Airbnb is a web company that provides rents and accommodations from strangers all over the world. It is similar to Couchsurfing, except it is not free.
History
Airbnb was started in August 2008 by Brian Chesky when he realized how hard it was to find an Apartment in San Francisco. Airbnb has since been based in San Francisco.[1]
Airbnb was the breakout app at SxSW 2011.[2]
Airbnb's success has spawned many lookalike and copycat websites such as Getaround, Vayable and Taskrabbit.[3]
Airbnb has already begun internationalizing and has opened several new offices in Europe.[4]
Airbnb has been touted as a disruptive innovation for the Hotel Industry.[5]
Financials
Major investors in Airbnb include Andreessen Horowitz and Digital Sky Technologies . Airbnb has grown by 800% in 2010 alone and has already booked 1.6 million night stays. Airbnb's valuation has been estimated at 1 billion dollars.[6][7][8]
Ashton Kutcher has also invested in Airbnb as reported by Washington Post.[9]
Reception
Airbnb has been praised by Paul Graham[10] and by Wall Street Journal.[11]
Airbnb has been praised by UK's Daily Telegraph.[12]
Airbnb has been favorably compared with Craigslist and Groupon. It has been said that
- "On any given night in New York there are more people staying in homes via AirBnB than there are rooms in the biggest hotel in Manhattan.."[13]
Criticism
Airbnb has been criticised for spamming Craigslist users.[14]
See also
- Airbnb
- HomeAway
- CouchSurfing
References
External links
- Template:Airbnb.com - official website