In response to warming relations between the U.S. and Cuba, Airbnb is expanding into the Caribbean nation.

The company, which allows homeowners to rent rooms and houses to travelers using Airbnb's online listings, now has around 1,000 listings in Cuba, most of which cost around $30 a night. In a company blog post, Airbnb says that Cuba has an existing network of individuals who lease their homes already.

But rental stock was the least of Airbnb's challenges in Cuba. According to Bloomberg, many Cuban buildings lack hot water, and most of the Cuban hosts prefer to be paid in cash. That's a problem for Airbnb, which takes a cut of the electronic payments visitors make for their stays. The solution was apparently to hire go-betweens to move actual money for each transaction.

Another challenge is the limited Internet access available on the island. According to the BBC, only 5 percent of Cuban homes have access to the Internet, and an hour of Web access from a cafe can cost a week's pay. Earlier this month, Cuba announced the opening of its first officially sanctioned public Wi-Fi network.

Of course, politics is the biggest challenge to any American country operating in Cuba. Americans have been banned from traveling to the communist nation for five decades. Though recent changes by the Obama administration have warmed relations between the two countries, tourism is still officially off the table. And economic restrictions will pose their own challenges to Airbnb and other tech companies looking to expand into Cuba. Netflix, for example, launched a page for Cuban viewers weeks ago, but how popular it is remains a bit of a mystery.

When announcing the new Cuban endeavor, Airbnb CTO and co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk gently hinted at Airbnb's unique position to profit in new markets, and preserve the atmosphere of Cuba. "Think about the big hotel chains coming in, with mass development," Blecharczyk told Bloomberg. "The idea here is to support growth in travel that isn't disruptive, that actually celebrates and preserves Cuba as a distinct destination."

While that's certainly true, Airbnb has come under fire in the U.S., particularly in New York, for adding additional pressure to already stressed housing markets and letting strangers into privately owned co-op buildings. We'll have to see how well Airbnb's take on the sharing economy works in Cuba.

Watch this episode and more in our What's New Now playlist.

Subscribe for daily updates, and follow PCMag on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.