Airbnb: More like a blind date than a traditional rental

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This was published 8 years ago

Airbnb: More like a blind date than a traditional rental

By Lee Tulloch
Keys to a new experience.

Keys to a new experience.

I think I've developed this thing I call Airbnb Envy.

As I've been huddled by the heater in breezy Sydney, I've watched my friends gallivanting around the world, taking advantage of the warmer climates in Europe and the US.

One set of friends in particular - let's call them Gilbert and George - have been filling their Facebook feeds with joyous holiday snapshots of the apartments they have rented in Lisbon, Milan, Venice and Berlin.

There's the charming little blue-shuttered beach shack right on the sand at Faro. There's the pretty room in Venice near San Marco and the gorgeous multi-room apartment in Berlin with the host who goes shopping for them.

They've been living the life of Riley and they've been doing it on a shoestring budget, thanks to Airbnb.

Airbnb began seven years ago when two art school friends set about finding a solution to the question "What if you could book a room in someone's house as easily as you could a hotel?"

But they didn't want to create a site that was merely a rental listing. Their disrupter was the concept of sharing: that the host shares a room and a little bit of their life with a stranger, who in turn shares their story and experiences. It's more like a blind date than a traditional rental, with host and guest each standing to gain something from each other (aside from the exchange of money).

Experiences are monitored by a star system that rates both guest and host. No one is anonymous and creating a detailed personal profile is encouraged, including scanning your passport. This creates "a platform of trust" between participants. It also encourages hosts and guests to go the extra mile to be highly rated. It's a bit like eBay: you want your record to be spotless.

As with a house exchange, where you're in their house and they're in yours, there's a mutual benefit to behaving correctly. Some may baulk at the lack of privacy or be reluctant to be rated, but they can always go mainstream and book an apartment or hotel room the usual way.

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Reputation is "like a giant key that will let you open more doors," according to chief executive and founder Brian Chesky. Airbnb's newest brand campaign pushes this further, exploring the idea of kindness: "When we trust in the kindness of our fellow man, we discover the world isn't a scary place."

I'm a bit wary when a brand starts claiming it's doing it for humanity but, still, Airbnb's concept is super smart. Travellers no longer feel like tourists when they're welcomed into a local home. They "belong anywhere" - which happens to be another of Airbnb's mottos.

My outgoing friends Gilbert and George find this the case. They've developed friendships with many of their hosts and have passed on the goodwill, recommending hosts to other friends. There must be millions of satisfied customers - the site now lists more than 1,200,000 accommodations, including 3000 castles, 2000 tree houses and 400 lighthouses.

And that's another fabulous thing - if you're in the mood for a yurt or a humpy, you can bet there's a host with a very nice one for you. It makes going the traditional route and booking a hotel seem very unexciting.

The international hotel industry is aware of this. First, hotel groups tried to fight it by invoking city laws against short-term rentals (there are still some skirmishes going on about legality in cities like New York) but now concerned hoteliers are taking their cues from the upstart, devising more flexibility in the ways they do business and removing the formality from some of their operations, such as front desk. This is another bonus for travellers.

While Airbnb is a juggernaut no politician dares stop, there are dissenters, including those who believe it encourages landlords to turn their properties into short-term Airbnbs, thus reducing the rental stock in major cities and pushing up prices for locals.

And there is the occasional story of theft and fraud but, frankly, that happened in the past with reservations made by mail or fax. I had a friend who years ago rented an apartment in Buenos Aires, only to arrive and find the owner had left without leaving a key. So, arguably, there are more safeguards with the new concept.

I haven't tried Airbnb yet as my travel is mostly business, but I'm itching to. Until then, I'm stuck with Airbnb Envy.

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