Airbnb: A New Concept in Travel

Even with discounts from groups such as AAA and entertainment coupon books, traveling can be pretty expensive. The cheapest hotels are often dim and dirty feeling, while the more costly ones leave you starving because you've spent all of your meal money on lodging expenses. For others, the idea of staying at a hotel is simply not appealing and exciting enough to warrant the expense. Fortunately, a new concept in travel lodging is emerging through the convenience of the Internet. Airbnb's motto is "Travel like a human" and the site features accommodations in 2070 cities in 106 countries.

The concept behind Airbnb is fairly simple. Many people are wary of spending their vacation down time in a regular hotel, whether for the cost or the lack of cultural experience. Airbnb seeks to solve this problem by providing vacationers with a huge selection of lodging options in locations from around the globe. These lodgings are all different from each other, with some ranging from an affordable $35 per night at a room in an apartment in Paris to a pricey $1,500 per night at a private villa in Puntarenas. The uniqueness of each listed lodging location is inarguable, allowing for you as a viewer of the site to choose from a huge selection of places to enjoy your vacation. Airbnb offers pictures of the locations with the listings, as well as brief lister-submitted descriptions of their homes and the benefits that they offer. For some, these include private chauffeurs throughout your entire stay, while others offer up a hearty breakfast of home grown chicken eggs. Additionally, all locations are required to give a description of the bed type offered, as well as their cancellation policies, minimum night stay requirements, and rate for extra people. The website also provides a short description of each home owner, allowing you to get a glimpse into the type of person/people you may be renting from for a few nights.

Perhaps one of the greatest appeals to Airbnb is the incredible variety offered on the site. Since the purpose of the concept is to provide people with a comfortable alternative to regular hotel traveling, Airbnb has tried to provide resources to ensure that their users get along decently with the owners of the lodgings listed. While the lister profiles give a great overview of the people, the site also has an "alumni" based matching system which aims at pairing you together with alumni from your university around that world if that is your desire. Additionally, their "travel in your tribe" function provides matches for you based on similar interests and hobbies.

Airbnb is a new concept in travel that links together people from all over the world. The unique listings on the site guarantee that your vacation will be unlike any commercialized hotel experience, and will probably keep you as an Airbnb user for many years to come.