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New "How Airbnb Works" video (shot at 13 locations around world)
- BenSchaechter 16y agoThis is going to sound so fan-boyish -- but I really respect what team Airbnb has done. Its so exciting to see them continue to kick so much ass and grow.
- pchristensen 16y agoI second the Airbnb fanboyism!
- sfphotoarts 16y agoand some for Venetia too!
- PStamatiou 16y agoI spy Adam Lisagor.. or some similarly bearded man. He worked on Square and Birdhouse's videos. Square: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBieYjxUj5Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBieYjxUj5Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2_u2nMsgjg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2_u2nMsgjg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSzsFAJAKHI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSzsFAJAKHI .. wow square has a lot of videos Birdhouse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8yRaWY1xV8&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8yRaWY1xV8&feature=playe...
- guywithabike 16y agoYep. It's Adam.
- tlrobinson 16y agoYup, he produced the video: https://twitter.com/#!/lonelysandwich/status/23057058962083840 https://twitter.com/#!/lonelysandwich/status/230570589620838...
- kes 16y agoHe also did these: Jawbone's JAMBOX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgC3zjNH1oU&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgC3zjNH1oU&feature=playe... Couch to 5k (iOS app): http://vimeo.com/15981967 http://vimeo.com/15981967
- cemregr 16y agoNot only the videos are of very high caliber, he's very, very cute as well. Can't go wrong with that! :)
- dshankar 16y agoGreat video - who made it?
- venetiap 16y agoAdam Lisagor collaborated with the Airbnb team to make this super cool vid.
- simonpreed 16y agoAdam Lisagor (@lonelysandwich) - http://twitter.com/#!/lonelysandwich/status/23057058962083840 http://twitter.com/#!/lonelysandwich/status/2305705896208384...
- ryandvm 16y agoGreat video - but man I must have trust issues; because there is no way I'd be letting someone stay in my place if I'm just out of town for the weekend.
- jeremydavid 16y agoThat's why they have the ebay-like "review" system. It works pretty well for the couch surfing websites, so I am sure it works well here too. (but yes, I agree with you - I don't know how keen I'd be to leave someone the keys to my place while I'm out either)
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- venetiap 16y agoI'm always traveling (it's part of my job) and I rent it out while I'm away. Airbnb handles the payment, and the reviews can only be left by people who have stayed through the community so you know they are legit. You can also choose who stays - that's why everyone has profiles. In any case, I offset my rent about $400/month and have "travel fun" money now. I'm 70% to my goal of heading to Thailand in March! Can't wait!
- alexophile 16y agoExcuse me for being presumptuous, but it's sort of customary to self-identify in a post like this if you happen to be affiliated with the company.
- alanfalcon 16y ago"The pretty lady in the video is Venetia Pristavec, who does all the in-house video content for Airbnb, traveling around to different countries and interviewing hosts. She’s great."
- venetiap 16y ago
- anemitz 16y agoIt passed the "my parents understood it test":) Great vid!
- samd 16y agoOne of the most compelling things about AirBnB is the gorgeous photos of all those unique places. I don't know how they get them. Do they just have lots of hosts with amazing photography skills or do they send people out to take pictures?
- grinich 16y agoPaying a pro photographer to come take a few shots of the place pays off immensely in the number of bookings. It's just good marketing.
- samd 16y agoI'm just surprised hosts have enough marketing wherewithal to do that on their own. Though maybe AirBnB makes a point of telling people to get professional photos done.
- Alex3917 16y agoWhy don't any of the major dating sites have contracts with a pro photographer in each city to do head shots for cheap or free? It seems like such a slam dunk idea given the economics, and yet none of the major dating sites want to do it. (Having emailed the staff of some of these sites with this idea a couple years ago on behalf of a photographer friend and receiving no response.)
- theDoug 16y agoMajor dating sites likely still largely pull revenue from advertisement and pay-to-message hurdles. As a photographer, however, I can attest that there is a market for people looking to pay to have a better Facebook/LinkedIn/Dating-Site profile photo.
- Alex3917 16y agoIf a good photo dramatically increases the amount of people who want to send you messages, then wouldn't subsidizing your userbase to have good photos be enormously profitable? Especially since getting just 2% of your users to take advantage of the service could make the other 98% much more likely to become paying users.
- jeremydavid 16y agoBeautiful video. I might be moving to London for a few months, and the "stay for a month" line certainly persuaded me to take a look when I do.
- jjcm 16y agoI just used Airbnb for the first time last week. Had a pretty good experience with it. Stayed at a fellow HN'er's ( ngrandy ) place. A very pleasant experience overall, I'll probably keep using it in lieu of hotels when I travel. The culture of the site is interesting in itself - it attracts people that don't mind having a stranger in their house. You really have to be a sociable person to allow that, and it shows in the personalities of the hosts (and guests). Makes for a very friendly and welcoming environment.
- ryanwaggoner 16y agoSome more facts by video creator Adam Lisagor http://lonelysandwich.com/ http://lonelysandwich.com/ I wonder how much something like this would cost?
- brianchesky 16y agoFun facts (directly quoted) from Adam Lisagor, who made the video: * All the locations are real Airbnb places. * The pretty lady in the video is Venetia Pristavec, who does all the in-house video content for Airbnb, traveling around to different countries and interviewing hosts. She’s great. * Where you see people, those are real Airbnb hosts. * The site is neat, but you should download the iPhone app. It’s one of the best-designed, most beautiful and functional apps I’ve ever used. * The cinematographer is my friend Rachel Morrison. She’s great. * That villa with the credit card logos in the pool? It’s in Puerto Vallarta. The crew stayed there for a few days. It’s great. * My side of the Scrabble board spells out “COOTYS RAT SEMEN”. Venetia’s spells “BEANS”. I won.
- citricsquid 16y agoJust to check, we read these as if it's Adam saying them?
- brianchesky 16y agoThat is correct. His words, not mine.
- skunkworks 16y agoLove the Sneakers reference.
- marcamillion 16y agoDon't get this.
- jcl 16y agoIn the movie "Sneakers", "COOTYS RAT SEMEN" is one of the sillier anagrams encountered when the main characters try to use a Scrabble set to figure out the meaning of "Setec Astronomy". It's a classic hacker movie -- highly recommended if you haven't seen it.
- anonymouse1234 16y agoawesome video!!! like, i kinda teared up at the end. really.
- billpaetzke 16y agoI rent an 1-bdrm apt in a small building (about 16-20 tenants) in Los Angeles, CA. It might be obvious if I am having a "guest" over every weekend I'm gone--or for longer trips (like 1-6 weeks traveling). Would I need to get my landlord's permission? Or is it my right according to CA tenant law? Or somewhere in between?
- samratjp 16y agoAnd the tipping point is reached :-) Congrats and hope the virality ensues!
- miah_ 16y agoWatched the video, its definitely interesting. Looks like a super commercial version of http://www.couchsurfing.org/ http://www.couchsurfing.org/.
- dirtyhand 16y agoBOING
- spacehaven 16y agoGreat video. At first I wondered "what does she do for a living?" then it inspired me: I work from home now. I'm going to seriously consider renting out my house and work from other people's homes instead.
- prayag 16y agoI have been a couchsurfer for years and love the commmunity. airbnb seems to be exactly like couchsurfing except you have to pay to surf somebody's couch. Comparing airbnb and couchsurfing experience would be a great exercise in understanding the altruism and economics of the internet and online communities.
- brandnewlow 16y agoGreat video, but wasn't it fiendishly expensive to make? I assume that means Airbnb is doing well?
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- elvirs 16y agohow do they prevent renters from robbing the places?
- elvirs 16y agonice to see startups produce great videos about service themselves not involving 'creative' studios that would add boring marketing taste
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- dsulli 16y agoWhen I first heard the Airbnb idea - I was really skeptical. This is one of the cases where the actual implementation of the idea turned out better than the pure idea itself. I've booked a couple of places through the site when I was traveling in California, and the result in both places was better than I would have expected.
- gucker 16y agoI think it's a fantastic idea I just haven't had the hutzpah to actually book a place in someone else's home yet... yet.
- plaguedr 16y agoOver the past year, I've kept Airbnb in mind while doing my travel planning. I've made numerous inquiries to book for multiple trips, but am always rejected. One example would be a trip to NYC I took two months ago. I sent out 10 inquires to hosts but they were all rejected. The typical response is a curt, "No longer available," but in all cases I filtered based on availability. So, it's not as easy as this video implies. For me, it has been something of a headache and a time waster, which is unfortunate because I think their idea is excellent. (Maybe it is easy if you're a hot hipster waif?)