Airbnb service allows tourists to find a place to stay in the apartments of individuals. During his visit in the site founder explained what the secret of success
Four years already that airbnb.com on the network. After some labor pains he soared upward climb still continues and adds to other guests and hosts say bye - bye check in at the hotel and hey - hey, knock on the door of the apartment building and opened by a stranger to be their partner to the apartment for a few days (or at least The landlord of the apartment in which will stay alone). With airbnb anyone can be a home - hotel for days or months, and anyone can order the quasi this hotel offered.
60 000 Nights
Apartments in cities in -192 -27 000 countries.
There are also competitors (screenshot)
Like any legend start - up good, airbnb is "Amagerag start - up," was born by chance. Brian and Joe on Cesky had two roommates in San - Francisco. In 2007 they decided to make a few bucks on the side by utilizing a need created by graphic designers Conference held in and filled the hotels. Through the Internet, they lifted Board ("site" was still kind of a big word for him) offered beds in the spare room in their apartment. The response was high, and finally gave the apartment the conference, less than three paying guests. This idea led to the concept of a site they do the same service - but bigger. They turned to their friend Nathan Bltz'rkzik (now CTO of the company) and offered to try and build it together. Easy it was, but eventually found financing, and even built a site where the movement began to rise after a period in which quashed.
Today airbnb all - so successful, established a series of copies - websites trying to do the same thing the same way, and climb a bit on the tail of this success. Today there to airbnb 60,000 nights every night with the help transmitted around the world (in the cities in -192 -27 000 countries). Last June, the company recorded the night of the 10 million ordered way, with equally impressive statistic is that out of these, 5 million booked last five months.
Business model: sharing economy
"Most property rent one - usually the place where they themselves live." Apartment offered at airbnb (Photo: PR agents)
Registration (guest and host) is free, and so the search - but on each transaction takes place where the Company collects a fee of between 6% and 10% from the guest, and a fee of 3% from the host. Payment - like all the previous process - all done through the website (or via smartphone application developed by the company). Guest to pay by credit card, and it puts the host payment through Paypal online payment service - after a guest arrives (which provides a window of opportunity to cancel the transaction if the place does not meet expectations).
"This is an example of a new business model, says Bltz'rkzik." Most people on the site are private individuals, most of them rent a property - and this is usually the place where they themselves live. This sharing economy - people do not want the ownership of something, but only the possibility to use it, even if it is short term - as on the other side there are people with assets not utilized enough. It is also a very powerful model in times of economic crisis. People looking for housing through airbnb and not through the hotel not only because of the shortage of space, but because this way you can feel that you live in the city. If you're staying in the host - any interaction with him will remember you, and certainly you will get from a local's tips - Recommendations Where should eat and so on. Today on 200 000 registered accommodation. Whom have Tel - Aviv (which is the most popular city in Israel in) 3000 places. Israel was interested in right from the start, and it got to the point we thought it was time to give the place a real focus. "
- What do you think causes Israelis to embrace airbnb?
"I can not answer without knowing in depth the local culture, but I think it's a combination of a sense of entrepreneurship, hospitality and of course the economic aspect."
6400 per month in Tel - Aviv
Transfer honeymoon in somebody's apartment? 5% do so
Economic aspect it speaks Bltz'rkzik really is not a simple matter. He said the average host in Tel - Aviv earn 6400 per month which is host, and 22,000 per year (the average includes the months in which he hosts). In a country where all - so many people hard to make ends meet, and in a city like Tel - Aviv estate is expensive in honor list - no surprise there will be those who choose to make a few dollars from the study, or Lsblt the apartment when they fly overseas for a week and a half "to. Of course, the profit varies between dwelling and a significantly depending on room and location.
Elsewhere, however, there are many Empty Nesters among the hosts airbnb - older parents whose children have left home and left it vacancies. In addition, couples who spend a long time at the home of one of the other selected non-rent the apartment they used as casual. 40% of the hosts on offer vacancies and 60% offer apartments perfection. Quite surprisingly, among the hosts a majority courtesans - records that more women than men on the site. Are, in turn, are the average age of 35. Most hosted as part of a trip, 10% do so as part of a business trip, 5% rent apartment honeymoon and 5% rent space for Organizing for relocation to a new city.
Exploring the site and search for rooms and apartments in Tel - Aviv yielding very mixed results. Ten dollars a night rooms and luxury apartments absurd prices of two thousand dollars or more (some probably take an entire month). Apartments in the heart - the heart of Tel - Aviv to Rishon Lezion Shmmtgot apartments themselves Lido Tel - Aviv. "
Results varied greatly. Apartment in Tel - Aviv offered at airbnb
Tenant or guest? Boundaries can be blurred
"The owner took care of what we need - but that does not spoil." Sagi Ben - Justice
Sagi Ben - Shell is the founder of start - up Serendip. When a few months ago was going to attend a professional conference held in Austin, Texas, Gila woke up too late - and all the hotel rooms in the area already occupied, except a shabby motel room and control center. When he came to airbnb was surprised to find a rich inventory of apartments and houses at affordable prices, he said. Along with several entrepreneurs who were planning to attend the event is called a two-story house, where everyone has his own room, $ 65 per person ("the price of a motel room.") Beyond solving the problem of accommodation, Gila Ben - Shell being in a place like this is more suited to a constellation that was.
"We could sit in the living room Hmstino evening together and run sections, which is hard to do when everyone is sitting in his hotel room," he says. "The owner was very nice and took care of what we need - including Iron that was not there, and he brought us within an hour from the time we requested. Had a fridge and washing machine, and connecting Wei - Pei, of course. Photographs of the house on the site was entirely accurate - probably more than that sites of the hotels., but there are also disadvantages: it does not spoil. never Arrange your bed and clean your bathroom every morning.'s not now Oak only through airbnb, but it will definitely be something I should check. "
Michal, a young woman from Tel - Aviv, used on both guest and host. "I lived in an apartment with a partner. Separated, and he left the apartment. Really liked it, but I realized that in addition to not be able to hold it. Decided to continue to live there and try to rent it out to tourists weekend a month at the price of $ 100 per night to fill the gap, and these days sleep with parents or with a friend. It proved phenomenally successful. I received a lot of inquiries, and started renting it even more than I had planned. It really helped me financially and gave me a kind of back - like when I was debating whether to leave a job that I loved, I knew it was possible because I have this setup as a backup income. "
Later she went on vacation in the United States container, and when it took longer than planned - she continued to rent the apartment in Tel - Aviv "remote control", with a left in and greeted the arriving occupants. Nearly half a year and there were no problems, except for tenant accidentally broke the air conditioner's remote control and tenant justified his desire to cancel the invitation after reaching the odor mattress apartment (not really been there). Buoyed by success, tried to use the service container also his other side - as a guest of U.S. trips. She hired a Washington couple's apartment for a week. Couch Surfing past as a user service her past, she was delighted to find a friendly couple who went to be with her. "I always prefer to meet people than to be alone in a hotel room., But after a week I considered to evaluate my stay with them and decided not to. Couch Surfing You are a guest, and it is absolutely clear. Hosted through airbnb boundaries blur. You are a tenant or guest?'s Legitimate to withdraw your room or not this week too and they worked most of the time the apartment, and the lack of answers to these questions gave me a clear feeling, which was a bit uncomfortable. "
"Not competing hotels"
"Demography other younger audience." Couch Surfing website (screenshot
"Our product is different from, the industry never complained" (Photo: PR agents)
Couch Surfing is one of at least two factors that may be not - so happy existence and success of airbnb. For years "matchmaking" This site guests and hosts residing with each other on the basis of cultural interest and goodwill - no money changing hands. Bltz'rkzik claims they really are the same Demographic audience, although he admits that such missing starting Couch Surfing and moved to airbnb. "Their audience a unique and younger, and we're not trying to compete with them. When people go through the twenties to their age, getting married and want a little more privacy where they are staying, or it will be more fun - they come to us Couch Surfing. So that the two markets different audiences, "he says. "While this cultural exchange that goes for them and for us - but we also have guests and hosts are not interested in this side." However, he stresses that this hosting system, in which the host gives the guest a roof for the money or for stays with him - real friendships are formed, people stay in touch and meet again in the future.
But while Couch Surfing is a social project - a voluntary nature has no balance to worry about, it can be assumed that airbnb annoying the global hotel industry - seeing how thousands of potential customers give up the classic hotel accommodation for the solutions offered by the site, on the road also breaks market and provides suggestions accommodation at unbeatable prices. Here, too, the founder claims that a real collision. "We're not looking at the hotels as competitors. Our product is different from theirs.'ve Also never heard a complaint from or anyone in this industry. Besides, there are many places in the world where lack of options of accommodation, places where summer hotels are almost completely full. Persons traveling to places such , Graft - Spring is one of them, should alternatives - where we can help. "
People pass the age of 20, adolescents, and want a little more privacy and a nice place. Apartment offered at airbnb
Legally gray area
General landlord let Lsblt? (Illustration: a pencil)
If a guest thief or destruction of the host - have insurance (Illustration: Yossi Levy)
But not everything is rosy. Use fresh concept that can bring new questions and problems. For starters - it is not clear how the laws of entertaining private person paid on a regular basis. Does that make it a hotel? Does he have some credentials that? Is it work it is supposed to pay income tax? What about tenants in rented apartments are leasing the extra room, although it is not property but the property owner?
In airbnb aware of a series of questions, the answers to which vary from state to state (and sometimes even from city to city) - in accordance with local laws. "This is a gray area. Doing something quite new and still do not respect many rules," says Bltz'rkzik. "Because of the differences in the laws it is difficult to know what is allowed and what is not everywhere - and we ask our users to use the Site under the Law of the country where they are located. We believe that laws should make clarification to clarify what good the new model and what is not. San Francisco, for example, we working with the city on the issue and are working in a workgroup will produce sensible policies balance the concerns of the people. "
Such concerns do not relate only to the law, but also for personal safety - both the hosts and the guests. The problematic nature of its model Sarah studied airbnb on July 2011, when the host database was shocked to find his apartment while she was abroad - was plundered and destroyed. Thieves destroyed even walls and doors to get valuable possessions stored in the apartment. Money, jewelry, credit cards, camera, iPod and laptop are just some of the things that were stolen. "All my life they took," she wrote robbed a post published on the case. because policies that the site is not to inform the tenant who the landlord until the last minute (so the two do not override the mechanism of the site and close a deal that would entitle him commission) accusing fingers were the company that allowed questionable factors take its service abuse.
Insurance of up to a million dollars
"We subscribe to the service is free." Site airbnb
After the initial panic, pulled themselves together and formed the airbnb host of new safety tools site - more than forty in number. "We've upgraded our Customer Service to one that works 24/7, we verify phone numbers of users, we've added the option of a telephone conversation between the front through the website guest host, allowed to connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts account with us and show some friends the user has" appointed Welch Rkzik their part. "But the most significant change is the coverage busting, covering today damages of up to a million dollars. Whether guest thief or destruction of the host - the host need to contact us and the insurance that is activated. Well if the user has not completed the transaction, you can not see the details of the other - You should know, our society has a good idea who this person and how to reach it. guest too know that, and he realizes he needs to behave properly. "
- What differentiates you and your competitors have sprung up?
"We do not do anything about the competition, despite having copied these sites one by one. Others spent millions of dollars but have not yet begun to scratch the surface. We simply much better product. We provide confidence to customers. Our client knows that if he has to cancel or have problem - he can call us, we will treat it if necessary we give him the money. addition, there are sites that require user fees hosts - hundreds of dollars a year, and here it's free. we are wealthy enough to invest in customer service and assurance that I mentioned. we're bigger, we have the numbers - and ultimately what is relevant for us is not some sites which records the apartment of the user, but these are able to produce for him - and them - the reservation nights. chances are it will happen precisely here, as published last competitors do not actually influence. "
Revenue and earnings declines founder detail, using the mantra "We are a private company and therefore do not reveal such data." "You do the math of 60,000 nights booked every day," he says. He can say that although the company has been able to live on its profits - is still using investor funds to realize its growth potential. "We raised a lot of money last year and we still use it. Done this in order to invest in growth, not gain it in the bank. We want to work on additional services not just to make some profits as possible."
- Like what?
"I can not be very specific, but we always add more apartments and try to improve the service. Course we also have people working on improving the experience of the user. Now we are focused on building our Asia - it's a huge market that we have now only 20,000 properties listed." Israeli audience ensures Bltz'rkzik airbnb site also translated into Hebrew, as has been translated into twenty different languages. "The only question is when," he says, refusing to commit to a date. "It is important to maintain focus when you grow fast."
Cradit: Walla!
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