Airbnb
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Type of site
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Privately held company |
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| Available in | 26 languages |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Area served | Global |
| Key people | |
| Industry | Travel, hospitality service |
| Services | Homestay, vacation rental |
| Website | airbnb.com |
| Users | 150,000,000 |
| Native client(s) on | iOS, watchOS, tvOS, Android |
Airbnb is an online marketplace and hospitality service, enabling people to list or rent short-term lodging including vacation rentals, apartment rentals, homestays, hostel beds, or hotel rooms. The company does not own any lodging; it is merely a broker and receives percentage service fees from both guests and hosts in conjunction with every booking. It has over 3,000,000 lodging listings in 65,000 cities and 191 countries, and the cost of lodging is set by the host. Like all hospitality services, Airbnb is a form of collaborative consumption and sharing.
Shortly after moving to San Francisco in October 2007, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia created the initial concept for AirBed & Breakfast during the Industrial Design Conference held by Industrial Designers Society of America. The original site offered short-term living quarters, breakfast, and a unique business networking opportunity for those who were unable to book a hotel in the saturated market.
At the time, roommates Chesky and Gebbia could not afford the rent for their loft in San Francisco. They made their living room into a bed and breakfast, accommodating three guests on air and providing homemade breakfast.
Their first three guests were visiting San Francisco to attend a sold-out design trade show.
In February 2008, Nathan Blecharczyk, Chesky's former roommate at Harvard, joined as the Chief Technology Officer and the third co-founder of AirBed & Breakfast. During the company's initial stages, the founders focused on high-profile events where alternative lodging was scarce. The site Airbedandbreakfast.com officially launched on August 11, 2008.
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Wikipedia