Airbnb . Platform that connects people who want to offer their homes for rent, with guests who need temporary accommodation. It is a type of market or marketplace of business to publish, discover and reserve private homes . Founded by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk in San Francisco, California in 2009 . At the beginning it had 6 international offices at the beginning of 2012 in the following cities; Paris , Milan , Barcelona , Copenhagen , Moscow , and Sao Paulo .
Summary
[ hide ]
- 1 Airbnb
- 1 How it works for hosts
- 2 Business model
- 3 Criticisms of Airbnb
- 4 Airbnb figures
- 2 Sources
Airbnb
Site to reserve homes, publish or put people in contact
It is a platform that connects people who want to offer their homes for rent, or guests who need temporary accommodation. A business model based on collaborative consumption, it needs several parties to function: the homeowners (the hosts), the guests, and between the two, Airbnb, which directly connects one and the other through its Internet platform. . As a result of this relationship between the three parties, a fourth emerges: the Airbnb user community, which exchanges information about the experiences they have had, so that travelers and hosts share opinions and advice.
Business site to publish, discover and reserve private homes. The name is an acronym for airbed and breakfast (inflatable mattress and breakfast). His philosophy is simple. Hosts who rent their houses for a time to guests who are going to spend a few days in that place. But within this operation there is a world of possibilities. In fact, it is already a reality that Airbnb has revolutionized global tourism in less than 9 years.
At the recent International Tourism Fair (FITUR) held in Madrid , Airbnb was one of the topics of conversation (and concern) among professionals, who accuse it of unfair competition and putting the entire sector at risk, a key factor in the economy from many countries, such as Spain .
Performance for hosts
The host is the person who offers his home for rent. To do this, contact the platform through the website www.airbnb.es, press the “Become a host” button and fill out the forms step by step. The first thing that stands out is that it is not mandatory to share the entire home, but it is possible to indicate which parts are shared (one or more rooms, bathroom, closets, washing machine …) and which are not. In fact, the idea of creating this platform came from sharing an inflatable mattress and breakfast in a San Francisco apartment .
Airbnb on the INTERNET platform
Later, the entrepreneurs of this Startup realized the importance of the quality of the photos for the decision to rent one or another accommodation. Thus, they added the accommodation photo session service , which in some places they offer free to hosts to help them publicize their homes.
Business model
Airbnb charges a commission to both the host and the guest for each reservation made through its platform and acts as an intermediary in the payment.
A fundamental aspect of the multiplatform models are the evaluations of the users, which will serve to recommend or not an accommodation to other people. To be truly useful, these ratings must be real and constructive and to ensure the veracity of opinions, a property can only be rated by guests who have stayed in it, and a guest only by the host who has hosted it.
User experience is also paramount on these types of platforms. From the moment a user enters the web until they book an accommodation, they must feel comfortable and guided. Airbnb perfectly meets this condition, making its website intuitive and simple even for people less used to new technologies. Ultimately, it is about creating a community based on trust, the key element for the founder of Airbnb and in which experiences, opinions and information are shared.
Photos of homes for rent
Criticisms of Airbnb
In 2011, began the first negative reports of a client, “EJ”, who suffered a theft and destruction of his apartment by a guest from Airbnb. After 14 hours of no response, Airbnb initially indicated that they would not compensate for the damages. They later rectified this decision due to negative public reaction. After three days treating the victim, she claims that Airbnb encouraged her to withdraw her complaint due to the “potentially negative impact” that could harm the company, and therefore completely stopped communicating with them. Following the incident, more customers (homeowners, hosts, etc.) exposed similar events, including a man whose home had been rented through Airbnb, causing thousands of dollars in damage. The owner expressed dissatisfaction similar to that of ”
Airbnb figures
Since its launch in November 2009, Airbnb has reached stratospheric data that has shaken the hospitality industry:
- More than 2 million accommodations spread over 190 countries.
- More than 60 million travelers hosted.
- Currently this company is valued at more than 30,000 million euros.
- Barcelona is the 4th destination in Europe with the most offer. For example, at the last World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, 20% of the attendees stayed using this platform.
