I think the biggest benefit AirBNB has over Craigslist / dealing with someone directly is insurance. Before AirBNB existed, I'd use the vacation/temporary secti

I think the biggest benefit AirBNB has over Craigslist / dealing with someone directly is insurance. Before AirBNB existed, I'd use the vacation/temporary section of Craigslist. I'd go stay at someone's place, and hope that I wasn't going to be kicked out, and lose the rest of the money I gave them for my stay. It was worse for the people subletting - if I damaged their place, they had almost no recourse. While it's possible that enough trust can build up over time to where people would go around SpareChair, I doubt it will be a problem for them. Even if friends of friends were to co-work at my place, I'd feel a lot more comfortable if they were insured.