Congrats!
I really like when Brian's grandfather (Brian is CEO and founder) found idea just fine, as that's the way people were "travelling" 60+ years ago - they just stayed at someone's house. Like history reinvented.
1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
11–20 of 54 posts
Re: 1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
#12Last night I was wondering if Airbnb has the kind of traffic that would make it feasible to buy a condo somewhere popular (downtown Boston, for example) with the goal of renting it full-time.
I'd love to hear from people who've rented out rooms/apartments through Airbnb in a popular area. How was the demand?
Re: 1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
#13I've done my part, renting 4 places in Zurich, Milan, Barcelona, and Strasbourg over the last 2 weeks. I have yet to have a bad experience, and as soon as I move into my place, will absolutely be listing it.
In fact, I'll be looking for an apartment with with an extra room, specifically to rent on Airbnb. Not just for the monetary aspect, but I've met some incredible folks over the past few weeks. The model just works.
Re: 1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
#14Glad to see a lot of people were able to book rooms there. I wasn't, but not for lack of trying. I wish they would offer hosts more flexible controls for showing availability (and make sure hosts use them) so that people don't try to book places only to get negative responses from hosts who don't know if it'll be available at the time and to check back later. I was trying to book a place in SF for Google I/O and got…
Hey, thanks for your feedback! We're continually working to improve the core experience on Airbnb, and we'll be fleshing out some updates to the calendaring system in the near future to address problems like this.
(I'm a backend engineer at Airbnb - feel free to write me at raph@airbnb.com if you have any other feedback to pass along.)
Re: 1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
#15For perspective, a single large Vegas hotel books that many nights each year. (For instance, Mandalay Bay has 3300 rooms.)
Mandalay bay does not have 100% occupancy 365 days per year. They probably don't even have 50% occupancy 365 days per year. But yes, it's about the size of a VERY large hotel.
Vegas has very high occupancy rates. Even in the down economy, it's around 80%. http://cber.unlv.edu/tour.html
Re: 1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
#16I've done my part, renting 4 places in Zurich, Milan, Barcelona, and Strasbourg over the last 2 weeks. I have yet to have a bad experience, and as soon as I move into my place, will absolutely be listing it. In fact, I'll be looking for an apartment with with an extra room, specifically to rent on Airbnb. Not just for the monetary aspect, but I've met some incredible folks over the past few weeks. The model just work…
Sorry for the metapost, but it would be helpful for a potential renter to know - has anyone here had a really negative experience with Airbnb? (Briefly) Sharing = Caring. :)
Re: 1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
#17I've done my part, renting 4 places in Zurich, Milan, Barcelona, and Strasbourg over the last 2 weeks. I have yet to have a bad experience, and as soon as I move into my place, will absolutely be listing it. In fact, I'll be looking for an apartment with with an extra room, specifically to rent on Airbnb. Not just for the monetary aspect, but I've met some incredible folks over the past few weeks. The model just work…
for now, but is it not subject to the same kind of quality degradation that all online communities are?
Re: 1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
#18I've done my part, renting 4 places in Zurich, Milan, Barcelona, and Strasbourg over the last 2 weeks. I have yet to have a bad experience, and as soon as I move into my place, will absolutely be listing it. In fact, I'll be looking for an apartment with with an extra room, specifically to rent on Airbnb. Not just for the monetary aspect, but I've met some incredible folks over the past few weeks. The model just work…
for now, but is it not subject to the same kind of quality degradation that all online communities are?
I imagine it is, but the bi-directional reviews show that the company has thought about that from the beginning.
I'm MUCH more likely to book a place that is reviewed well, and I am sure that my reviews play a role in the renters decisions to accept me, as well.
Re: 1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
#19Last night I was wondering if Airbnb has the kind of traffic that would make it feasible to buy a condo somewhere popular (downtown Boston, for example) with the goal of renting it full-time. I'd love to hear from people who've rented out rooms/apartments through Airbnb in a popular area. How was the demand?
Depending on the city it does, but many of those cities are quickly trying to shut it down. Hotels and other officially sanctioned places of lodging aren't too jazzed on the idea of unregulated (and thus untaxed) competitors.
An example, New York City has banned rentals for less than 30 days. Enforcement is another issue though, so I guess we'll have to wait until May when the law goes into effect to see what happens.
http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2010...
Re: 1 million nights booked at Airbnb (YC W09)
#20Estimate of revenue to date: $50 per night * 3% * 1M = $1.5M
Hmm looks like Airbnb handles the credit card transaction for the lister. If 2 out of that 3% goes to the credit card companies and banks, the adjusted revenue is $500k.