Brian Chesky, the Chief Executive of Airbnb Inc., stated that the company’s online travel app was not yet integrated with OpenAI’s ChatGPT due to the startup’s connective tools not being “quite ready”. In an interview, Chesky stated that Airbnb will keep an eye on the progress of ChatGPT’s app integrations and might eventually think about a partnership akin to those of its rivals Booking Holdings Inc. and Expedia Group Inc.
Regarding ChatGPT’s integration capabilities, he stated, “I didn’t think it was quite ready.” According to Chesky, OpenAI will need to create a platform that is so strong that Airbnb’s app can function within the ChatGPT chatbot in a way that is “almost self-contained” because Airbnb is a community with verified members.
Why Chesky Opting to not to go with AI Integration?
Chesky, who is good friends with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, claimed to have given the AI business advice regarding its new feature that allows outside developers to publish their apps within the ChatGPT chatbot. These functionalities were revealed this month by the AI startup. The well-known chatbot didn’t launch with Airbnb as one of its apps.
While refusing to comment on Chesky’s comments, an OpenAI representative pointed to the company’s blog post from this month, which characterised the app integration technology as a developer preview with further features on the horizon. In October, T21 claimed that it had enhanced its in-app artificial intelligence features to allow users to conduct additional activities without a live operator, despite Airbnb setting aside a potential integration with ChatGPT.
The company’s AI customer support representative, which it made available to all English-speaking users in the United States in May, now shows links and action buttons that can assist users in completing tasks like changing or cancelling reservations. As a result, 15% fewer users now require a live agent, and the average resolution time has decreased from over three hours to six seconds, according to Airbnb.
The business intends to offer 56 other languages in the upcoming year in addition to Spanish and French this autumn. According to Chesky, the agent is based on 13 distinct AI models, including those from OpenAI, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Google, a division of Alphabet Inc., and open-source providers.
Airbnb Adding new Features to Attract More Customers
In an effort to foster user relationships and ultimately improve its travel recommendations within the app, Airbnb, which this year branched out from lodging into tours and personal services, is also implementing new social elements.
After booking an experience, the firm introduced a feature that allows visitors to share their Airbnb profile with other travellers. Additionally, users who have taken the same tours can now communicate with each other directly. According to Airbnb, privacy precautions are in place, and the communication can only proceed if the recipient approves the message request.
Next year will see the addition of more social capabilities, which Chesky said might eventually encourage user-generated content on the app, allowing users to find inspiration for trips without ever leaving the Airbnb website.
Quick Shots
•Brian
Chesky says Airbnb hasn’t integrated ChatGPT because the AI’s app
connectivity isn’t “quite ready.”
•Airbnb
is monitoring ChatGPT’s progress and may explore partnerships similar to
Booking.com or Expedia.
•OpenAI
labels the app integration feature as a developer preview, with more updates
expected.
•Airbnb plans to expand AI support
to 56 additional languages next year.
There’s something about those beautiful rooms, appealing colour palettes and the homely feeling that comes with an Airbnb — something that sets it apart, and makes it an ideal option as a short term accommodation for travellers across the globe. The popularity of Airbnb stems from the local experiences that they promise to travellers.
A unique opportunity for the hosts as well as the travel enthusiasts, Airbnb has grown leaps & bounds over the years, and finally turned into a lucrative business with the potential to offer handsome returns in the long run. Airbnb was the brainchild of Brian Chesky & Joe Gebbia, which was later moulded into Airbnb along with Nathan Blecharczyk in 2008.
With over a billion guest stays, Airbnb is growing incredibly thanks to the experience they’ve been able to provide to their guests and hosts alike. Airbnb can be termed as an online marketplace that allows hosts to list rental spaces that can be anything from standalone private rooms to entire apartments and houses.
For those of you who have available space for short term rentals, Airbnb can be a boom — an incredible source of passive income, and even a full-time business if done right!
Well, you have to give it to the options, the availability! Airbnb provides a plethora of options at attractive prices that are well complemented by the top-notch user experience provided by the platform — app & web, alike. Add the caps put in by the COVID-19 pandemic that played upon our mental health and we craved local experiences more than ever, and you’ll know what makes Airbnb click in the first place.
Right from tree houses to houseboats, Airbnb provides a plethora of unique options to experience your surroundings as a local — something that adds that extra bit of exclusivity to Airbnb and distinguishes it from mainstream hotels.
Airbnb Hosting — The Business Opportunity
As per Airbnb, hosts have earned an aggregate of more than $150 billion as of February 2022. As of 31st December 21, an average US host made more than $9000 in annual earnings from the platform.
Hosting with Airbnb can allow you to travel more often, giving you an opportunity to interact with guests and locals, and even providing you the ability to buy/rent more properties along the journey.
How to Start With Airbnb as a Host?
Let us help you out with the first and most integral step — creating a listing. You can get a detailed overview on Airbnb’s official site on how to get started, but the crux of it all is to include the basic information in a well-curated manner, have great, visually appealing pictures that showcase your space, upload and then jot down the key factors that make your space unique and stand out in the first place.
Airbnb lets you control important variables like — dynamic pricing where you decide how much you want to charge for your listing. This can depend on various factors including the day of the week, time of the year or a season.
Airbnb also provides a smart pricing assistance tool that comes in handy when you want to set the right price for your space so that it gets booked more often without compromising on profitability. The Smart Pricing tools inculcate a variety of factors including demand, seasonality, festival and time of the year to determine the right pricing for a particular space in a given area.
Airbnb is effectively free — let’s get this straight! Yes, although the platform doesn’t charge you anything for listing your space, every successful reservation attracts a 3-5% service fee, which is manageable as it takes away the pain of desperation in search for guests.
Apart from the listing assistance, Airbnb also offers ‘Host Guarantee’ — a ‘one of a kind initiative that may provide up to $1 million in property damage protection. The Host Protection Insurance, on the other hand — covers up to $1 million in liability expenses, a commendable program to protect host rights and their properties from damage. Although some countries are excluded from this program, it is always a good idea to have some additional insurance in place as well.
Things to Consider Before Airbnb Hosting
Am I 100% Committed To My Business?
Before getting started with your Airbnb business and signing up as an Airbnb Host — we want you to know that it is a commitment, a dedicated one. Like any other business, Airbnb demands your time to the core, because you’ll be the one vested with the responsibility to provide great experiences to your guests. There can be logistical and operation hurdles at times that you’ll be expected to overcome and grow, as after all — it’s a decision, not just an option.
It Demands Time
Adding to what we’ve already mentioned earlier, creating a successful Airbnb business demands your time and efforts, as you’re expected to respond quickly to booking requests and be available to resolve guest queries that may arise every now & then.
Taking care of the cleaning and maintenance is another thing that may consume your time when you’re starting out. However, you can always delegate it to others once you think you’ll make enough to sustain it in the long run.
Hosting Hurdles Ft. Limitations & Neighborhood
Before you get started, it is important to get a comprehensive idea about municipal laws, lease limitations, moral policing and neighbourhood expectations as these factors can be instrumental in making or breaking your Airbnb business. Depending on where you live or where your space is located, there can be local laws, certifications and licenses that you may need to get hold of, before getting started with your Airbnb journey.
Plan It Out Before Testing the Waters
Think of it like a business even if you’re trying to add some extra bucks to your income portfolio. Having a business mindset to start with would help you in plugging any holes or financial leakages that may arise later on, due to improper planning. Create a robust business plan to start with, put in numbers & realistic financial projections based on your expectations and you’re all set to get started with your Airbnb business.
It is important to ensure proper inclusion of expenditures and overheads like business certification and licenses, insurance, amenities like breakfast & snacks, utilities and internet data costs involved while providing that ideal experience to your guests. It is crucial to maintain an expense sheet that includes all your expenses while running your business.
When you take hold of these factors and tick all the boxes — congratulations! You’re set to kickstart your journey with Airbnb.
Steps to Start, Run and Grow Your Airbnb Business
Stick to the Basics — Mantra for Success
Well, let’s talk about the basics. Having a well-written description, great photography and high ratings based on guest experiences and hospitality trigger high guest retainers as well. A well-written description never goes out of fashion, and thus never out of business in the long run!
An ideal listing is one that includes crisp descriptions and basic details comprising who’s and what’s related to the space. Right from the number of rooms and bathrooms, to the amenities included to the nearby attractions and landmarks for tourists and guests — all of these qualify as the ingredients for a winning listing on Airbnb.
It is important, to be honest, and transparent with any quirks or shortcomings that your space may have. Something like the absence of an elevator or lift, or lack of a 4 wheeler parking space — are certain specifics that an ideal host should be clear and honest about, and should communicate to the guest upfront via your listing description.
Note: Adding the property’s USPs to your listing title can be a deal maker for your guests. Try it out!
Who doesn’t loves great pictures? Your photographs for your space can make or break your listing and thus, it is important to be serious and professional about the same. Cleaning your space thoroughly before clicking photos is a good practice as you would want guests to have a positive impression of your space. You can use natural lighting or include professional lighting depending on the dynamics of your property. Landscape shots look better in terms of photography as they give an overall view of the subject involved, and thus you must include a lot of them!
Let the Ratings Speak — The Booking Magnet
Nothing speaks louder in an online marketplace than reviews & ratings. Positive reviews not only push you to the top of the list but also fetch you more bookings as more customers and guests trust you and your services for the right reasons. Positive reviews at Airbnb improve your host rating and helps you leave a lasting first impression among guests.
As per Airbnb, cleanliness, efficient & quick communication, a seamless check-in process and essential amenities are integral in getting positive reviews.
Conclusion
Lastly, when you’re all prepared to host with Airbnb and you’ve found your mojo already — it is time to let it bloom into a full-time venture. Depending upon your endeavours and plans, you can grow your business further by adding more properties and catering to each listing differently via varied approaches.
After all, Airbnb is about making some extra income with your spaces and properties, that may otherwise have been left idle. With Airbnb, it is about you and upon you — to decide whether it is just another part-time gig or a full-time hustle to accomplish bigger things.
FAQs
Is Airbnb a good way to make money?
Yes, Airbnb is a great way to earn some extra income, Airbnb owners make $924 a month.
How much do most Airbnb owners make?
On average Airbnb business owners make $5000/year.
“The hardest thing to manage in a crisis is your own psychology…The optimistic mentality is the mentality you need to be creative. And you need to be creative because, in a crisis, you often have no good solutions”– Brian Chesky
This is how Brian Chesky, an American businessman, the Co-founder and CEO of Airbnb overcame the challenges he faced in building this international business.
Today, if we have the luxury of traveling and hassle-free vacationing anywhere & anytime without worrying about the factor of accommodation in an unknown new place, then we have a few innovations & their founders to thank for. One of them being, Airbnb & its founder Brian Chesky.
He brought unconventional changes to the established travel market through his innovative thinking, tenacity, and enthusiasm.
This article is precisely the biography of Brian Chesky where we will discuss his success story beyond all hurdles.
Brian Chesky was born in Niskayuna, New York, on August 29, 1981, and both of his parents were social workers. Raised in a middle-class family, he showed an early interest in art and design. Chesky’s childhood laid the foundation for his future entrepreneurial endeavors.
Chesky attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design. His time at RISD exposed him to the intersection of art, design, and business, sparking his creative and entrepreneurial spirit.
An interesting fact about Chesky is that before getting into his entrepreneurial activities, Chesky was a hockey player and was also into bodybuilding.
Brian Chesky – Career and Conception of Airbnb
Brian Chesky was employed as an industrial designer and strategist at 3DID in Los Angeles after graduating from college.
After moving to San Francisco, Chesky got a roommate, Joe Gebbia. Later on, this encounter was the one that paved way for the development of Airbnb.
To accommodate guests of a design conference, Chesky and Gebbia made the decision to rent out air mattresses in their San Francisco residence. This original trial served as the foundation for one of the most innovative and prosperous businesses of the twenty-first century. Thus, Airbnb was conceived in 2007 as a result of its financial challenges.
Later on, Chesky got the company of an engineer, Nathan Blecharczyk, along with whom, Chesky officially co-founded Airbnb.
The platform aimed to connect travelers with spare rooms in private homes, offering a more personalized and affordable alternative to traditional hotels. This practice was a new innovation in the travel & lodging industry.
The trio faced numerous challenges in the early days. Convincing people to open their homes to strangers and further building a critical mass of both hosts and guests was a significant challenge.
Above this was the safety concern. Building trust was crucial for the success of Airbnb. Users needed to feel safe renting or hosting through the platform.
Also, as the base grew, the platform faced technological challenges in terms of scalability and ensuring a seamless user experience.
Over and above all these there were other challenges like financial hurdles, educating the market about this new way of traveling & accommodating, international expansion, regulatory hurdles, and much more.
Brian Chesky – Achieving Success Beyond the Hurdles
But all these hurdles didn’t put them down from the success that Airbnb saw in the following years.
That said, the path to success was definitely not a bed of roses. Chesky and his team had to come up with many critical & strategic ideas like implementing policies and procedures to manage crises, employing creative marketing strategies, establishing features such as host and guest reviews, secure payment systems, enhanced identity verification, accommodating different cultural expectations and many more to overcome those challenges.
One fine example of overcoming the financial crisis in the early stages would be their innovative idea.
To fund the young company, Chesky and his co-founders resorted to their brilliant unconventional methods. They made use of the elections in 2008 presidential elections and created limited-edition cereal boxes called “Obama O’s” and “Cap’n McCain’s”, raising around $30,000 to keep Airbnb afloat.
This creative and resourceful approach demonstrated Chesky and his team’s ability to think outside the box, a trait that would serve him well in the years to come.
Under Chesky’s leadership, Airbnb expanded globally, reaching over 220 countries and regions. His emphasis on community, trust, and design contributed to Airbnb’s distinctive brand identity.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky: Hotel prices will ‘probably rise’ next year
Brian Chesky – Investments
Here are some prominent investments made by Brian Chesky:
Announced Date
Organization Name
Funding Round
Money Raised
November 22, 2022
Capitol
Seed Round
$10 million
April 16, 2013
Flight Car
Series A
$5.6 million
April 03, 2013
Balanced
Seed Round
$2 million
November 16, 2012
Balanced
Seed Round
$1.4 million
October 01, 2012
Summly
Venture Round
$1.2 million
April 30, 2012
SocialCam
Angel Round
–
Brian Chesky – Philanthropy
Apart from being a successful businessman, Chesky has been an active philanthropist. Here is a list of his philanthropic activities:
Chesky joined Warren Buffett and Bill Gates ‘The Giving Pledge’ on June 11, 2016, a group of billionaires who have promised to give away the majority of their wealth
In 2020, amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, Chesky and his partners pledged $100 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts
Chesky gave $100 million to the Obama Foundation in May 2022 to establish a scholarship program for students seeking careers in public service
In 2020, Chesky announced the launch of Airbnb.org, a separate nonprofit organization within Airbnb with the aim to provide temporary housing to people in times of crisis.
To quote Chesky, “There is a saying that a great trip can set you down a path that doesn’t end when you return. With this pledge, I want to help more kids realize the kind of journey I have had. I want to show them that their dreams are not bounded by what they can see in front of them….”
Brian Chesky – Awards and Recognitions
Brian Chesky has received many prestigious awards in his life. Here’s a compilation of the awards he has received:
Brian Chesky was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Consumer Technology category in 2011
In 2015, Chesky was named to the TIME’s 100 list, which identifies the most influential people in the world
Chesky was recognized by Glassdoor as one of the highest-rated CEOs in 2016
Forbes 100 richest tech billionaires in the world – 2017
He was listed in the Forbes Global game changer list – 2017
He was named under Forbes’s wealthiest Americans in 2023
Boston University School of Hospitality Administration’s third annual ICON Award 2023
Brian Chesky – Fun Fact
💡
Chesky in his yearbook wrote – “I’m sure I’ll amount to nothing.” Though he found it funny, his father didn’t.
Brian Chesky – Famous Quotes
“If you want to create a great product, just focus on one person. Make that one person have the most amazing experience ever.”
“Founders are like parents and the company’s the child.”
FAQs
Who is Brian Chesky?
Brian Chesky is an American businessman and the Co-founder and CEO of Airbnb.
When was Airbnb founded?
Airbnb was founded in the year 2008.
Who are the founders of Airbnb?
Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk are the co-founders of Airbnb.
What is Airbnb?
Airbnb is an online marketplace in need of accommodation with the people (hosts) who are willing to rent their home or space in a particular locality.
The hospitality industry has evolved immensely in the last two centuries. In the early 1800s, inns were the only lodging facilities that were available for tourists. However, at the turn of the century, the definition of lodging expanded to include food and drinks that were also provided for tourists and travelers. Soon, the element of luxury blended in, giving birth to hotels.
It was in the year 1829 when American architect Isaiah Rogers designed and constructed the first luxury hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. The hotel was named ‘Tremont Hotel’. The hotel boasted of private attached bathrooms with locks on the doors. The year 1829 is considered as a landmark in the history of the American hospitality industry. The 20th century is known as the beginning of the modern hospitality era.
The 20th century saw innovations in transport systems that allowed more and more people to travel to various destinations. Enterprising entrepreneurs seized the opportunity this presented and jumped into the hotel business. The middle of the century saw the rise of giant hotel chains that have a global presence today. Famous names like Marriott, Sheraton Group, and Hyatt emerged as major players within the hotel industry. Increasing intercity travel due to the increasing use of cars and a well-connected road network also favored the growth of motels. This concept within the hospitality industry was well received and motels, too, grew in numbers. It is the 21st century that has seen maximum advancements with technological integrations in the hospitality industry. Apart from building some of the tallest hotels like Fairmont Makkah and Burj-al-Arab; Airbnb opened, signaling a new segment in the hospitality industry.
About Airbnb
AirBedandBreakfast.com, commonly known as Airbnb, Inc. was founded in the year 2008 by Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk, and Joe Gebbia. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, USA, and operates as an online marketplace for short-term and long-term homestays and experiences. The company plays the role of a broker and charges a commission for each booking.
Over the years, Airbnb has acquired many companies and has expanded internationally beginning with its first international office in Hamburg in the year 2011. The company has grown exponentially since it began operations and has gone on to become one of the most valuable and successful startups in the world. Airbnb has revolutionized the tourism and hospitality industry with a significant impact on HORECA (Hotel, Restaurant, and Catering) industry. It has disrupted the traditional HORECA model affecting revenue decline for hotels in certain markets. A notable detail of Airbnb is that it is one of the only major travel companies that does not have a loyalty program.
With its business model of providing a platform for peer-to-peer exchanges, Airbnb has been fortunate to avoid any major rental and hotel tax laws so far. However, there exists a certain similarity in the way Airbnb and the hotels, function. Hence, it allows for a comparison of certain parameters between the two business models to gain insight into which is best suited to the tourism industry.
Price
Airbnb operates as a marketplace where hosts and guests exchange housing for money with the company earning a commission. It does not have a direct effect on the prices of the lodging offered, as hosts retain the rights to set the prices for different lengths of stay, cleaning fees, weekend stays, and additional guests. Hotels, on the other hand, maintain a pricing scheme that meets consumer demand and the price includes housekeeping services. Of course, both Airbnb and hotels charge a premium during holidays and at a tourist-friendly destinations. In recent years, though, Airbnb has substantially closed the gap even in the luxury segment by widening its offerings.
Type of Accommodation
This is where, perhaps, Airbnb trumps hotels due to the variety of accommodations that it can offer like standalone homes, shared spaces, apartments, and even some hotel rooms. Moreover, Airbnb accommodations offer residential-style amenities including living rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, laundry facilities, and sometimes even private parking spaces that are all included in the cost of the homes. Hotels, on the other hand, can provide some of these amenities at a surcharge. They are more traditional with guest rooms and some suites.
Quality of Stay
Between hotels and Airbnb accommodations, hotels come out on top when it comes to quality of stay. Hotels have a staff that is available 24/7 with immediate access to daily housekeeping services available which is included in the cost. Also, hotel guests can get an immediate resolution to any service complaints while Airbnb guests have to contact the hosts resulting in a loss of time. Airbnb homes also charge extra for cleaning services and sometimes, it may not be available at all.
Can Airbnb Outperform a Potential Recession? | WSJ The Economics Of
Flexibility of Reservations
This is one area in which both hotels and Airbnb vary. Hotels offer refundable and non-refundable rates. However, extenuating or unforeseen circumstances will result in hotels relaxing on non-refundable rates and waiving any charges. These policies in hotels are all clearly stated and uniformly applicable. Airbnb hosts often set their own cancellation and refund policies which may widely differ from host to host. Although Airbnb offers cancellation policies for a limited number of extenuating circumstances, individual experience varies based on the situation.
Loyalty Programs
Most hotels have a robust loyalty program that encourages guests to repeatedly book rooms and in return get many rewards that include free stays, salon services, discounts on food and beverages, etc. Such reward programs guarantee a certain percentage of sales for hotels. Airbnb, however, has no such loyalty program and is dependent on the individual guest experience with the hosts for repeat bookings.
Conclusion
The question arises – Which is better? Airbnb or Hotels? The answer, however, is not a simple yes or no. It rather depends on the individual guest and the type of accommodation and service they are looking for as well as their budget. While it is true that hotels, in general, are a safer bet about quality and safety, Airbnb offers many more attractive deals and options than most hotel chains.
FAQs
Who are the founders of Airbnb?
AirBedandBreakfast.com, commonly known as Airbnb, Inc. was founded in the year 2008 by Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk, and Joe Gebbia.
Which is better, Airbnb or hotels?
It depends on the individual guest and the type of accommodation and service they are looking for as well as their budget. While it is true that hotels, in general, are a safer bet about quality and safety, Airbnb offers many more attractive deals and options than most hotel chains.
There are over a billion successful startups in the world, every startup strives hard to be successful and reach the top, but only a few make it to the list of most valuable startups in the world.
Being the most valuable startup is a perk in itself because the funds they possess happen to be much more compared to their rivals and other companies giving them an extra edge to grow.
Here’s a list of the Top 15 Highest Valued Startups in the world:
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, SoftBank Group, Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic, and Hillhouse Capital Group.
Products and services
Toutiao, TikTok, BuzzVideo, Vigo Video, Helo, Xigua Video
Lark, Babe
Valuation
$300 Bn (2022)
Bytedance Founder | Zhang Yiming
Bytedance is the most valued startup in the world with a current valuation of $300 billion.
ByteDance Ltd. is a Chinese multinational internet technology company headquartered in Beijing, ByteDance was founded by Zhang Yiming in 2012. ByteDance operates a range of content platforms that inform, educate, entertain, and encourage people across languages, cultures, religions, etc.
ByteDance is the parent company of famous video-sharing social networking services TikTok and Vigo Video and many more, where the infamous app Tiktok crossed 2.6 billion downloads globally on the App Store and Google Play. As of now, it has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide.
Bytedance is also the parent company of Toutiao which is a news aggregator app that uses AI algorithms to track the habits of the reader and deliver relevant content.
Kuaishou is a short video social platform that is not much popular in western countries. It is a short video-sharing platform that has over 363.4 million daily active users and 626 million monthly active users in 2022. It is listed on most downloaded apps on google play and apps store outside of china, Kuaishou is often referred to as Kwai in overseas markets.
Kuaishou was founded by Su Hua and Cheng Yixiao in march 2011. The direct competitor of Kuaishou is the infamous app Tiktok.
Warburg, Carlyle Group Inc, General Atlantic, Silver Lake Partners LP
Products and services
Online payments platform services, money market fund, Zhima credit, and more
Valuation
$70 Bn – $151 Bn (2022)
Ant Group Founder | Jack Ma
Ant Group is an affiliate company of Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba. Previously known as Ant Financial and Alipay, Ant Group is the owner of the largest digital payments platform, Alipay, in China. The latter boasts of serving around 80 million merchants and approximately 1.3 billion users worldwide.
The company is currently valued between $70 billion and $151 billion.
Greylock Partners, SV Angel, Sequoia Capital, Keith Rabois, Ashton Kutcher, Elad Gil, Jeremy Stoppelman, Y Ventures
Products and services
Lodging and Hospitality
Valuation
$57.54 Bn (2022)
Airbnb Founders | Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk
Airbnb is nothing but an accommodation marketplace that provides access to over 6 million unique places to stay comfortably and at their leisure in 220+ countries and regions. The company does not own any of the real estate listings, it just acts as a broker and earns a commission from each booking.
Airbnb was founded by Brian CheskyJoe, Gebbia Nathan, and Blecharczyk in August 2008. Airbnb’s valuation dropped to $57.54 billion in 2022 from $130 billion (2021).
Stripe Founders | Patrick Collison and John Collison
Stripe is an online payment processing platform for internet businesses. Stripe provides an API to web developers so that they can integrate payment processing on their websites and mobile applications. Stripe was founded by Patrick Collison and John Collison in 2009 in San Francisco, California, and the United States.
Stripe allows other companies to receive payments over the internet with the help of its platform. Square, Adyen, PayPal, WePay, etc are the competitors of Stripe. As of 2022, 8,000 employees are working for the company.
Google, Fidelity, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners, and Capricorn.
Products and services
Launch vehicles, rocket engines, Dragon capsules Starship (in development), Starlink, ASDS landing platforms, Orbital rocket launch
Valuation
$127 Bn (2022)
SpaceX Founder | Elon Musk
It’s no surprise that SpaceX made it to the list of the top 10 most valuable startups in the world. SpaceX is a private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company that manufactures rocket engines and thrusters. SpaceX has developed several launch vehicles and spacecraft.
SpaceX was founded by Elon musk who also owns Tesla and PayPal, he founded SpaceX on 6 May 2002 which is now headquartered in Hawthorne, California, United States. SpaceX became the first private space company to launch humans into space. The main aim of SpaceX is to reduce space transportation costs and colonize Mars.
Taxi, Express, Premier, Luxe, Bus, Designated Driving, Enterprise Solutions, Bike Sharing, E-bike Sharing, Automobile Solutions, and Food delivery
Valuation
$17.91 Bn (2022)
Didi Chuxing Founder | Cheng Wei
Didi Chuxing is a world-leading mobile transportation platform. DiDi provides automobile services, including sales, leasing, financing, maintenance, fleet operation, electric vehicle charging, and co-development of vehicles with automakers. Didi uses artificial intelligence technologies and machine learning to optimize the dispatch system and route planning services of the platform.
Didi is similar to the transportation service Uber, but it offers cheaper rides than Uber, DiDi platform provides over 10 billion passenger trips a year. The subsidiaries of Didi include 99, Uber (China) Ltd, DIDI Bus, Xiaoju, Automobile Solutions Co., AssureSec, Qingju Bike, Shanghai Dahuangfeng, Network Information Technology Co. Ltd, Shanghai Shiyuan Technology Co., Ltd.
Klarna, Sweden
Startup Name
Klarna
Headquarter
Stockholm, Sweden
Industry
Online payments, fintech, financial services
Founders
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth, and Victor Jacobsson
Founded
2005
Investors
Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, Bestseller Group, Dragoneer, Permira, Visa, Ant Group
Klarna Founders | Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth, and Victor Jacobsson
Klarna is a Stockholm, Sweden-based fintech company that offers online payment services to empower digital payments like payments for online storefronts and other direct payments, including post-purchase payments.
In 2021, it raised funds valued at $639 Mn led by Softbank Vision Fund II and some other investors, which had shot its valuation to $46 Bn. But Klarna’s valuation dropped to $6.7 Bn from $45.6 Bn in July 2022.
Andreessen Horowitz, Greenspring Associates, Temasek Holdings, Tencent Holdings, Greylock Partners, Tiger Global Management, Index Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, and Kleiner Perkins
Products and services
Games and Roblox
Valuation
$15.18 Bn (2022)
Roblox Corporation Founders | David Baszucki, and Erik Cassel
Roblox Corporation is a video game developer from America with headquarters in San Mateo, California. Roblox Corporation is best known for developing Roblox, an online gaming platform and game creation system, in 2006.
Roblox’s valuation dropped to $15.18 billion in 2022 from $41.9 billion (2021).
Grab is a multinational ride-hailing company based in Singapore. It operates in South Asian countries and it is dubbed as its region’sfirst Decacorn (a startup with a valuation of over $10 billion). It provides services like transportation, on-demand delivery, and financial services on a single mobile platform.
Canva online and app for graphic designing, Canva Pro, Canva for Enterprise
Valuation
$26 Bn (2022)
Canva Founders | Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams
Canva is a graphics design platform founded by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams in Perth and headquartered in Sydney, Australia. The users can use this platform to design their website banners, presentations, social media, documents, or any other visual content online or through the Canva app. Canva also provides a wide range of templates for free. Furthermore, the app also offers paid subscriptions like Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise containing a broad spectrum of additional content and other functionalities.
Instacart Founders | Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen, and Brandon Leonardo
Instacart is a popular grocery delivery and pick-up service renowned for its services in the USA and Canada. With the wide range of grocery retailers that Instacart collaborates with customers need not wait for too long to order their groceries online and shop smoothly and conveniently with the help of a personal shopper.
Ali Ghodsi, Andy Konwinski, Ion Stoica, Matei Zaharia, Patrick Wendell, Reynold Xin, and Scott Shenker
Founded
2013
Investors
Microsoft, Andreessen Horowitz, Alkeon Capital Management
Products and services
Helps in pulling data from Azure Blob Storage, AWS S3, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Data Lake Store, and numerous other NoSQL data stores
Valuation
$38 Bn (2022)
Databricks Founders | Ali Ghodsi, Andy Konwinski, Ion Stoica, Matei Zaharia, Patrick Wendell, Reynold Xin, and Scott Shenker
Created by Apache Spark, Databricks is an enterprise software company that acts as a web-based platform that works with Spark, thereby offering automated cluster management services and IPython-style notebooks. Some of the open-source projects that the company has created include Delta Lake, MLflow, and Koalas, mostly spanning data engineering, data science, and machine learning.
AI Center Action Center Apps, Assistant Automation Hub, Automation Platform, Document Understanding Insights, Orchestrator Process Mining, StudioX Test Suite
Valuation
$6.89 Bn (2022)
UiPath Founders | Daniel Dines, and Marius Tîrcă
The Romanian company UiPath is a global software company headquartered in New York City, USA. UiPath uses Robotic process automation (RPA) and monitors user activities, to help automate repetitive tasks in both the front and the back ends of companies. UiPath’s automation is including but is not limited to customer relationship management.
Banking services including GBP and EUR bank accounts, debit cards, fee-free currency exchange, stock trading, cryptocurrency exchange, and peer-to-peer payments
Valuation
$33+ Bn (2022)
Revolut Founders | Nikolay Storonsky, and Vlad Yatsenko
Headquartered in London, England, Revolut is a financial technology company that offers banking services. Revolut offers a wide range of services including accounts featuring currency exchange, debit cards, virtual cards, Apple Pay, interest-bearing “vaults”, commission-free stock trading, crypto, commodities, and more. Founded in 2015 Revolut has shown incredible growth throughout the years and expanded to various markets across countries including Japan. Furthermore, it has also been successful in amassing around 3500 employees, who work for the organization.
With $5.10 billion, as estimated in November 2020, Revolut emerged as the UK’s most valuable fintech. The company is presently valued at $33+ billion, which makes it Europe’s most-valued startup, surpassing Checkout.com.
Conclusion
This is the list of the Top 15 Highest Valued Startups in the world. Hope you have enjoyed reading it. Feel free to let us know what you think about our content and also mention any more content ideas that you think might be helpful for readers, budding startups, entrepreneurs, and other individuals!
FAQs
Which is the most valued startup in the world?
With over $300 billion valuation, ByteDance – the parent company of TikTok, is the most valued startup in the world.
Which types of startups are most profitable?
Some of the most profitable startups are:
E-commerce
Business Consulting
Tech Support and Consulting
Real Estate
Online courses
Website, Logo, and Graphic Design Services
What types of startups are in demand?
Some of the startups in demand are:
Vehicle Renting Services
Trucking & Delivery Services
Food Delivery Services
Grocery Delivery Services
Vacation Rental Services
Learning Apps
Do 90% of startups fail?
Yes, 90% of startups fail. Only a few startups are successful by overcoming the obstacles and challenges on their way.
Startups based on rental apps (for handheld devices and computers) provide services to people for leasing cars, bikes, rooms, homes, or heavy equipment. Rental startups are there to facilitate a way for people to experience something without owning it. One can think of driving that dream car or bike for a short term without having to purchase it at an exorbitant price.
The forecasted Car Rentals segment revenue for India is at $2.17 billion in 2022. By 2026, a market volume of $2.95 billion is predicted, with revenue forecast to expand 7.92% annually (CAGR 2022-2026). This article discusses the leading rental companies in India that are radically changing this sector.
The Global bike-sharing market is estimated to grow to over 13.7 Billion by 2026
Myles
Founder
Sakshi Vij
Founded in
2013
Operational cities
Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and other 13 cities
Myles Founder | Rental Startups in India
Myles often reviewed as one of the best car rental companies in India, has 38 awesome cars one can choose from according to the need. Myles allows you to rent a car across 21 major cities in India. The cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Goa, Jaipur, Pune, and many more.
Zoomcar
Founders
Greg Moran and David Back
Founded in
2013
Operational cities
Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and other 28 cities
Zoomcar Founders | Greg Moran and David Back
Zoomcar is one of the top rental companies in India, operating in over 34 cities. You can hire a car from a diverse spectrum that starts with a Tata Nano and extends to expensive, high-end models like the Mercedes GLA. You can rent a car anywhere from an hour to a month.
House Rental Startups
According to Knight Frank India, the average home price increased by 3% to 10% in July-September, 2022, while office rent increased up to 13% as a result of increased demand for properties. Here are some of the property rental startups in India:
Housing
Founders
Rahul Yadav and 11 other IIT, Bombay Graduates
Founded in
2012
Operational cities
Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, and other 34 cities
Housing ex-Founder and ex-CE0 | Rahul Yadav(on right)
For those looking for a flat on rent, Housing is the answer. This startup is devoted to connecting people with the one of their choice. You can choose from different types of flats: fully furnished, unfurnished, semi-furnished, etc. The extensive network for Housing across India means that finding a place will be as easy as ABC!
Fairpockets
Founders
Ritesh Anand & Rumki Sengupta
Founded in
2017
Operational cities
PAN India
Fairpockets Logo | Rental Startups in India
Fairpockets is a fair-price property portal and a SaaS-based mobile marketplace. It is an online platform that connects the trio of buyers, sellers, and brokers. Fairpockets allows free property posting on its website, and the valuation of the property is done for resale before the advertisement goes live. One can also rent properties through Fairpockets. Its price calculator, inventory management, lead management, and communication system features are highly rated and sought after.
NoBroker
Founders
Amit Kumar Agarwal, Akhil Gupta, and Saurabh Garg
Founded in
2014
Operational cities
Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, and other cities
NoBroker co-founders | Saurabh Garg, Amit Kumar Agarwal, and Akhil Gupta
NoBroker is another application that assists in putting up homes for rent. As the name suggests, the startup stays clear of brokers and other middlemen to avoid unnecessary problems. The platform has over 30,00,000 monthly users, and its services are available in Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Faridabad, Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon.
RentRoomi
Founders
Nitin Sharma
Founded in
2016
Operational cities
Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, and other cities
RentRoomi Logo | Rental Startups in India
RentRoomi helps search for accommodations avoiding fake listings and endless site visits. The company is working to solve the problem of Generation Y by letting them find suitable accommodation in cities with the roomies of their choice. RentRoomi currently operates in Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. Nitin Sharma is the founder and CEO of RentRoomi. An engineer by qualification, Nitin worked in a software development company as a project planning and business developer before starting RentRoomi.
99acres
Founders
Sanjeev Bikhchandani
Founded in
2005
Operational cities
Across India
99acres Logo | Rental Startups in India
99acres is an Indian real estate platform founded in 2005 by Sanjeev Bikhchandani. It allows users to search for properties and land to buy, sell and rent, all through the comfort of their mobile phones. The company caters to almost all Indian cities and is a behemoth in the online real estate market. Over 10,000 properties are listed every day.
Magicbricks
Founders
The Times Group
Founded in
2006
Operational cities
Bangalore , Chandigarh , Chennai, Delhi NCR, and other cities
Magicbricks Logo | Rental Startups in India
Magicbricks is a division of Times Internet Group Limited. The platform allows buyers and sellers to locate properties in India. Magicbricks provides all the information about the property it lists and let people buy or rent the same through its website. It has over 15,00,000 active property listings. Founded in 2006, it has its headquarters in Noida.
NestAway
Founders
Amarendra Sahu, Smruti Parida, Deepak Dhar, and Jitendra Jagadev
NestAway is an online home rental marketplace for individuals and families. It provides fully furnished and well-maintained rooms and flats for rent without brokerage fees. NestAway has headquarters in Bengaluru, and its services are across 13 cities, including Noida, Pune, and Mumbai.
Room rental Startups
Airbnb
Founders
Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk, and Joe Gebbia
Founded in
2008
Operational cities
220+ countries and regions
Airbnb Logo | Rental Startups in India
Airbnb is a California-based startup for arranging and offering to lodge. Airbnb focuses on temporary homestay and tourism. It provides rooms for the home stay to people, and homeowners can easily list their properties on their platform using the Airbnb app or website. Airbnb acts as a broker, receiving a commission for each booking made from its platform.
OYO rooms
Founders
Ritesh Agarwal
Founded in
2012
Operational areas
Europe, Asia and United States
OYO Logo | Rental Startups in India
OYO, a Gurgaon-based company, is the biggest platform in India and one of the world’s fastest-growing hotel chains for booking hotel rooms at pocket-friendly prices. The parent company of OYO is Oravel Stays Private Limited. Its services are available in 35 countries. Under Ritesh Agarwal, OYO is rapidly building its dominance outside India through an acquisition spree.
TRIVAGO
Founders
Rolf Schrömgens, Stephan Stubner, Peter Vinnemeier, and Malte Siewert
Founded in
2005
Operational areas
190 countries worldwide
trivago Logo | Rental Startups in India
A Germany-based company, trivago specializes in Internet-related services and products in the hotel, lodging, and meta-search fields. trivago, founded in Germany in January 2005, offers research and compares facilities for over 5 million hotels by leveraging information from over 300 hotel booking sites and other types of accommodation in over 190 countries.
Medical Equipment Rental Startups
PrimedeQ
Founders
Shanthi Mathur and Achudhan Mani
Founded in
2016
Operational areas
250 hospitals across 6+ states and 65+ cities
PrimedeQ Logo | Rental Startups in India
PrimedeQ, India’s first comprehensive B2B eMarketplace for Products and Services related to medical equipment & devices, provides access to multiple affordable, good-quality medical equipment for rent. It aims at bringing down selling costs for sellers through its virtual platform. Hospitals can buy, sell or rent equipment, get medical equipment serviced, and purchase spares & accessories–both new and used. Shanthi Mathur and Achudhan Mani are the founders of PrimedeQ. Shanthi Mathur is the CEO of PrimedeQ, whereas Achudhan Mani is the director of PrimedeQ.
Portea
Co-Founder and Chairperson
Meena Ganesh
Founded in
2013
Operational cities
Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, and other cities
Portea Logo | Rental Startups in India
Portea provides healthcare equipment rental services in over 40 cities in India. In addition to medical equipment, it lists healthcare professionals’ services like attendants, nurses, and doctors. One can place an order for medical equipment(s) on Portea’s website and get the same delivered to their doorstep. Portea also provides a lab test facility at home.
Conclusion
Renting is not only cheaper but also gets rid of the tension that comes bundled with ownership. There has been a seismic shift toward the renting culture, especially among the millennials. The craze for tourism and exploration has only bolstered this shift.
FAQs
Which are the top Rental Startups in India?
Some of the top Rental Startups in India are:
Myles
Zoomcar
99acres
NoBroker
Magicbricks
Housing
Fairpockets
NestAway
OYO
trivago
Airbnb
RentRoomi
PrimedeQ
Portea
Which are the sites for rental homes in India?
99acres, NoBroker, Magicbricks, and NestAway are the best site for rental homes in India.
Is Zoomcar a good option?
With Zoomcar, you can hire a rental or self-drive vehicle of your choice for a reasonable price. The cars have all-India permits, and Zoomcar offers many stations across the nation from where you can pick up your preferred vehicle. So it is a good option.
Which is the site to sell property in India?
99acres, NoBroker, Magicbricks, and NestAway are among the best sites to sell property in India.
Which are the sites for hotel booking in India?
OYO rooms and trivago are the hotel booking sites in India.
Which are Medical Equipment Rental Startups in India?
PrimedeQ and Portea are among the best Medical Equipment Rental Startups in India.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Airbnb.
Have you ever felt anxious about accommodation when you’re planning on a trip out of the city or country? The uncertainty of stay, their hospitality, and their safety often give us the creeps. Leaving the comforts of our home alone causes massive distress, which is further coupled with the apprehension of staying outside whenever we decide to stay outside. Therefore, staying in a place that is decent enough and secure is something that most of us look up to.
What if we could find a place that makes us feel at home when we are on a vacation or a business trip? Wouldn’t that be great?
Modern technological advancements have made that possible and simple to find suitable accommodations for any kind of trip we make with the emergence of dependable lodging companies, and one of the most popular of such companies is Airbnb.
Right from choosing the quarters to offering support around the clock until we part, it brings all sorts of convenient measures right into our hands. Airbnb is one such wonderful platform that serves as an online marketplace to help people find accommodation during their trip as per their needs. Airbnb serves over 220 countries and regions across the world today.
You have certainly heard of Airbnb already, and thus if you are wondering to know more about this brand, then here we bring you all about Airbnb, which includes “when Airbnb started?”, Airbnb founders and creators, Airbnb company history, Airbnb success stories, Airbnb parent company, funding and valuation, growth, revenue, competitors, future plans and more.
Airbnb expanded as Airbed and Breakfast is an online marketplace to connect people in need of accommodation with the people (host) who are willing to rent their home or space in a particular locality.
Airbnb is based out of San Francisco, California, and offers the convenience of a website and a mobile app for users from around the world to list, discover and book accommodations.
The idea was originally conceived in 2007 by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia which was brought into shape in August 2008 along with Nathan Blecharczyk. Starting with 2 hosts, Airbnb has over 4 Million hosts with about 5.6 Million listings scattered across the globe today. They claim to have served more than 1 Billion guests as of September 2021.
Airbnb offers a significant advantage over hotels in terms of cost, amenities, customer satisfaction, service, and many more. They create value for both the Host (free listing of their asset) and the Guest (offering a unique and authentic experience at an affordable cost).
There are numerous Airbnb subsidiaries including Luxury Retreats International Inc., Tilt.com, Accomable, Aibiying, Trooly Inc., Deco Software Inc., Trip4real Experiences, S.L., Lapka Inc., Airbnb UK Limited, HotelTonight, and more. Airbnb with the help of these subsidiaries operates a platform for stays and strives to transform experiences for guests worldwide.
Airbnb Success Story
Airbnb – Industry
Airbnb falls under the lodging sector of the hospitality industry. This industry is expected to reach a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 8% to reach $5891 billion by 2022’s end. The hospitality industry is broadly classified into the following sectors: lodging, event planning, recreation, travel and tourism, and food and beverage services. This industry is considered to be more of leisure than basic needs.
Brian Joseph Chesky is the CEO and one of the co-founders of Airbnb. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, Industrial Design. The Airbnb founder started his career with 3DID as an Industrial Designer and then became the Principal of Brian Chesky Design before founding Airbnb.
He was acknowledged as TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in 2015. At the age of 35 in 2016, he became the youngest one to be named on the Forbes 400 list. Chesky also joined ‘The Giving Pledge’ campaign initiated by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
Joe Gebbia
Joe Gebbia is known as the co-founder of Airbnb, who is also the chairman of Samara, Airbnb’s design studio, and of Airbnb.org. He too attended RISD and secured a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in Graphic and Industrial Design. Before founding Airbnb, Gebbia served as the industrial designer at Chronicle Books.
This Airbnb founder is a member of RISD’s trustee board and has donated $300,000 for a scholarship fund. Joe joined ‘The Giving Pledge’ campaign in 2016.
Nathan Blecharczyk
Nathan Blecharczyk is another co-founder of Airbnb. He earlier worked as an engineer in OPNET Technologies before joining Airbnb. At Airbnb, he was initially designated as Chief Technology Officer and designed the company’s website. In addition to CSO, he is the chairman of Airbnb China. He is also a member of ‘The Giving Pledge’ campaign.
Blecharczyk is a Harvard University graduate with Computer Science. Starting as a Bioinformatics Programmer at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Blecharczyk had served as the Intern Program Manager for Visual Basic .NET at Microsoft Corporation, and then as a Research Assistant at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and eventually became a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Blecharczyk had also previous experiences of serving as a Software Engineer at OPNET Technologies, Inc. and Batiq. The Airbnb founder was then the owner of Consult Mavens, LLC. and then joined hands with the other co-founders and founded Airbnb.
When last reported in 2020, Airbnb had an employee strength of over 5597 employees.
Airbnb – Startup Story
The startup story of Airbnb or the Airbnb origin is quite interesting. The Airbnb company history started in 2007 in San Francisco, when Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were roommates. They were worried about their rent, which was due because they didn’t have money at that time. While thinking of ways to pay the rent, they came across the design conference scheduled to be held in San Francisco that weekend and found that all the hotel bookings in SF were sold out.
An idea picked up and they immediately decided to host some guests from the conference in their room. They got three airbeds and hosted three guests, thus planting a seed for Airbnb. Later when the guests left, Joe and Brian gave further thoughts to this idea and decided to move further.
Joe Gebbia reportedly wrote a letter to Brian Chesky informing him of his idea. Here’s a copy of the subletter;
Airbnb Letter from Founder to Founder
Nathan Blecharczyk joined them in early 2008 and they together rooted Airbnb firmly in the market.
The idea for Airbnb was planted when Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia managed to host three guests for $80 per night. However, then they lacked the investment to construct the idea further. So, they decided to crop ‘Breakfast’ from Airbed and Breakfast for the time being and started selling breakfast targeting the 2007 presidential election campaign. This helped them keep their dreams alive.
Airbnb mission statement focuses on creating “a world where anyone can belong anywhere”. They were keen on attaining this purpose through their dedicated employees and loyal hosts. Airbnb has evolved as it grew. With their earlier statement of ‘Unlocking unique experiences worldwide’, they evolved into a vision of “Belong Anywhere”. They strive continuously on their vision to make their customers feel at home always, irrespective of the place they are in exploring the world of their dreams.
Airbnb – Name and Logo
Airbnb Logo
The name Airbnb was derived from the company’s initial name Airbed and Breakfast. The company was addressed as Airbed and Breakfast even before its formal inception in 2008. The founders reasoned the name as a reference to air mattresses rented out to three guests they hosted in 2007. Later in 2009, the name was changed from Airbed and Breakfast to Airbnb.
Earlier, Airbnb’s logo carried the entire name of the company, Airbed and Breakfast. When the company was renamed in 2009, the logo too was reduced to Airbnb written in blue.
The logo was again changed in 2014 with a symbol, which the company calls TheBelo, saying it is the universal symbol of belonging. This logo, when dissected, depicts four other symbols that represent People, Places, Love, and Airbnb, when combined together forms the Belo logo.
Airbnb – Business and Revenue Model
Airbnb is an online platform that connects people (guests) in search of accommodation with the hosts who are interested in renting out their place. They help the host to find guests by allowing them to display their place on Airbnb’s platform for free of cost. On the other side, the customers get a chance to choose their accommodation from myriad places showcased, as per their needs. Airbnb collects the payment online, retains it until 24 hours after guest check-in, and then pays the host.
Airbnb’s revenue comes from the two-way commission charged from both the host and the guest. They charge 3% from the hosts and typically around 14% from the guests for every transaction made.
Airbnb – Challenges Faced
Local Laws and Regulations
There are different rental laws and regulations for every country and sometimes even city. For example, New York rental laws prohibit renting properties for less than 30 days, unless the tenant is living there. Airbnb took the issue to court but finally, in 2019, they agreed to share information of listings that New York City laws demanded.
Racial Discrimination by Hosts
There were widespread complaints faced by Airbnb on hosts discriminating against guests on racial and other backgrounds. As a result, Airbnb hired Eric Holder, a former Attorney General, to create and regulate anti-discrimination policy to resolve this issue.
Fraudulent Listings
A travel blogger named Asher Fergusson found that some hosts used fake and fraudulent information to get through Airbnb’s background check. This unauthenticated hosting resulted in a number of negative incidents like privacy invasion, booking cancellation, refund refusal, and some rare incidents of corpses spotted on the lawn and even murder. Airbnb is still struggling to completely eradicate such fraudulent listings.
Logo Controversy
When Airbnb introduced a new logo in 2014, it received a heavy backlash and sparked controversy saying that the logo has sexual connotations. However, Airbnb stood firm to their Belonging theory, and the issue faded away slowly.
Since its inception in 2008, Airbnb received a total funding of $6 Billion. Airbnb’s market valuation surpassed $100 Billion after the company went public in December 2020 and is considered to be the biggest trading debut in the United States so far.
Date
Round
Money
Investors
September 5, 2020
Series G
$635K
Global Secure Invest
April 14, 2020
Debt Financing
$1 bn
Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, BlackRock, Oaktree Capital Management, Apollo Global Management, Benefit Street Partners, and Owl Rock Capital
April 6, 2020
Private Equity Round
$1 bn
Silver Lake, Sixth Street
September 22, 2016
Series F
$555.5 mn
TCV, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Geodesic Capital, FirstMark, CapitalG, Altimeter Capital
November 20, 2015
Series E – 2
$100 mn
FirstMark
June 28, 2015
Series E – 1
$1.5 bn
Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, GGV Capital, Horizons Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Wellington Management, Fidelity Investments, Tiger Global Management, General Atlantic, Temasek Holdings, Baillie Gifford, Groupe Arnault, Hillhouse Capital Group, China Broadband Capital, Manhattan Venture Partners, Slow Ventures, Tim Ringel
Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, CrunchFund, Jeff Bezos, Oliver Jung, Ashton Kutcher, General Catalyst Partners, Y Ventures, Tuesday Capital, SV Angel, GreyLock, Axel Springer Digital Ventures
November 10, 2011
Series A
$7.2 mn
Sequoia Capital, SV Angel, Greylock Partners, Ashton Kutcher, Jeremy Stoppelman, Elad Gil, Keith Rabois, Y Ventures, Dave Holmes
April 1, 2009
Seed
$600K
Sequoia Capital, Y Ventures
January 1, 2009
Pre-Seed
$20K
Y Combinator
Airbnb – Acquisitions
Airbnb Acquisitions
Airbnb has made around two dozen acquisitions and the most important ones were Hotel Tonight and Luxury Retreats. Here’s checking out the other acquisitions of Airbnb:
Acquiree Name
Date of Acquisition
Price
Accoleo
June 2011
–
CrashPadder
March 2012
–
DailyBooth
July 2012
–
NabeWise
July 2012
–
Fondu
October 2012
–
Localmind
December 2012
–
Pencil Labs
December 2014
–
Vamo
September 2015
–
Lapka
September 2015
–
Trip4real
September 2016
–
Luxury Retreats
February 2017
–
Tilt
February 2017
$50 mn
ChangeCoin
April 2017
–
Deco Software
May 2017
–
Trooly
June 2017
–
Accomable
November 2017
–
AdBasis
November 2017
–
Koko
November 2018
–
Luckey
December 2018
–
Gaest
January 2019
–
HotelTonight
March 2019
$400 mn
Urbandoor
August 2019
–
Airbnb – Growth
Started in a room in San Francisco, today they’ve their listings in over 1,00,000 cities around the world. Airbnb is one of such companies, which grew from nothing to a $30 bn firm in just 11 years.
The funding started to flow in gradually from $20,000 in the form of the Pre-Seed round to the highest amount of $1.5 Billion in Series G. The Covid-19 pandemic came as a terrible disaster to their business operation. However, when the company went public in December 2020, Airbnb made a remarkable achievement by entering a $100 Billion market valuation right on the first day of their IPO. The Airbnb share value surged to a record high of 113% from $68 per share to $144 per share. This was one of the highest first-day rallies in US history.
The number of guests going Airbnb has grown tremendously year on year. Where Airbnb saw around 540,000 guests on new year’s eve back in 2014, it welcomed close to 4.5 mn guests on 2019’s new year’s eve.
Airbnb New Year’s Eve Guests Growth
Airbnb is nothing but an accommodation marketplace that provides access to over 6 million unique places to stay comfortably and at their leisure in nearly 100,000 cities and 191 countries. Interestingly, Airbnb also offers access to local communities and interests through more than 30,000 activities run by hosts across over 1,000 markets around the world so that you can be a traveler and not just a tourist. It entered India in 2016. Since its inception in India, the company has had around 45,000 listings with Goa being the most popular Airbnb haunt with 6000+ listings.
Airbnb has last been valued at over $75 bn in December 2020.
Airbnb – Awards
Airbnb won the ‘App’ award in the South by Southwest Conference in March 2011. Later in 2020, employee work satisfaction was analyzed through ratings and reviews, and Airbnb secured the Best Company Perks & Benefits award.
Airbnb – Competitors
Although Airbnb commenced its operation with a unique idea, they’ve gained a handful of rivalries as they grew by. Here are some of the top competitors:
Vrbo – Vrbo or Vacation Rentals By Owners is a subsidiary of HomeAway and focuses primarily on vacation rentals. HomeAway was later acquired by Expedia Group in 2015 and they provide a competitive environment to Airbnb.
FlipKey – FlipKey is another vacation rental site that provides a safe and easy marketplace for customers to find the best place of their choice. It is a subsidiary of TripAdvisor, a travel booking company.
OYO – OYO and Airbnb have a common goal but operate with different business models. Since Airbnb hasn’t rooted deeply in India, OYO stands to be their replacement and holds a good market position.
Airbnb aims to transform Travel into a Living. To achieve this, Airbnb introduced more than 100 upgrades and innovations to its existing services that ensure flexibility among hosts and guests.
Airbnb is keen on creating a new kind of travel for its guests in the post-pandemic situation. They recently launched 4 new property types namely, Vacation Home, Unique Space, B&B, and Boutique for a flexible user experience.
Brian Chesky said that Airbnb is concentrating beyond traditional connotations of work travel and leisure for its success in the future.
FAQs
What is Airbnb?
Airbnb is an online marketplace to connect people in need of accommodation with the people (host) who are willing to rent their home or space in a particular locality. The Airbnb founded date is listed as August 2008.
When Airbnb started?
Though the Airbnb idea was germinated in the minds of Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia in 2007, it was only after Nathan Blecharczyk joined them in 2008 that the journey started for Airbnb. The company was founded in August 2008 by the Airbnb creators.
What is the Airbnb origin story or the story of Airbnb?
The Airbnb origin or the Airbnb story is closely connected with the Airbnb founder story, which began in 2007 when Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were roommates and they lacked the money that was due as their rent. While thinking about how they can pay their rent, they were to attend a design conference in San Francisco on the weekend, where they soon discovered that all of the hotels in SF were booked. This helped them with the idea that they also host some guests by themselves. In no time, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia arranged for 3 airbeds for 3 guests, which was the start of the hospitality business that would later be known as Airbnb. Soon they were joined by Nathan Blecharczyk in 2008 and Airbnb was founded.
How many users are using Airbnb currently?
There are over 4 Million hosts with 5.6 Million listings around the world. They’ve hosted more than 1 Billion guests so far.
What is the average earning of the host?
The all-time earnings of the hosts until October 2020 were recorded at $110 billion. The average earning of a host stand at $9,600 per year.
What is the commission rate charged by Airbnb?
Airbnb charges a 3% commission from hosts. Guests are charged typically around 14% for every successful transaction.
Anyone visiting a website must have come across the signup forms. The signup form is a synonym for the website’s pop-up or modal. Some of the forms are very simple, while others are not. Users often don’t like a signup form popping up due to how sudden it is and how it delays the website’s experience.
However, no matter the case, these forms are important for a website. These help the website to have your contact details and also keep you updated on everything the website comes up with.
In this article, we will go through some of the best signup form examples.
What Are Signup Forms, and Why Are They Important?
Signup forms are a website’s pop-up or modal that needs to be filled out if the users wish to utilize services from the website. These signup forms usually ask for your name, contact information like email and an account password.
Signup forms are important as it lets the website have a user’s contact and other information that helps them to recommend the best services. Moreover, for subscription-based and shopping websites, signup forms are crucial. They make sure you receive the right service or goods at the right address and on the right account.
What Visual Elements Do Customers Value on a Company’s Website?
Best Signup Forms Examples
Signup forms are necessary and they should be appealing too or at least, they shouldn’t make a user disinterested in the website. These forms often pop up too soon after opening the website. Some even have sayings like, “No, I’m not interested” as an alternative to signing up.
These usually lead to incomplete actions on the website as users start to lose interest. Websites need to make sure their signup forms do not make the user unhappy. They need to have signup forms that make users eager or happy to sign up. Thus, here are some of the top examples of signup forms of popular websites to take inspiration from:
Google
Google – Best Signup Forms Example
When talking about signup forms, Google happens to have one of the best ones. It is a very big company that deals with several websites, but its signup form is very simple.
Google has a very clear signup form. Its base colour is white with tones of blue. When it comes to the actual form, all you need to provide them with is your name, username and password. Google has also updated their security policies in recent years. They ask you to provide a recovery mobile number or email in case you cannot log into your account. All this happens during the signup. Thus, you can create a google account without any hassle, knowing that only you can log into it.
Netflix has a very minimal signup page. Since it is a subscription-based platform, first, you have to choose a plan. After that, all you have to provide them with is your email and the password for your Netflix account. The very last step of this process is choosing your mode of payment. That’s all.
Netflix too keeps their signup form very simple. They keep it on a theme by having touches of red in the signup form. It looks very aesthetically pleasing to the users.
Airbnb has a very simple and visually pleasing signup form. They have kept a very minimalistic design. You are asked to provide either your phone number, email, or Apple or Facebook ID first and then, a verification code will be sent to your choice of contact detail. After verification, you have to add in your first and last name, date of birth and email. This is where the signup process ends.
While it might seem like we are asking for too much, it really doesn’t take too long to fill-up the form. There are three different steps to it, but they are easy and quick.
Shopify
Shopify – Best Signup Forms Example
It is a very diverse platform where anyone can sell their goods. They have done very well in the eCommerce sector. Shopify caters to all kinds of people. Their simple and easy-to-use signup form has made thousands of people use their services.
Shopify asks for the basic information when you’re signing up for a trial account. They just ask for your email, the name of your store and the password for your account. Thus, it is barely time-consuming.
Besides, Shopify has made its signup form page very simple. It doesn’t have many animations or complicated designs. Moreover, they have a quote, “Anyone anywhere can start an eCommerce website”. This is a further reassurance to users that they can have a successful eCommerce business on Shopify.
The app makes it easy for any kind of user to signup on to their website or app. All they ask for is your email and if you don’t want to provide that, you can provide them with your Apple ID as well. Either way, it’s only one contact information they ask for. After that, you’re all set to explore their services. Another interesting thing about Reddit’s signup form is that they tell you that it’ll take a few seconds. Hence, you know that you won’t have to wait long for the signup.
Twitter
Twitter – Best Signup Forms Example
Another signup form from which one can take inspiration is Twitter’s signup form. It’s a straightforward process involving a three-details-filling procedure, which makes it easy for users to enter their details.
Customizing the entire experience where you choose the updates, ads and people you know according to your preferences.
When you are on Twitter, you simply click on the preferences you want and your job is done! All of this makes Twitter’s signup form one of the best ones you can take inspiration from.
PayPal first asks you for your mobile number and email. After that, there is other information you have to give in. Since PayPal requires a lot of information, the signup form is split up into multiple steps. It helps the process look clean. Multiple sign-up forms are always better than one lengthy sign-up form. They also show the users how many steps are there in total and how many they have completed.
PayPal, like many others, keeps it simple when it comes to their signup forms. The colours are on theme and the design is not complicated at all.
Charlotte Tilbury
Charlotte Tilbury – Best Signup Forms Example
Anybody aware of the makeup world knows how excellent this brand is. Their signup form is equally satisfying.
They do not ask for too much. The Charlotte Tillbury signup form just asks you for your email. That’s all. Moreover, they provide a discount coupon for just signing up. This is a good trick as it makes users more willing to sign up. Besides, they have an alternate option to signing up, which is, “Not this time”. It is respectful of the user’s choice and does not totally eliminate the chances of signup. By having this option, they are trying to convey that you might want to signup later, and that’s okay.
Charlotte Tillbury has a very simple yet effective signup form page and a highly inspiring one.
Almost everyone on Facebook has seen videos by Tasty on their timeline. Tasty has become the largest food networking platform.
When you open the website, you will see a bunch of appealing food pictures and that will make you scroll down enough to see the signup form. Unlike other websites, Tasty’s signup form is colourful and thus hard to miss. It also has pictures of food, which makes it very much on theme. The signup form is, however, very simple. They only ask for your email.
Tasty makes users more eager to signup by making the signup form simple and easy to find.
Asana
Asana – Best Signup Forms Example
Individuals working in a particular business, and wanting to have a simple yet effective work experience, shouldn’t miss out on a website like Asana.
Just as simple as Asana’s signup form is, the work experience and systematic approach to document entries are marvellous. Only by filling in your email address on their signup form, you will be able to access the wide variety of features, it offers. With the perfect colour combination and simple design, Asana’s signup form steals away the show anytime.
Conclusion
Signup forms are necessary, but they shouldn’t cause any inconvenience to the users. A user should feel comfortable while filling up a signup form. Unfortunately, many websites fail to provide that ease or comfort. There are a lot of mistakes that they can make when it comes to these forms. But the signup forms of the above-mentioned sites have proven to be easy to read and use. They are also visually pleasing. Hence, they can surely be taken as inspiration while designing signup forms.
FAQs
What is a sign up form?
A sign-up form is a pop-up or web page, where the users of a website are required to fill in the information necessary to utilize the services of a website.
What Makes a Good Sign-Up form?
A good sign-up form is one that is clear and easy to understand by the users. It should include clear instructions to avoid any kind of inconvenience to the users.
How do I improve my signup page?
The following tips will help you increase user sign-ups:
Make your sign-up form easy.
Add Call-to-Action.
Make sign-up forms popup.
Provide offers and guarantees to the users on sign-ups.
Airbnb is a type of service in which people share their space and property with travellers from all over the world. Airbnb is an excellent form of travel startup that has established its place in the list of the most famous form of startup. Airbnb connects hosts with travellers looking for a place to stay as allowed by their budget. You can stay at someone’s home or rent a private home for yourself. Airbnb offers unique options like lofts, boathouses, camper vans, and even igloos.
The choices are limitless. When you travel with Airbnb, the living experience is totally worth it. Moreover, you get to build a deep connection with your hosts. Currently, 36% of Airbnb users are aged from 25-34.
The Airbnb business is an effective form of a startup that can make you money easily and legally. In this article, we will talk about the steps that are needed to follow to start an Airbnb business. So, without any further ado, let’s get started.
Identify which portion of your house or what property you will put for accommodation. Decide on the age group, marital status and other important characteristics of the travellers you wish to host. If you know a bit of finance (it’s not that difficult), make a blueprint of the initial costs, how long it will take to generate profits, and the time to break even. Consider other factors like the additional perks of staying at your place. Have a business plan document ready to have a structure and strategy in place. Including future prospects, estimations, and risk mitigation measures in your business plan is a must.
Creating a Legal Entity (CLL)
Though it is not necessary, incorporating a legal entity is highly recommended to save yourself from legal troubles that may arise from hosting people at your place. It is also a wise decision to set up a legal entity so that you can get access to a business bank account and have a comprehensive business profile. After all, this is what you want to achieve! You can hire professional services to help you establish a legal entity for yourself.
Registering for Taxes (EIN)
You have to file for an Employer Identification Number (EIN). The revenue department in your country requires every business entity to have this identification number. Once you have incorporated your legal business entity, register it with the Internal Revenue Service and generate an EIN. Registering for taxes is no rocket science. Several resources are available online to educate you on the process. After completing those processes, you can easily pay the taxes.
Opening a Business Bank Account
You can now go to a bank, hand over the required information, and open up a business bank account. Having a business bank account has several benefits. It allows you to maintain a detailed account of your expenses. Moreover, it separates your personal finances from those related to the business. You’ll have to pay service charges to the bank for the account. However, that’s a small price to pay for something as sophisticated as a business bank account.
STR Permits/Licensing
If you don’t get Short Term Rental (STR) permits, this business model will get you into trouble. Without securing such permits, it’s impossible to legally list your place for rental. If you proceed without securing the necessary licenses, you will be heavily penalized and may even face legal problems. Ask the concerned authorities what is required for obtaining the STR permit. They will be more than happy to share the information.
Business Insurance
This is important because you are going to end up having employees. Maybe you want to hire cleaners in the future. Do the research and understand all types of insurance you need. For example, if you are doing rental arbitrage, you need to get renter’s insurance. A host’s verbal guarantee doesn’t count in insurance. You can’t expect a smooth sail journey at all times, insurance means you can steer your way, come hell or high water.
Start With the Business
After all the above steps, it is now to start with your dream Airbnb business. Your location is set so start hosting people on your property and provide them with all the facilities that they need, make them feel at home and your business is good to go. These are just the initial stages of beginning an Airbnb business.
Conclusion
With the Coronavirus situation in place, the hotel industry has taken a severe hit. Airbnb is no exception with the travel restrictions in place across countries. With lockdowns coming to an end, the Airbnb businesses need to adjust to the new normal. Therefore, if you are interested to indulge yourself in this industry, go for it.
FAQs
What are Airbnb homes?
Airbnb homes are residential properties that are given for rent to travellers for a short time.
Is Airbnb cheaper than hotels?
Staying at Airbnb is cheaper than staying in hotels.
Are Airbnb safe?
Airbnb are quite safe for travellers to live and enjoy their stay there.
A traveller, a tourist and a first-time backpacker. These three have something in common despite their differences in experience. They all want a peaceful night to stay after having a long walk to someone’s dream place or to a normal visit or a trip. The business of giving people home or a place to stay dates back to AD 707.
The hospitality business is one of the indestructible industries wherein famous chains have generations of families leading, in particular, the empire built by people through hospitality. Hotels are the face of this industry. There are buildings that provide people with a place to stay with the utmost comfort. They make people feel cosy in corners not owned by them, yet have rights over them.
Thehotel industry was once owned by the owners with no regulatory bodies on the top of their heads. They had their own business model. But the new generation turned the system into a marketplace that involved filters of the various layers. The whole system was immediately converted into a well-oiled machine. A new system that sided with the huge Indian population.
This huge system turnover was brought by a 22-year-old Indian Boy named Ritesh Agarwal.
The Tourism and Hotel Industry in India is one of the main drivers of growth among the services sector of the country. The tourism industry in India has significant potential as it has rich & diverse culture, historical heritage, a vast range of ecology, and flora and fauna. Indian is known for its geographical diversity, attractive beaches throughout the coastline, 27 world heritage sites, 10 biogeographic zones, 80 national parks and more than 441 sanctuaries.
According to reports, over 39 million jobs were created in the tourism sector which equates to over 8% of the total employment in India. By 2029, the country’s tourism sector is expected to grow 6.7% to reach $488 billion, which will account for 9.2% of the country total economy. The industry has slowed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, as the country had many lockdowns and restrictions on travel.
As per the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), the Indian hotel industry had a loss of approximately $17.82 billion in revenue due to the ongoing pandemic. Despite taking a hit, the industry is looking to come back up with the help of schemes and opportunities provided by the government. The Indian Government is providing free loans to the MSMEs to help them deal with the crisis and revive the tourism sector.
It is also planning to tap into a staycation, which is an emerging trend where people stay at luxurious hotels to revive themselves of stress in a peaceful getaway. With many upcoming developments, the international tourist arrivals are expected to reach 30.5 billion and generate revenue of over $59 billion by 2028. OYO and Airbnb have in many ways helped the industry grow especially in 2020 and 2021, as domestic tourists are expected to drive the growth post-pandemic.
OYO Vs Airbnb – Experience in Industry
Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO of OYO Rooms
When it comes to trust, experienced companies are trusted more.
Ritesh Agarwal, the founder of OYO, formed the most famous chain of leased and franchised hotel chains. We Indians often refer to it as a place to look for the best deals for hotels, The Oyo Rooms. Oyo Rooms started 7 years ago with a bunch of hotels. The company has now expanded globally with thousands of hotels and vacation homes. Oyo Rooms was started in the year 2013.
Ritesh is the second youngest self-made billionaire in the world.
Airbnb’s Founders
Airbnb was conceived years ago by two roommates who rented out an air mattress in their living room. This turned their whole apartment into a bed and breakfast. This was done to sustain the high-priced living in San Francisco. This gave the company its name Airbedandbreakfast. Airbnb was started in 2008.
So the winner here is, Airbnb, which has a lot of experience.
Both the companies share a common goal, i.e. to provide accommodations, a safe place and comfortable corners to people. Yet both the companies have a very different working business model.
Oyo is often believed to be India’s answer to Airbnb. This article will take you through the different business models and things that are uncommon between the two companies.
OYO Vs Airbnb – Front-end
OYO Rooms
OYO, as people know, is a website where one can go through various filters and find a hotel. But this is the front-end of how the Oyo company is. Oyo is a marketplace for only hotels.
Airbnb
However, Airbnb is a marketplace that helps a traveller find an abode of his type. It can be for lodging, primarily homestays and homestays. It also lets the provider of the property fix a price. This helps both sides as well as Airbnb. The company has recently started offering experiences too.
This shows a more varied and real-world applied concept. So, Airbnb has a better front-end.
OYO Vs Airbnb – Places to Stay
OYO Online Booking
Oyo used to get hotels and book a majority of the rooms for a definite time. It then standardizes the room according to the Oyo standards. Later, list the hotels on its website with huge and heavy discounts. The whole business model used to work by acquiring clusters of hotels for a definite time. Standardizing them and making them proper before listing.
Airbnb Online Booking
Airbnb is based on the sharing economy. It makes owners share the property or rooms they own with travellers who in turn share money with the owners. It is believed to be the most successful business that works on sharing economy. A two-faced system that works for the public.
OYO Vs Airbnb – Stay Duration
Oyo works on hotel stays, so an individual can stay there for a good amount of time. Oyo rooms have no particular rule about leaving a room after a set date. The whole system is similar to how one can stay in a hotel. But in Airbnb, there is a 90-day rule. This rule was introduced in 2017. This rule is only for areas in London. The listings in that area cannot be occupied for more than 90 days.
This makes Airbnb not suitable for very long.
Oyo had 5,855 hotels in its network in the year 2016 with an inventory of over 68 thousand rooms. If compared to today it has a portfolio of more than 35 thousand hotels and 125 thousand vacation homes. It has over 1.2 million rooms across 80 countries and 800 cities.
But, the founder and CEO of Oyo – Ritesh Agarwal made an announcement in the year 2017 that the company had evolved its Oyo business model to 100% franchise, managing, or operating. He also mentioned that his company would no longer go for hotel aggregation and will shift towards becoming a proper full-scale hospitality company. The CEO stated that this change in business model will reduce operational costs. Hence, improve service.
Oyo changed its business model to the Franchise model in the year 2017. The company earlier used to take up some rooms on lease and would sell them to customers. This model involves partnering with many hotels and asking them to operate as a franchise. Then selling their rooms to all the customers at competitive prices.
Airbnb, known for not owning any of the properties. Yet known for having a business that does work on providing shelter. All the company does is providing a platform. A platform on which all the people can rent out properties they own or spare rooms to guests. The property prices are set by the owner themselves. But the company intervenes when it comes to the collection of money.
The Business model of Airbnb is a multi-sided marketplace that connects all the travellers with the host and experience providers. The company makes money from the fees that come from bookings from stays and experiences. Airbnb’s model is exponential when it comes to growth.
Airbnb has a better business model in terms of customer comfort and reach.
Airbnb’s business model is quite simple yet very innovative which often dubs it as the world’s fastest-growing travel site.
Oyo charges around 22% of commissions. This has to be paid every month by the hotels’ owners. However, commissions may vary as per the services and features offered. Oyo also charges a commission out of the room reservation fee according to their services chosen.
Airbnb makes all the money through commissions. It charges a 3% commission on every booking from hosts and between 6 – 12% from guests. Unlike Oyo, Airbnb takes reviews and feedback from both ends. Be it the host or the guest, this makes it a proper marketplace.
Airbnb seems to have an upper hand at everything, making it a proper place to visit before actually vising one.
OYO Vs Airbnb – Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a tool that lets a company store customer and prospect contact information. It also helps the company identify sales opportunities, record service issues, and manage marketing campaigns. Depending on what type of CRM a company has, they can get basic information about their prospective customer and interact with them. CRM helps the company in better analyzing and understanding their customers, which will help them offer better and more efficient customer service. Airbnb and OYO have very different CRM strategies.
CRM of OYO
The CRM that OYO uses is Blueshifts Programmatic CRM, which has helped the company to become a leader in 1:1 customer engagement across all marketing channels. With Blueshift’s precise recommendations and targeted triggers, OYO has been able to achieve 5X higher bookings from email and mobile channels. The company also has a mobile-first approach which has helped it to expand in over 500 cities across ten countries.
CRM of Airbnb
The CRM that Airbnb uses is Twilio, which helps connect with hosts. How it works is, when a traveller makes a reservation through Airbnb, the host has 32 hours to respond to a booking request and this is possible because of its CRM. There is systematic mobile communication between hosts and travellers using a text message. The host can also decide whether they want to accept or deny the customer. The company also uses Hootsuite social media management, which helps them monitor their follower’s growth and social CRM. The system also helps the company to find certain keywords that can eventually be used in campaigns.
OYO Vs Airbnb – Marketing Strategy
OYO – Marketing Strategy
Oyo is known to use the 360-degree marketing method as it implies having a presence on all forms of digital and traditional media. They also have their unique room strategy which helps in attracting more customers with lower room prices in comparison to the base price of the hotel. Besides that OYO has made many successful multimedia marketing campaigns such as #AurKyaChahiye. It also shares location-based posts, promotional posts, which helps people to browse destinations to travel, check for new offers & discounts and encourage them to book OYO.
Airbnb – Marketing Strategy
Airbnb on the other hand uses the marketing approach to building and maintaining a strong community among its users. It also mainly targets long term loyalty from both the guests and hosts. The main marketing strategy of the company is to take your business in front of your potential guest and turn them into bookers. The customers who previously enjoyed their stay with Airbnb places are sent an email encouraging them to list their own property. Airbnb India aims to make its guests feel welcome, its app did the same, as it has a unified interface on Android and iOS platforms.
OYO Vs Airbnb – Social Media
OYO on Social Media
Over the years the company has leveraged the power of social media as it has been able to retain its ranking and stay ahead of OYO competitors in the market. OYO currently has over 169k followers on Instagram and 65.4k followers on Twitter, with actor Sonu Sood as its current brand ambassador. On all the social media platforms, the company promotes itself as being a brand that offers two types of services which are promoting tourist spaces and a safe space to spend time with your loved ones in your own city. OYO also uploads many ad campaigns like ‘Fir Badhega India’ and ‘Sanitised Stays’ that helps in engaging with their customers especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Airbnb on Social Media
Airbnb has a different approach to social media marketing as it heavily relies on awareness generating strategy. The company also uses travel influencers to further promote the platform as it does its social media relies on user-generated content (UGC). So far the company has over 4.9 million followers on Instagram and 733k followers on Twitter. It also has over 6.3 million photos using #airbnb on Instagram which shows us how widespread the company is. Airbnb also heavily invests in video marketing as a part of telling its brand story, it currently has more than 500 videos generating over 100 million views on YouTube.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, Airbnb and Oyo share the same kind of services, i.e. hospitality service. Moreover, Airbnb is a website for people to list, find and rent lodging whereas Oyo is a chain of budget and premium rooms partnering with different hotels. Oyo is all about providing a customer experience within a stipulated budget range while Airbnb doesn’t control the customer experience as such.
FAQs
What is the difference between Airbnb and Oyo?
OYO has more hotel rooms whereas Airbnb has more residential plots. In Airbnb, the apartment may have been misinterpreted, not so in the case of OYO as an audit is done every week.
Are OYO Rooms similar to Airbnb?
OYO’s business model is kind of similar to that of Airbnb, i.e. they are an online aggregator of budget hotels. Bookings for these rooms would be made via the website and the mobile app of OYO Rooms. However, the main focus is always is the quality of service provided.
How to give your property to OYO Rooms?
For OYO Rooms registration, you can write an email to partner@oyorooms.com or give a call to this number +91 70530 70530.
Is OYO successful?
OYO Rooms has been one of the most successful startups in India being the country’s largest budget hotel chain. It focuses on standardizing the hotels in the non-branded hospitality sector.
Is Airbnb better than Oyo?
OYO is better in terms of privacy and security. OYO assures quality service while Airbnb doesn’t guarantee anything from their end.
