

New "How Airbnb Works" video (shot at 13 locations around world) - brianchesky
http://www.airbnb.com/info/how_it_works

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brianchesky
Fun 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.

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skunkworks
Love the Sneakers reference.

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marcamillion
Don't get this.

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jcl
In 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.

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marcamillion
Ahh...ok. Will try and get it.

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PStamatiou
I 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=J2_u2nMsgjg>

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSzsFAJAKHI> .. wow square has a lot of videos

Birdhouse:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8yRaWY1xV8&feature=playe...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8yRaWY1xV8&feature=player_embedded)

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kes
He also did these:

Jawbone's JAMBOX:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgC3zjNH1oU&feature=playe...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgC3zjNH1oU&feature=player_embedded)

Couch to 5k (iOS app): <http://vimeo.com/15981967>

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samd
One 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?

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grinich
Paying 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.

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Alex3917
Why 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.)

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brown9-2
A user who does this and is successful will no longer have a need for the
dating site profile, or to pay the monthly fee for the site.

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RK
Depends on what they're using the site for (e.g. random hook ups means repeat
customer).

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jjcm
I 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.

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ryanwaggoner
Some more facts by video creator Adam Lisagor <http://lonelysandwich.com/>

I wonder how much something like this would cost?

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anemitz
It passed the "my parents understood it test":) Great vid!

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ryandvm
Great 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.

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jeremydavid
That'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)

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venetiap
I'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!

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alexophile
Excuse 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.

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alanfalcon
"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."

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jeremydavid
Beautiful 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.

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plaguedr
Over 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?)

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dsulli
When 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.

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gucker
I 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.

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prayag
I 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.

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spacehaven
Great 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.

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samratjp
And the tipping point is reached :-) Congrats and hope the virality ensues!

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miah_
Watched the video, its definitely interesting. Looks like a super commercial
version of <http://www.couchsurfing.org/>.

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billpaetzke
I 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?

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brandnewlow
Great video, but wasn't it fiendishly expensive to make? I assume that means
Airbnb is doing well?

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dshankar
Great video - who made it?

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simonpreed
Adam Lisagor (@lonelysandwich) -
[http://twitter.com/#!/lonelysandwich/status/2305705896208384...](http://twitter.com/#!/lonelysandwich/status/23057058962083840)

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elvirs
how do they prevent renters from robbing the places?

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anonymouse1234
awesome video!!! like, i kinda teared up at the end. really.

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elvirs
nice to see startups produce great videos about service themselves not
involving 'creative' studios that would add boring marketing taste

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BenSchaechter
This 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.

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pchristensen
I second the Airbnb fanboyism!

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sfphotoarts
and some for Venetia too!

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dirtyhand
BOING

