Barcelona has had a huge market for apartment sharing since long before Airbnb. I travelled there in 2000 and remember stepping off the train into the train sta

Barcelona has had a huge market for apartment sharing since long before Airbnb. I travelled there in 2000 and remember stepping off the train into the train station and being bombarded with people offering a room to stay in their place for a reasonable fee. As I knew from research this was going to happen that's exactly what I planned on doing. I picked the most trustworthy-seeming person I could find and stayed in their place for a week. Had an amazing time. Full credit to Airbnb for bringing this process into the digital/smartphone age, but the roots for this in some cities, like Barcelona, was always there.