4 ms·

Can I just point out that Airbnb has a far superior name and domain name? I mean Wimdu sounds like a character from Star Wars, while Airbnb has the "bed and br

Can I just point out that Airbnb has a far superior name and domain name? I mean Wimdu sounds like a character from Star Wars, while Airbnb has the "bed and breakfast" abbreviation built right into the name.

georgemcbay 15y ago
This is a totally subjective thing, but they both have terrible names, IMO. Airbnb is slightly more memorable but equally horrible to actually say aloud.
spb 15y ago
When I first heard the name "airbnb" I assumed somebody was writing a fork of aircrack.
pacemkr 15y ago
This actually happened to me: I once heard of Airbnb on HN. <fast-forward a few weeks> I once spent half a day looking for that site with a terrible name that let you rent good apts for short periods of time. So, from my experience, Airbnb has a terrible name. I also had no idea that bnb in Airbnb actually stood for something... Looks like you just saved me half a day sometime in the future, thanks.
jasonkester 15y ago
Actually Airbnb is a terrible name because it conjures up a distasteful (and inaccurate) mental image of what their service provides. An Airbed is a horrible rubber thing that you sleep on at a friend's house that deflates in the night leaving you lying on the floor surrounded by sagginess. Therefore an Airbed-n-breakfast must be a place where you can expect to get that sort of experience, but for a price. That mental picture kept me from even bothering to check out the website the first dozen or so times they made the front page here. I'd wager it's costing them a lot of money from people who simply refuse to check them out because they don't want to sleep on an airbed. Notice that none of the listings on airbnb show anything like a trashed studio apartment where you'll be expected to sleep on an old couch with dead pizza boxes under it, but ask anybody on the street to describe an "airbed and breakfast" and that's what you'll get. But if you don't force yourself to ignore the terrible name and give them a shot, you'll never find out. For my money I'd rather be called something nosensical than something off-putting.

georgemcbay 15y ago

This is a totally subjective thing, but they both have terrible names, IMO. Airbnb is slightly more memorable but equally horrible to actually say aloud.

spb 15y ago

When I first heard the name "airbnb" I assumed somebody was writing a fork of aircrack.

pacemkr 15y ago

This actually happened to me: I once heard of Airbnb on HN. <fast-forward a few weeks> I once spent half a day looking for that site with a terrible name that let you rent good apts for short periods of time. So, from my experience, Airbnb has a terrible name. I also had no idea that bnb in Airbnb actually stood for something... Looks like you just saved me half a day sometime in the future, thanks.

jasonkester 15y ago

Actually Airbnb is a terrible name because it conjures up a distasteful (and inaccurate) mental image of what their service provides. An Airbed is a horrible rubber thing that you sleep on at a friend's house that deflates in the night leaving you lying on the floor surrounded by sagginess. Therefore an Airbed-n-breakfast must be a place where you can expect to get that sort of experience, but for a price. That mental picture kept me from even bothering to check out the website the first dozen or so times they made the front page here. I'd wager it's costing them a lot of money from people who simply refuse to check them out because they don't want to sleep on an airbed. Notice that none of the listings on airbnb show anything like a trashed studio apartment where you'll be expected to sleep on an old couch with dead pizza boxes under it, but ask anybody on the street to describe an "airbed and breakfast" and that's what you'll get. But if you don't force yourself to ignore the terrible name and give them a shot, you'll never find out. For my money I'd rather be called something nosensical than something off-putting.