Travel like a human (Airbnb, YC W09)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/07/24/ST2009072402126.html

by brianchesky • 17 years ago

91 35 17 years ago

browser411• 17 years ago

nice article on a yc company. the part i like best: airbnb is a startup that helps other entrepreneurs starting up by letting them monetize their space, albeit indirectly. nice!

frossie3• 17 years ago

Yes, great Washington Post coverage.

Every time I hear about airbnb though, I wonder - don't you need a permit to offer paid accommodation? For example in my part of the U.S. you need a "special use" permit to run a B&B. How is advertising your spare room on airbnb different?

I looked in their FAQ but couldn't find an answer.

philwelch4• 17 years ago

I think this falls within the wide category of unenforced laws.

noodle• 17 years ago

and very difficult to enforce.

jrockway3• 17 years ago

I have a feeling this will end up going the way of the prostitution section on Craigslist, or that site where you could offer to carpool with someone to work.

The entrenched businesses don't want any competition from this here new-fangled internets.

KClough• 17 years ago

I would consider being a host, but I'm always concerned possessions may get stolen having stranger in my apt. I'm surprised this doesn't turn away a lot of potential hosts.

Still a fantastic idea, and would definitely look to be a guest when traveling on a budget.

vaksel• 17 years ago

I bet a lot more people are scared of being killed, than they are of having a few trinkets stolen.

pg3• 17 years ago

Airbnb is a good example of how the best startup ideas tend to seem crazy at first. When we first met the Airbnbs, we loved the founders, but we had a hard time believing this would be popular. In fact it is massively popular. Few startups we've funded have grown so fast.

fraXis2• 17 years ago

Paul,

Were they accepted the first time they applied?

pg3• 17 years ago

Yes. IIRC they got a really good recommendation from the Justin.TV founders. Then once we met them we were sold too.

djb_hackernews2• 17 years ago

Whats really missing from this article, and is alluded to quite frequently, is couchsurfing.com I skimmed the article, seems like a great pitch, but I didn't get why I would want to use airbnb.com over couchsurfing. couchsurfing.com is pretty mature though not w2.0. It's got the verification system so you can have some peace of mind, and its free.

jdbeast00• 17 years ago

couchsurfing = free; airbnb = some money. some people wont want to host someone in their house without compensation.

djb_hackernews2• 17 years ago

I get that. But from the perspective of a traveler, for any given well traveled city you are going to find an equivalent host with equivalent accommodations at both sites. I wonder if it would have been wiser to start Airbnb.com as the web 2.0 version of couchsurfing, and then go freemium. Something couchsurfing wouldn't do.

bdr• 17 years ago

I love couchsurfing, and I've used it a lot as a traveler and a host. The biggest advantage I see for AirBNB is that it makes people's expectations more clear by making it a business transaction. With couchsurfing there's always awkwardness to negotiate about sharing the space, how much does each party expect the other one to hang out with them, and stuff like that. Generosity (CS) can come with all these implicit side-effects that paying for the service (ABNB) eliminates.

The UI is also nicer.

salvadors• 17 years ago

Couchsurfing has a convention that if you're going to surf you should really host as well, unless there's a good reason why not. It's not enforced in any way, but there's definitely an expectation from many hosts that you will at least fill out a half-decent profile and try to build up some decent recommendations from people in your home town by attending a few social events or whatever. In other words, if you haven't hosted a few people, or otherwise gotten at least a couple of recommendation (and taken some time to flesh out your profile to make yourself seem at least a little interesting), a lot of hosts won't take you.

CS is fantastic, but it's not simply about free accommodation: to get the most out of it you need to put in quite a bit of effort too (which is as it should be).

Airbnb seems to be for people who don't really want to go that route.

jlees• 17 years ago

I saw or hallucinated an "Airbnb for office space" recently, but can't find it for love nor money (which is what makes me think it's a hallucination). I recently spent a bit of time looking for a desk sublet and it took way longer than it should have. Though I guess there's something of a thorny area with commercial lettings and the like, it'd still be nice to book a place at some startup in London/Paris/SF to rest my laptop when I'm next down there for a few days.

rokhayakebe• 17 years ago

Desk-PC-Coffee-n-Conferenceroom.com

jrockway3• 17 years ago

Address not found! ;)

quickpost• 17 years ago

Great idea! I would totally use a service like this too. You should write an email to the founders.

fraXis2• 17 years ago

I was so skeptical when I first say them launch. I was like, "who is going to use this?". But after reading the article and viewing the site again, I think my wife and I are going to give it a try. There are so many places listed in our area with reviews. And it is a lot cheaper then going to a hotel for a night or weekend.

10ren• 17 years ago

Sounds like backpacking. Great fun, if you're in that frame of mind or want to be.

nopassrecover• 17 years ago

Wow awesome idea - I think I'll probably be using this soon! The question of security etc. could be an issue but I imagine reviews (which I can't see yet) would help that.

Travel like a human (Airbnb, YC W09)

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