Airbnb - more than just sleepovers and breakfasts!

Post:Trang Ami

Personal lifestyle

In 2007, two friends who shared an apartment, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, couldn't afford to rent in the expensive San Francisco area, so they came up with a plan to rent out the living room. They put some air mattresses on the floor and even offered to serve breakfast to make the service more attractive. The name "Airbnb" came from their idea of ​​"Airbed" & "breakfast".

An Airbnb home in Kyoto, Japan

You might be thinking, "a bed and breakfast, too ordinary for a startup idea", especially when any hotel can do that! But, what makes this idea different is that they use the apartment itself, with all the furniture as it should be. There is no touch of interior design experts, nor any arrangement standards. When they come to your house, the guest will live in your space, read the books on the shelf, eat the same jam your mother just made a few days ago, and if fate is right, they will most likely become an important friend later.

Now you feel more interesting?

Once, while wandering around the homes of many artists living in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, my sister-in-law, a French ceramic artist, whispered: "Actually, I wanted to attend the "Open Door Festival" partly to see the art products, but mostly to see how the normal, closed-off houses of my neighbors are decorated inside. This is a rare opportunity to understand more about someone's lifestyle."

Yes, Airbnb is winning big when it comes to lifestyle. Visiting Airbnb is like opening a beautiful home catalog, but now you can contact the host and "ask" to stay at their house for a short time. And if you consider Airbnb as a form of economical accommodation, you are definitely wrong. Because this is the place that can give you a luxurious room in a two-story apartment in the center of New York (USA), let you stay for the weekend on a houseboat floating on the waves in Amsterdam (Netherlands)... Or even, Airbnb can help you realize your dream of owning a French wine castle, even if only for a period of days!

Airbnb and the "5-star" review board

The location of a house matters, as does the interior decoration and the quality of the breakfast. But it takes more than that to convince a stranger that your home is the one they’re looking for among more than 1 million rooftops in 34,000 cities across 190 countries.

To get a “5-star” review, you need good reviews (from previous guests), attentive hospitality (give your guests a warm welcome, even pick them up at the airport or go cycling with them to visit the fish market at dawn), share engaging stories (about yourself, not someone else), treat them to delicious food (like you are a culinary ambassador). And most of all, take care of them like a family member, like cooking porridge for them when they are sick, even if this is not stated in the terms of service, for example…

I can write this because my family is also an Airbnb host in Hoi An. Our house, called “opposite the rice field”, has gradually become an excuse to open up new relationships. For guests who want to explore Vietnamese cuisine, we are willing to go to the market, prepare and eat together. They are always so excited that they “save” themselves to do the dishes, even if it is a paid meal.

I often joke that "just sitting at home, the whole world wants to have dinner together". Actually, it's not just one dinner. Thanks to Airbnb, I once watched the European Junior Rugby Championship final on my laptop with two Austrian guests to cheer on their younger brother playing on the field. Or, during the time when my German guest worked as a marketing specialist for the fashion brand Diesel, we always talked about fashion and related things around breakfast.

One of the most interesting guests was probably the guy who, along with his colleagues, created the Google Drive application that I still use every day. Or, if it weren’t for Airbnb, I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to chat with an American guy who works as a wine analyst, evaluating and “recommending” wines to pair with dishes served in big restaurants…

We welcome and expect "5 star" reviews from our guests, but we also know we are lucky to have lived through "star" experiences.

Found myself at someone else's house

The more you interact with Airbnb guests or read interesting stories about Airbnb characters, the more you will understand why many people only choose Airbnb on their trips. Because now, it has become a popular trend all over the world.

The more you interact with Airbnb guests or read interesting stories about Airbnb characters, the more you will understand why many people only choose Airbnb on their trips. Because now, it has become a popular trend all over the world.

Seeing his home destroyed in the 2011 earthquake in Japan gave Kiminari a different perspective on life. "When I saw the dead bodies on TV, I truly understood that people only live once," Kiminari said. And the Japanese man, then 35 years old and never having set foot abroad, decided to hit the road. On his journey to explore 38 countries in more than 200 days, Kiminari chose to stay only in homes on Airbnb. The goal was to chat with people willing to teach him about their traditions over dinner, or to have them show him the local nooks and crannies that no other tourists knew about.

Clarence, a student who was bored with his design school classes, turned to Airbnb to better understand his abilities. Denmark and Belgium were the destinations. And when Clarence stepped into a house in Belgium, he was immediately inspired. For him, the house "felt like being in a museum". The warm space, vintage objects, antiques, high ceiling fans, modern contrasting colors and a beautiful garden hidden behind the house... were the reasons why Clarence decided to take a fashion photo shoot right in his favorite room, in someone else's house. Luckily, the homeowner was open-minded enough to let him realize his idea. A few days later, Clarence and a team of 8 models, a stylist and a makeup artist worked together to produce a successful photo shoot. From that lifetime photo shoot, Clarence began to believe that he had the ability. Now, the student has graduated and is working as a professional designer.

I also remember in particular the story of a female tourist from China who forgot her wallet with many important documents on a bus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. If it weren't for the enthusiastic Brazilian host, perhaps everything would have ended at a police station or the "Lost & Found" information desk of a bus company. But no, after many hours of persistently stopping at every bus stop she passed along the way, even searching on buses that had "slept" at the central bus station, they found the wallet at around 3am. And now the host in Rio de Janeiro is taking a formal tourism course to be able to provide better service.

Interviewed by Fran Parente from his local seaside coconut shop, the Brazilian host said something like, “I just traded my hospitality for a job for life.” And it’s all thanks to Airbnb!

More information:

- Launched in 2007, there are now more than 25 million members on the Airbnb network. You can explore the world of Airbnb at www.airbnb.com.

- The contact process is quite simple. After entering the destination name and finding a house that suits your criteria of price and room type, you just need to click on request and leave a message introducing yourself and expressing your desire to stay at their house. If approved, the payment will automatically take effect and you will receive an email with the address and contact information of the homeowner.

- Paris is the destination with the most Airbnb options. From 4,000 hosts in 2012, guests can now choose from over 40,000 homes when visiting the Ile-de-France region.

- When President Obama eased restrictions on travel to Cuba in January 2015, Airbnb was one of the first American companies to partner with locals, offering more than 1,000 accommodations on the island, many of which were converted from casas particulares, a traditional local homestay.

- In Vietnam, there are more than 1000 houses ready to welcome you everywhere, from big cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, to Hoi An, Sapa, Cat Ba, Mui Ne...

The Thanh