Airbnb History

The site Airbedandbreakfast.com officially launched on August 11, 2008.

The founders had their first customers in town in the summer of 2008, during the Industrial Design Conference held by Industrial Designers Society of America, where travelers had a hard time finding lodging in the city.

On May 31, 2011, Airbnb acquired Accoleo, a German competitor.

In July 2011, it raised $112 million in financing led by Andreessen Horowitz.

In October 2011, Airbnb established an office in London, its first international office.

When in the summer of 2011 a host’s home was trashed and ransacked by her Airbnb guests, the company quickly admitted their failings and set up a coverage policy to help protect hosts in case guests damage property or steal possessions during their stay.

While Airbnb’s “Host Guarantee” initially covered $500,000 worth of property damage and theft, it was doubled in 2012 to one million dollars.

In my book, at one point, a CFO of one of the biggest hotel chains was asked about Airbnb in 2013 — not that long ago — and he said, “What’s Airbnb?”

As a way to make extra money, the duo decided to turn their living space into a room with three air beds on the floor and promise to provide guests with a home cooked breakfast (Carson, 2013, para.

With a thirst for innovation, Chesky and Gebbia enlisted the help of trusted friend Nathan Blecharczyk to help form the beginnings of a business (Carson, 2013, para.

19). In 2013 the company faced its first legal battle when city laws made it illegal for hosts to rent out their rooms to others, inciting a year-long legal battle between the state of New York and Airbnb (Carson, 2013, para.

In July 2014, Airbnb revealed design revisions to the site and mobile app and introduced a new logo.

In June 2015, Airbnb raised $1.5 billion in Series E funding led by General Atlantic, and joined by Hillhouse Capital Group, Tiger Management, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GGV Capital, China Broadband Capital, and Horizons Ventures.

In-platform rating and review systems, personal profiles, and Airbnb’s Host Protection Insurance combine to build “trust within the community of users and lowers transaction costs” (Business Model Toolbox, 2015, n.p.), as well as enhancing the reputation of individual Airbnb community members.

Here's the running list of Airbnb's strategic launches and acquisitions since 2016:

The New York Times reported that these events were related and part of a "plan that the hotel association started in early 2016 to thwart Airbnb".

In the summer of 2016, at the request of three members of the United States Senate, the Federal Trade Commission began investigating how Airbnb affected housing costs.

Airbnb first became profitable during the second half of 2016.

In March 2017, Airbnb raised $1 billion in funding, bringing total funding raised to more than $3 billion and valuing the company at $31 billion.

June 1, 2017 at 5:04 am https://bnbformula.com/buildyourempire.

(2017) Niido, launch: "home sharing in new apartment buildings that will be optimized for home sharing and flexible living."

Regulations for short-term rentals in Vancouver were put in place in 2018, creating a framework for homeowners to legally participate in the sharing economy with home sharing sites such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Homeaway.

(2018) Airbnb Plus, launch: a "tier of homes on Airbnb that have been personally verified for quality and comfort."

August 28, 2019 at 4:21 pm One concern as a host is Air bnb collecting arbitrary state and local Fee’s.

By October 2019, two million people were staying with Airbnb each night.

No longer just a home-sharing platform anymore, it’s clear that Airbnb has disrupted the hotel and accommodation sectors as the company prepares for what will likely be a monumental IPO launch by the end of 2019.

On March 30, 2020, CEO and Head of Community Brian Chesky penned a letter to hosts, pledging $250 million in payouts to host to compensate them for guest cancellations due to the pandemic.

In April 2020, due in part to the decline in business from the pandemic, Airbnb raised $1 billion in equity from private equity firms Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners at an $18 billion valuation and $1 billion in debt at interest rates of 9%-11.5%.

Airbnb announced it plans to go public in 2020 on Thursday.

Airbnb on Thursday announced it plans to go public in 2020.

The startup did not specify a timeline beyond "during 2020." Airbnb has not clarified whether it has confidentially filed its S-1 IPO paperwork, which would include basic financial information for potential investors to consider.