Video with Founder of Airbnb

[Pauline]

This is an interesting 20 minute interview at the Changing Media Summit 2014 in the UK with Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Airbnb.

The Guardian - Nathan Blecharczyk, CTO of Airbnb on the future of the sharing economy – video
Nathan Blecharczyk, CTO and co-founder of community travel and accommodation marketplace Airbnb talks with Guardian head of technology Jemima Kiss on the future of the sharing economy at the Changing Media Summit 2014.

How has Airbnb come of out nowhere and overshadowed Homeaway and its collection of rent-from-owner websites? It was only in 2006 that Homeaway came out of nowhere and bought the top 10 rent-from-owner websites, starting with VRBO.com. They then dominated this market, so much that vacation rental agencies (who used to be all we had) were struggling. Over the years I watched many new rent-from-owner websites start up and fail. Homeaway was the one everyone used.

Now it is Airbnb. I am not sure if they are bigger than Homeaway - I will do some research.

The term "vacation rental" or "holiday rental" is never used in this interview. He talks about how they started with B&B - rooms in people's houses or apartments, but that now they have more houses and apartments than rooms on their site.

I have not used Airbnb, but I know many of my travel friends have. I still try to use local vacation rental agencies, but am slowly giving up on them and turning to Homeaway.

What are your experiences with Airbnb? Why is it so great? I think it will introduce a lot more travelers to our definition of Slow Travel.

 

[Pauline]

A few things from the interview:

Last year 6 million people rented from Airbnb.
Each night 150,000 are staying in Airbnb places.
People like Airbnb because they can experience local culture.
Airbnb wants to get involved in the entire trip experience, connecting people with local suppliers and promoting the local economy.
They want to connect with Uber, an app for local taxies?
Their main challenge is the diversity of their inventory and how to organize it (duh!). They are doing thematic groupings of places.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

A few things from the interview:

Last year 6 million people rented from Airbnb.
Each night 150,000 are staying in Airbnb places.
People like Airbnb because they can experience local culture.
Airbnb wants to get involved in the entire trip experience, connecting people with local suppliers and promoting the local economy.
They want to connect with Uber, an app for local taxies?
Their main challenge is the diversity of their inventory and how to organize it (duh!). They are doing thematic groupings of places.

I think Airbnb is an aggregate. They somehow manage to list everyone who has any kind of rental. It's like they suck them up from other sites. I noticed this when when looking for places in Oxford and the Loire. The lovely suite I'm renting had a listing on Airbnb but the owner didn't use it. I went through her site.
Everyone including rental agencies, someone with a room, gites etc appear on Airbnb but it's misleading for them to imply they work with locals and these are their listings. Many of the advertisers have multiple listings b/c it's their business.
Perhaps if you're looking to rent a room in someone's house then that person may only advertise on Airbnb.
Because I looked at a listing on Airbnb and made initial contact through their site, they probably include me in their 6 mil renters. I find the site user friendly.

 

[Pauline]

Vacation rental owners and agencies are using Airbnb as they do Homeaway, I think. Instead of relying on their own websites, which are getting harder and harder to find, the list on these big sites. Everyone on Airbnb or Homeaway pays to be listed. The only reason they are able to suck them up from other sites, is that these two are the main sites - everyone uses them, they come up first in searches.

But, I think Airbnb is introducing vacation rentals to a new generation of travelers, or a new type of traveler. Someone who did not use vacation rentals before. They are doing something right. I don't know why Homeaway was not able to keep the lead in this market.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

But, I think Airbnb is introducing vacation rentals to a new generation of travelers, or a new type of traveler. Someone who did not use vacation rentals before. They are doing something right. I don't know why Homeaway was not able to keep the lead in this market.

You're right, Pauline. many young people use Airbnb. It's the go to site for them now. It used to be hostels but they're discovering the beauty of staying with locals. I have to admit I love the Airbnb site. It's my version of travel porn(lol). I'm amazed at how many places they list. However, I've found the exact same listings on Homeaway, VRBO etc. I don't look for rooms in people's homes but I think that is probably where they shine.
Why Homeaway didn't tap into this market. Well, I think they appealed to a different demographic.

 

[Shannon]

AirBnB has, to me, seemed more expensive than homelidays.com (my go to, generally.) I don't know how they did it, but even people who have been renting vacation rentals for years are huge fans of AirBnB.

I'm not much of a fan so far. I rented a cute place in London, but the owner never left a review about me, which is important for future rentals. Lots of homelidays.com landlords have reviewed me (as I have them.) And I rented a place in Barcelona that was so disgusting that I left after less than 24 hours.

I've been checking for my next trip but have not pulled the trigger on anything yet. There is one place I am really interested in, a farm in Catalonia but I would have to share a bathroom with 4 other rooms (!) and there are no reviews of the place. The owner seems awesome, but it is expensive IMO for a place with no private bathroom.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

AirBnB has, to me, seemed more expensive than homelidays.com (my go to, generally.) I don't know how they did it, but even people who have been renting vacation rentals for years are huge fans of AirBnB.

I'm not much of a fan so far. I rented a cute place in London, but the owner never left a review about me, which is important for future rentals. Lots of homelidays.com landlords have reviewed me (as I have them.) And I rented a place in Barcelona that was so disgusting that I left after less than 24 hours.

I've been checking for my next trip but have not pulled the trigger on anything yet. There is one place I am really interested in, a farm in Catalonia but I would have to share a bathroom with 4 other rooms (!) and there are no reviews of the place. The owner seems awesome, but it is expensive IMO for a place with no private bathroom.

That's interesting, Shannon. I certainly haven't found their prices more expensive than other sites. They have an incredible amount of listings to troll through. I agree some appear really iffy. I believe what's happened is that anyone who lives in a remotely interesting town between the ages of 25-35 advertises their room or apartment including student digs. I think it's a little out of control. At the same time, the same people who have gone with other reputable advertisers also use Airbnb. It's the old story of buyer beware. They have filters one can apply when searching. I don't look at rooms and often will try to compare with other sites. I've had reviews but didn't think they were important. I know the lovely place I'm renting in The Loire never looked at my reviews.

Because Airbnb has become so big so fast, I don't trust many aspects of their rentals. For example, is the bedding changed between guests, toilet cleaned etc. Just because you have a spare bedroom or can leave your apartment for a couple of days to rent it out, doesn't mean you know what's needed to make it acceptable as an occasional rental. These are some of my concerns.

I've had some good experiences as have other people I know. I know several young people who have used Airbnb on their travels through Europe and been very happy with both the savings and accommodation.

I don't like the Homeiliday site. Good

 

[Shannon]

I read an account on another forum where a guy renting a room from a woman who traveled a lot listed her place on AirBnB when she was traveling. One time her plans were canceled and she arrived home to the person telling the story. They scared the bejeezus out of each other but when they figured out what was going on, worked through it and even became friends. I guess the guy renting the room must have got kicked out of there though.

And you are right, as it grows and gets bigger and bigger there will be a lot more of this kind of stuff.

 

[Pauline]

I finally understand why people love Airbnb (and have added them to my lists on the website). The Airbnb website is very good and the app is great. I have been looking at Brittany vacation rentals recently and went to Homeaway as I usually do, but got very tired of their many listings with no description and bad photos. Or out of date availability calendars. And their app is not great.

Plus, Homeaway run Google Ads to make revenue! When I see a business with a website to sell their things, and they have Google Ads, I usually stop doing business with them. I am not against Google Ads (I use them), but it just seems tacky for Homeaway to have them on their site. Almost as if they are just running it all to make as much money as possible, not caring about their content? They should put their effort into selling their stuff.

So I tried Airbnb. It seems like they encourage the people who list with them to have good descriptions and photos. There seems to be a feeling of community - like "I have created a beautiful space and want to rent it to people who will like it". I know the same can be said of many vacation rentals owners - but on Airbnb, the information is presented beautifully.

I have watched many of these "listing" sites come and go. Create a website, charge people to list on the site, profits! Homeaway came along and bought all the successful ones in the early 2000s. New ones still tried to compete - but Homeaway owned the market. Then Airbnb came out of nowhere and seems now to be equal to Homeaway.

And they are bringing a new, younger generation to vacation rentals (Slow Travel) - and for that we should be grateful. I don't want to own a second home in one place in Europe, but I do want to travel to lots of places and stay in houses or apartments. So I am dependent on Homeaway, Airbnb and all the owners who create beautiful spaces for me to stay in.