years, are both foreign born, with Laing of British ancestry and his partner South African. They moved to the Bay Area in 2017, and Laing started working for the Browns seven years ago as a field inspector.
Today, he oversees a team of 10 people split between various cities where the company operates. A resident of SOMA, Laing told the B.A.R. that he and his husband have seen positive improvements in the city of late as they walk the streets around their home or are enroute to the LGBTQ Castro district.
"We have seen the change first hand. We feel so much safer on the streets ourselves," said Laing. "I think there is a big shift happening now."
Since January, in San Francisco, the company has seen 100% occupancy, said Laing.
"I am pretty positive this is the start of a new era for the city," he said. "We get to be a part of it."
With careers in New York's real estate industry, the Brown siblings began their company as solely Manhattan based. But as they found success in the short-term rental market, and saw opportunities to expand to other cities, they took on apartments in New Jersey, the suburb of White Plains northeast of New York City and Massachusetts.
Nearly two decades ago they added Northern California to their portfolio of rental properties. In addition to San Francisco, the company rents out roughly 100 places in Silicon Valley, with apartments currently available for a minimum 10-day stay in San Jose, Sunnyvale and Mountain View.
"We saw opportunities in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, so we headed out there," said Steven Brown, whose family lived in Fairfield, Connecticut, when the brothers were growing up.
It does not rent properties in the city's residential neighborhoods outside of downtown San Francisco. Most of the people utilizing Furnished Quarters prefer to stay near their offices either in SOMA or the Financial District.
"The clientele we cater to, they don't want to live there. They want to be able to walk to work," said Steven Brown.
Likely due to the fact they are not used by tourists coming to town for short stays, and are renting out properties mainly in luxury residential towers on Rincon Hill and near the city's convention center in SOMA, the Browns told the B.A.R. they haven't encountered any backlash since coming into San Francisco. Years ago, with online sites like Airbnb renting out apartments throughout the city, such businesses faced vocal criticism for depleting rental stock for residents and regulations implemented by city leaders aimed at curtailing their impact.
"We don't find resistance now that we might have. That may have something to do with people moving out of the city and then the pandemic and people relocating," said Steven Brown, who stressed the company is "not a hotel. We are a very different kind of business."
Showing pride year round
It is an LGBTQ-certified company and takes pride in working with LGBTQ travelers or business professionals from around the globe.
"Before we founded Furnished Quarters, I worked at Macy's and had to be closeted. Even in some real estate things, I had to be closeted," recalled Steven Brown. "I was just not going to live that way anymore. It was very important that as a company, we are welcoming to everybody."
Last year during Pride in New York City, the company hosted queer social media LGBTQ travel influencer Owin Pierson, currently living in San Diego, in one of the apartments it rents out in Brooklyn. Pierson posted about his weeklong stay via his Instagram account, one of which can be viewed here.
"I love that they represent pride all year round and are an LGBTQ-owned business," said Pierson, who is bicoastal between California and New York.
The one-bedroom he stayed in was "pretty big" with amenities like a gym and rooftop patio. He was able to invite friends over a couple times to enjoy the great views.
"They gave me a cute welcome kit too," said Pierson, who hopes to work with Furnished Quarters again this June and stay a bit longer in one of the company's apartments.
Being half Japanese as well as a member of the LGBTQ community, Pierson told the B.A.R. it is important to him when traveling to be able to trust that any company he utilizes will be accepting of him. It is even more important now, he said, with the current political climate and companies ending their diversity programs under pressure from conservative lawmakers.
"A lot is happening in America right now against our community," noted Pierson. "These are scary times and fearful times so, for me personally, it is important to promote on my platform businesses that support us all year round and are not afraid to hide their reasons or initiatives to support us. I think a lot of companies are quiet right now and are removing support for us."
He has heard from his followers concerns on if various travel companies are accepting of people like them, whether LGBTQ, people of color or both. Now 33, Pierson said he has his own safety more in mind when he travels, particularly if where he is renting a place is going to be safe following a homophobic incident he endured years ago while visiting Seattle.
"Especially in Pride month, when I am dressed in rainbow attire or more out there attire, it is nice to feel like you don't have to change out of your outfit once you get to your home space," he said.
Laing told the B.A.R. that Furnished Quarters doesn't track if its clients are LGBTQ. It does tout on its website that it is a "family-owned, certified LGBTQ+ business" that "prioritizes inclusion, diversity, and equity."
"We don't put labels on anyone who arrives. Everyone is treated exactly the same," said Laing.
Business philosophy centered on family
The brothers' business philosophy, said Steven Brown, is to treat their clients the way they themselves would want to be treated. They view them as part of their community, he explained, and see their employees as being a family.
"Gay, straight, bisexual, Black, Brown, woman, whoever it is, we treat everybody the same," said Steven Brown.
It also is reflected in how they treat their employees, said Lori Thomas, who joined Furnished Quarters 18 months ago as its vice president of marketing. While originally from Long Island, she now lives in Florida and works remotely.
"You can see their posture and their kindness. It trickles out of the company out to our guests," said Thomas. "We really do feel like that, we are their guests not employees."
Steven Brown credited Thomas with implementing initiatives neither he nor his brother would have thought to do. They want their employees to lead and not merely follow, he said.
"You have to be entrepreneurial to work for us; you really do," he said. "If you allow them to make their own mark and grow, they can grow themselves and the company."
It was his brother's gay connections, noted Gary Brown, that they relied on when they started the company and were looking for properties they could rent out. Today, they employ 150 people, half of whom are women, across the country, with two based overseas.
It wasn't clear if Furnished Quarters would survive the global shutdown brought about by COVID, leading to a big drop off in travel and changes to how people conduct their business. Work-from-home policies have gone from being a necessity to a beloved option by many workers, though more companies of late are requiring employees to return to their offices.
"I didn't sleep for a year and half," recalled Steven Brown.
Added Gary Brown, "It was all hands-on deck working with landlords. We were like a startup again, working 24/7 365 days. Steven and our team never worked harder."
One step it took at the start of COVID was to donate some of its stored furnishings to local nonprofits. In San Francisco, Furnished Quarters "provided a generous quantity of small appliances, flat screen TV's, and essential domestic items to PRC Baker Places residential facilities," the agency noted in a 2021 report.
"A big part of what we did in this city was being present in this city during the pandemic," said Laing, who noted they gave PRC enough housewares for 40 apartments.
Three years ago, the company saw a marked shift as its business picked back up. It was the company's best year "by far," said Gary Brown, in its 27 years.
"We are thriving," he said. "We are cautiously optimistic with what is going on in the world."
So far, 2025 is ahead of where the company was last year during the first quarter of 2024, noted Gary Brown. But they are worried about seeing a dip in international travelers due to the aggressive stance the Trump administration is taking on a host of matters, from tariffs to global conflicts, that has some calling for a boycott of travel to the U.S.
"We are worried about international travel coming to the U.S., for sure," he acknowledged. "Can you get a visa? How long can you get a visa?"
Their company works with people traveling for all kinds of reasons and on varied budgets, from nonprofit employees and corporate business executives to people relocating for work or employed on a film shoot for a limited amount of time. Others are coming for medical treatments for their spouse or children that require extended hospital stays.
"It is your home away from home," said Laing, who is responsible for ensuring the units are properly staged with furnishings and amenities like towels and toiletries, and fielding calls from clients at all hours of the day to ensure their stay is going well.
Furnished Quarters is looking at expanding to additional markets, and due to its years-long relationships with its corporate clients, the company is now handling their leasing needs for short-term stays even in cities where it does not directly lease out apartments. It will locate apartments anywhere globally and arrange the leases for them for its clients.
"It is a major change and area of growth for us," said Steven Brown. "Our corporate clients have faith in us to handle all their relocations for their employees."
Added Gary Brown, "They want a one-stop shop."
Despite being in their retirement years, neither brother is looking to retire from their business anytime soon.
"It is challenging. It is fun," said Steven Brown. "The two of us still get challenged and have been able to hire some really good people. We continue to learn from the people who work for us and continue to empower them. Gary and I don't have to manage the day-to-day as much anymore."
Got a tip on LGBTQ business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email [email protected].
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