Have you used AirBnB yet? I just did a few weeks ago for the first time, and am about to again when I move up to the Bay Area.
It's amazing. Not only do they identify unused physical assets (extra space in people's homes/apts.) and create a market for it that undercuts an entire industry, they've created this amazing karmic serendipity of meeting new and interesting people from the very first moment you touch down.
Travel isn't just about seeing landmarks and whatnot, it's about immersing yourself in the local culture, and AirBnB provides that much better than most hotels can.
Combine the feel-good nature of the service with its recession/depression/financial-crisis/money-saving friendly, disruptive undercutting of a huge industry and I have no doubt they'll eventually be among the biggest incubator successes or exits.
I do wonder if they'll compete with Couchsurfing.com. The latter could pivot a little and offer the same kind of for-pay service AirBnB does, and already has a huge clientel.
Edit: just to elaborate on the recession-friendly bit. I've gotten very interested lately in companies like AirBnB and Groupon that enable people to continue spending despite adverse financial conditions, be it deflationary or inflationary. In the former, cash and credit becomes scarce, and in the latter cash loses its value and prices increase.
In either case, AirBnB has found an asset that has historically been priced at $0, and can hence undercut competitors all the way down to 0$. No established hotel can compete on price, only amenities, but in times of financial distress, customers tend to sacrifice amenities for lower prices. And what AirBnB can't offer in amenities, it compensates for with the social aspect that hotels can't offer.
Same with Groupon, they've created a win-win-win for the most part. Customers save money if the Groupon was something they wanted anyway, companies make money (assuming they did the math right on their deal), and Groupon makes money. Only the companies that people would have spent money on, but spent on a Groupon instead, lose, which is extremely difficult to quantify.
I don't know how much of this the AirBnB and Groupon founders foresaw, but I think both are brilliant. They've really got me trying to think up something similar now.
It's amazing. Not only do they identify unused physical assets (extra space in people's homes/apts.) and create a market for it that undercuts an entire industry, they've created this amazing karmic serendipity of meeting new and interesting people from the very first moment you touch down.
Travel isn't just about seeing landmarks and whatnot, it's about immersing yourself in the local culture, and AirBnB provides that much better than most hotels can.
Combine the feel-good nature of the service with its recession/depression/financial-crisis/money-saving friendly, disruptive undercutting of a huge industry and I have no doubt they'll eventually be among the biggest incubator successes or exits.
And yes, they are growing:
http://blog.airbnb.com/airbnb-celebrates-1000000-nights-book...
I do wonder if they'll compete with Couchsurfing.com. The latter could pivot a little and offer the same kind of for-pay service AirBnB does, and already has a huge clientel.
Edit: just to elaborate on the recession-friendly bit. I've gotten very interested lately in companies like AirBnB and Groupon that enable people to continue spending despite adverse financial conditions, be it deflationary or inflationary. In the former, cash and credit becomes scarce, and in the latter cash loses its value and prices increase.
In either case, AirBnB has found an asset that has historically been priced at $0, and can hence undercut competitors all the way down to 0$. No established hotel can compete on price, only amenities, but in times of financial distress, customers tend to sacrifice amenities for lower prices. And what AirBnB can't offer in amenities, it compensates for with the social aspect that hotels can't offer.
Same with Groupon, they've created a win-win-win for the most part. Customers save money if the Groupon was something they wanted anyway, companies make money (assuming they did the math right on their deal), and Groupon makes money. Only the companies that people would have spent money on, but spent on a Groupon instead, lose, which is extremely difficult to quantify.
I don't know how much of this the AirBnB and Groupon founders foresaw, but I think both are brilliant. They've really got me trying to think up something similar now.