The airbnb story pdf download

At the time, the idea sounded absurd. Undaunted by the criticism, the three continued to develop their product. The first chapter of the book chronicles the creative solutions that the trio developed to keep the company in its early stages. To pay off the company's debts in , for example, Chesky and Gebbia sold a limited edition of cereals named after that year's top presidential candidates. Through the project, they made a sizable investment and the company took off.

A major differentiator of the Airbnb product is its focus on developing user interaction, a priority for the company's investments by The data cloud has made the process faster and cheaper.

The platform has a sophisticated algorithm that adapts the display options displayed to consumer behavior, as well as a robust customer service system. From that moment on, the challenge became to keep up with the growing demand for the service. The team gradually grew. Before hiring new employees, the founders decided to build on their core values, taking inspiration from companies like Starbucks , Apple, and Nike.

Today, the company has more than 2. The Airbnb catalog offers a variety of options, styles, sizes, shapes, levels of host interaction, and especially price.

It is important to remember that the company was founded at the height of the Great Recession of The diversity and whims of the options offered make strolling through the Airbnb listings an exercise in escapism, from the castle to treehouses.

However, most options are utilitarian. The platform is responsive, accessible and inviting, aligning with the tastes and needs of the modern consumer. Contrary to standard hotel chains, Airbnb offers the authentic experience of a local.

These are rare and practically unpredictable cases that generate great repercussions in the media. The chapter cites the stories of EJ, a hostess who in had her apartment destroyed by guests; Loughlin, who fell victim to fraud in ; and a Massachusetts traveler who was the victim of sexual harassment by his hostess. As shown in the chapter, Airbnb deals with every crisis as an opportunity to improve its services.

The company currently has a Trust and Security industry, which is engaged in predicting potential problems, emergency resolution, and damage control. Each problem is rated from level one to four according to the severity of the situation, and a screening system directs the right cases to the right people as quickly as possible.

Many consider Airbnb a threat to the safety and quality of life of local residents, as well as predatory interference in the real estate market. The addition of attorney Belinda Johnson to the team in brought a more conciliatory approach to Airbnb 's approach to its opponents, and the company acts flexibly to legalize its activities. Airbnb mobilizes its hosts as a protection strategy and defends itself by saying that its service boosts money through tourism and helps ordinary people earn additional income.

Airbnb 's real innovation was that it was an almost entirely urban phenomenon. The trend popularized by the company made it possible to identify new niches. Today, innovative businesses are emerging every day to fill the needs of modern travelers. One of the central points of the chapter is Airbnb 's relationship with the increasingly competitive hotel industry. Following the trends that propelled it, hotels seek to adjust to changing market needs. Chesky, Blecharczyk, and Gebbia are unusual because they are still together.

Throughout the company's development, its roles have evolved and changed significantly. And the stance of the three founders reflects the behavior of all Airbnb employees.

Brian Chesky is an entrepreneur invested in absorbing new information and improving his performance. He always shares the knowledge he acquires with his collaborators. During Airbnb 's expansion process, it had to learn to think internationally. Nate Blecharczyk's role in product development and the company's digital promotion strategies was subtle and fundamental.

Joe Gebbia, responsible for the essence of the Airbnb concept, had to learn to be more direct, dynamic and abandon perfectionism. By , when the book was published, Airbnb was in its ninth year of so-called hypergrowth, when company revenues essentially double annually.

And Chesky says there is still a vast market to explore, citing less urban cities and China. The chapter also addresses the possibility of going public on Airbnb , which Chesky says is not an immediate necessity. Download Download PDF. Translate PDF. At the same time, the very elements that are intended to make one feel welcome can represent boundaries and signify power and control over domestic space and its use.

In this sense, it can be argued that Airbnb represents a domestic environment of a particular type: one that combines the notions of home where one can feel at ease and non-home where one knows their place. In creating this visual essay our aim was to explore and visualise these ambivalences of Airbnb homes, where signs of welcome and hospitality co-exist with indicators of boundaries and rules, and can also act as glimpses into the identities of places and their owners.

The interviews were conducted between with 16 participants six hosts and ten guests of various age and ethnic backgrounds. All hosts resided at their property at the time and rented out private room s on a regular basis. Ken Kajoranta has been photographing Airbnb homes since May whenever he travels to different locations in the UK and Europe.

Ken photographs rooms, objects and elements of home decor aiming to creatively capture the unique qualities of the homes he visited; things that may not be described on Airbnb listings but that make one feel connected to a place and remember it in a particular way.

In doing so our approach to combining images with text can be described as intuitive and artistic. Our collaboration also enabled us to reflect on how sociological research and documentary photography can be combined in a way that enriches both.

The format of visual essay enabled us to keep a strong visual dimension so the images act as a standalone narrative while offering connections to the theoretical and conceptual grounds of the study. At the same time, while acknowledging the important role of text our approach aimed to avoid the situation where the quotation simply duplicated what the image was saying. We left the detailed captions and commentary out thus enabling you, the reader, to explore possible ways of reading and interpreting the layers and meanings depicted in the photographs.

The inclusion of interview quotations is meant to offer additional insights into the research themes but it can also be read as a separate story. We used torn paper background to present quotations as it was one of the common ways of communications between hosts and guests - written on sticky notes, random sheets of paper, envelopes, and notepads.