Digital communication is completely different from in-person, face-to-face conversations. One will give you surface insights, and the other really gives you depth.
Joe Gebbia
Design helps shape our everyday interactions through products, furniture, objects, or experiences.
Airbnb has proven that hospitality, generosity, and the simple act of trust between strangers can go a long way.
In the post-war United States, you had this race to the suburbs. Cities shrank, the suburbs got bigger - and the notion of community changed drastically. You went from all being very close together to all being spaced apart and slightly suspicious of one another.
The sharing economy is about making use of any idle resource out there. We do love seeing other sharing-economy companies flourish.
What I've realized is that the joy of meeting and greeting people from all around the world is universal.
High reputation beats high similarity.
Everything we do, every decision we make, is to ensure the best possible Airbnb experience for our community and grow the love.
The story of Airbnb is really the underdog story in many ways.
You must have the ability to recognize good design and good user experience. These are core things at Airbnb. It doesn't matter which department you're in.
Airbnb is about the nexus of the online and offline to create the perfect customer experience.
People assume that the smarter your home, the better your life, but in reality, technology so often gets in the way of leading a good life.
The hotel industry is a very modern invention - it only really started to become branded in the 1950s.
My role is to think about what the future could be for Airbnb - and that includes crafting an effortless and easy-to-use service on any platform, whether mobile, tablet, or Web.
Scheduled shipping is one of many inventions that has made New York a global capital of innovation and creativity - from Willis Carrier's invention of air conditioning in Buffalo and George Eastman's breakthrough film technology in Rochester to the rise of hip-hop in the South Bronx and the world's first cell phone call in Midtown Manhattan.
We're a community-driven brand, but at the same time, we want every host in every home to recognize that they're all individuals, and to use Airbnb as an expression of their individuality.
We believe that the best solutions come from solving your own problem. If you have a real problem, there's likely someone else who can relate. That's how Airbnb was born.
Sympathy relies on a common experience. If you're clumsy, you might have sympathy for others who tend to bump into things. Empathy, on the other hand, is the ability to understand another person's feelings even if you've never experienced them yourself.
I often stay in Tokyo's Daikanyama neighbourhood. You can go for a peaceful morning run along the Meguro river, and it is particularly incredible during cherry blossom season.
For an international business such as ours, you can't localise without a local. That was a hard lesson for us. We had to be closer, physically present, which is when we put teams on the ground.
We built a basic website, and Air Bed and Breakfast was born. Three lucky guests got to stay on a $20 airbed on the hardwood floor. But they loved it. And so did we. We took them on adventures around the city.
It's about more than making money; it's about connecting people in countries all around the world. Our social mission is to get people meeting each other, and we need people who align with that purpose.
Airbnb is a trusted online marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world. From a private room to a private island, we offer an entertaining and personal way for travelers to unlock local experiences and see their surroundings through the eyes of a local.
We have seen things in the twentieth century like the ATM machine, the VCR, and even the car. The electric car was invented in 1920, and here we, 100 years later, it is only now becoming an actual thing. So it doesn't surprise me that new ideas are met with a lot of questions.
As with any new and innovative industry, entrenched interests - particularly the hotel industry - have attempted to squash the home-sharing movement.
At Airbnb, we're trying to build a culture that supports details, celebrates them, and gives our teams creative license to pursue them.
As our company has grown, how we configure and design our offices has been a crucial part of how we foster connection and collaboration throughout our teams.
What if cities embraced a culture of sharing? I see a future of shared cities that bring us community and connection instead of isolation and separation.
In the future, we will see living experiences curated around a shared lifestyle.
Everything at Airbnb is a continuation of what it's like to be a guest in somebody's house. We think about how each stage makes people feel.
I feel triumphant when our moms can use Airbnb without their technically inclined kids.
We started Airbnb because, like many across the U.S. and in New York, we were struggling to pay our rent and decided to open up our living room to fellow artists coming to town for a design conference. Sharing our apartment allowed us to stay in our home and start our company.
Cities are a melting pot for different ideas, and diversity brings a high-energy rhythm that I don't think we'd know was gone until it was too late.
A world-changing vision often necessitates a profound simplicity in the user experience.
Airbnb is about travel.
Technology moves so quickly; you can't get comfortable with the business you have today because technology will progress.
In a lot of ways, the real learning at RISD happened after-hours when you're working side by side with your colleagues.
Design has always been a driving force in my life: it's the lens through which I experience the world.
From natural disasters to the refugee crises, the impact we can have as individuals might seem limited. But as many of our hosts know, sharing your home for even a few nights can make a tremendous difference in someone's life.
Dog-fooding is using your own products so that you understand from inside out what it is you're providing the customers. It's another way to gain insights and to gain intelligence. You use it yourself; you eat your own dog food. Every time we do that, we discover something that we can improve.
When trust works out right, it can be absolutely magical.
Since the very beginning, we wanted to create an experience for our guests: more than just a place to sleep. We wanted to cook breakfast in the morning; we wanted to provide a subway map for our guests. Pick them up from the airport.
The sharing economy is out of the bag - and it's not going to go back in.
Ultimately, the power of the Airbnb platform is that it motivates guests to blend into communities, belong anywhere, and live like locals.
What we're doing with Airbnb feels like the nexus of everything that is right. We're helping people be more resourceful with the space they already have, and we're connecting people around the world.
You have to know what your users are experiencing.
We do believe in an inside-out culture. If we hold our hosts and guests to an expectation of acceptance and belonging, it has to start within our company. Otherwise, how on earth do we have the credibility to hold them accountable if we're not doing it to ourselves?
Airbnb has grown thanks to our hosts creating memorable experiences and inspiring their guests to be hosts in their hometowns.
Bringing words to life, storyboards show you things that words can't.
While the Cold War had us questioning our next-door neighbors, big brands emerged to capture our trust. We became consumers.
