especially today when traveling abroad The Airbnb service, which people use with confidence, offers people the comfort of home, unlike a hotel. As the calendar turns to 2007, one of the most inspiring stories is born.

People not only like to travel, but also like to feel at home in different places. Born with this thought AirbnbTwo friends named Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, who started with the idea of ​​sharing their apartment in San Francisco, California, USA, today took it further by turning it into a giant platform that brings together millions of homeowners and guests.

On September 22, 2007, San Francisco resident Joe Gebbia approached his roommate Brian Chesky, who was struggling with financial problems, with an interesting suggestion.

Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky

At a time when rents were skyrocketing, Gebbia came up with an opportunity to stretch the limited budget they had. What they’ve been through rent out vacant rooms in an apartment He pitched his friend the idea that it would be a good opportunity to both generate revenue and provide travelers with a more personalized lodging experience.

Together they thought that a more affordable and comfortable accommodation service than hotels, which started based on the “bed and breakfast” concept, would be very popular.

It promised an ideal accommodation experience with not only a bed but also a nice breakfast.

They started by purchasing three air mattresses and bringing the lofts together to create a separate apartment for guests. He started his adventures with the dream of an inflatable bed and breakfast. airbedandbreakfast.com They moved on to a website called.

Just a few clicks, folks could get this special lodging experience for just $80. Three guests, who had the opportunity to stay among people attending a conference, had a wonderful accommodation adventure.

It quickly became clear that AirBed & Breakfast had great potential.

Former housemates on this exciting journey They decided to involve Nathan Blecharczyk. After a preparation period of approximately 6 months, this trio decided to officially introduce AirBed & Breakfast. However, the beginning was not so rosy. The site had only received two reservations, and one was from a member of the group. to Chesky belonged.

Although the first steps are small, this initiative will grow into a gigantic platform around the world. Airbnb basics He had thrown it.

A few months later it was decided to meet with investors to make progress.

They met, but could not achieve results. During the periods in which the Democratic National Congress will take place, They put forward the location they were developing because they believed there would be a shortage of accommodation in the region. It happened as they thought, the site broke the booking record during this event.

Although these reservations resulted in significant progress for them, the money they withdrew from the bank was used to develop the site They couldn’t pay their $20,000 loan. This situation prompted the three friends to develop another investment idea. They decided to take a slightly different step, building on the well-known brands Cheerios and Cap’n Crunch.

In the excitement of the Democratic National Convention, they decided to design cereal boxes and identify them with presidential candidates. in a box ObamasThe other box had McCain’s images and fake logos printed on it.

It stated that only 1,000 of these boxes had been produced, and on the back of each box was a number identifying the box and information about the AirBed & Breakfast website.

This, guerrilla marketing strategy It was a clever application and it worked wonderfully. During the convention, they sold all of these boxes for $40, generating an unexpected income of $30,000.

This unexpected success will provide them with significant resources that they will use to grow their business and further develop Airbnb. became a source of funding. So with a creative idea born from a box of cereal and a little guerrilla marketing, Airbnb’s roots deepened.

When the debts are paid The trio had nothing left to finance. After the conference, reservations stopped and went back to normal. Blecharczyk, who joined the team later, returned to his old job – for a short time – thinking it wouldn’t work out.

In November 2008, they met with Michael Seibel, CEO of Justin.tv.

Siebel, a supporting act for the duo He called Y Combinator, This was a move that would bring back Blecharczyk, who had left them. During this period they continued negotiations with investors who could provide financing. They also had the opportunity to meet Fred Wilson, the founder of Union Square Ventures, one of the leading venture capital firms in the technology industry.

Tumblr, Twitter, Soundcloud and Stripe Wilson, a name that has invested in big names, among others, did not find the proposal based on an inflatable bed very attractive and turned the duo down. Wilson, who later described this decision as a “big mistake”, initially failed to fully appreciate Airbnb’s potential.

Airbnb, which successfully completed the Y Combinator program in March 2009, has taken a new direction by making two key changes to this process.

Firstly the name They changed it from AirBed & Breakfast to what we know as Airbnb.. This change was due to the mixed reception of the air mattress concept. Some people loved it, others hated it. Secondly, the room rental system was no longer just about shared rooms. Airbnb started offering private spaces and included entire houses and apartments in their rentals.

The following year, the company reached a major milestone: venture capital firms From Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners He received a large investment fund of $7.2 million. At that point, Airbnb had booked nearly 700,000 stays since launching in 2008 and was gaining traction. Airbnb increased its conversion rate by crossing the million booking threshold in February 2011.

2011 was a period when Airbnb began to build closer relationships with investors and household names.

Actor Ashton Kutcherhas announced that it will invest in Airbnb through A-Grade Ventures, the venture capital firm it founded. He also became a member of Airbnb’s advisory board. Two months later, a second round of funding was provided led by Andreessen Horowitz, a technology-focused capital firm that invests in companies like Instagram and Skype, and Airbnb raised $112 million from this round.

During this period, Airbnb focused on international growth. Offering a sketching service and accelerating Airbnb’s entry into the European market in May 2011 Bought Accoleo. The following year it opened an international office and began operating in Paris, Milan, Barcelona, ​​Copenhagen, Moscow and Sao Paulo.

rival in 2012 crashpadder has taken a move to create an arm focused on experiences, purchasing the city guide app NabeWise. In addition, Airbnb has started to ensure that homes become cleaner by collaborating with cleaning companies. This was an important criterion that would increase their demands.

In 2014, Airbnb decided to change the company’s identity and motto by announcing a rebranding project.

Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, started an extensive design change to simplify the website and app. In addition, by creating Airbnb’s new logo, we adopted the company’s new motto. “belonging” They tried to reflect the concept. The design, which they called Bélo, used a combination of the hand-drawn letter A, a heart and a location pin.

During this logo change period Airbnb’s value is $13 billion has achieved. However, the company has encountered situations where short-term rentals are strictly regulated or even banned in some cities.

In 2015, the company began collecting hotel taxes and paying those revenues to cities in an effort to increase its revenue. Anyone who has stayed at Airbnb properties in Amsterdam, San Jose, Chicago, Washington and Paris a period during which taxes must be paid That’s how it started.

Following the vote in San Francisco in 2015, it was decided to impose restrictions on rental activities in the city.

Airbnb will support city operations $12 million tax He announced that he had paid. However, he stated that this effort was not positively received. San Francisco pioneered an ordinance banning short-term rentals by property owners who don’t live in the same home, an ordinance called the Airbnb law. The law came into effect in 2018.

Targeted at the Chinese market outside Europe, Airbnb In 2017, he introduced the Chinese brand Aibiying. The company increased its investments in China, tripling its local workforce. However, competition in China was fierce; Airbnb’s Chinese equivalent, Tujia, has more than 300,000 properties, while Airbnb’s portfolio is limited to 80,000.

This initiative, started by two indebted friends with three inflatable beds, has grown into a huge success story to this day Airbnb’s value is approximately $73 billion. We see that the platform is active in more than 190 countries and more than 34 thousand cities. With more than 2 million listings and more than 40 million users, Airbnb has become a global hospitality giant.