After fielding about 20 emails from time-sucking craigslist-ers, I rented my home to the first person who reached out to me on Airbnb. Airbnb has been called the “ebay of space” because it allows people to monetize their space–be it a room an apartment, house, castle or trailer. It’s user-centric, lovely to look at and most importantly, it works.
It works because Airbnb is on a mission to change people’s perceptions about the kind of people who vacation in other people’s homes and the kind of people people who make money by renting out their space.
Traditionally, staying at a hotel was billed as the ‘classy’ way to get away. On the flip side, putting your place on craigslist or couchsurfing may be authentic but there’s alot of baggage associated with that exchange. Frankly there are alot of people who might find the whole thing a bit too pachouli.
Well, let’s just say Airbnb is rent, without the scent (clever, right)
In short, Airbnb successfully repositions the proverbial tenant from cheap to smart. And it recasts the “landlord” from poor and pathetic to enterprising.
Airbnb’s clean open aesthetic and friendly manner do alot of the heavy lifting in recasting this exchange. But it’s the site’s photography that really seals the deal. Photography plays a huge role in distinguishing Airbnb from its pachouli scented second cousins. Imagine this site with crappy photography. All that clean modern design sullied by the handiwork of some iphone happy amateurs. It just wouldn’t work.
Because I have zero patience, I initially uploaded my own photos on Airbnb. Here’s an example of how my living room looked with me behind the camera. Ok, not so hot.
Once you post your space on Airbnb you’re invited to access free photography services. You click a button, give some dates you’re available and moments later you get an email from a real, live photographer who makes a plan to come to your home. When you make it that easy, why not access free photography? So I did.
Here’s how it looked after Max the Airbnb photographer was deployed. Heck, my place looks so good even I’d want to stay there.
Airbnb gets that amateur photographers need gigs, pocket money and to build their portfolios. And they get that folks want to see themselves as smart and enterprising rather than poor and pathetic.
The quality photography on the site really does make all the difference in shifting perceptions and democratizing monetizing unused space. On it’s own though, the free photography is a tactic. A clever tactic, but a tactic nonetheless. But because it’s being powered by a good insight this single tactic works in service of a higher mission.
And, my house is rented to a nice little band from Australia. As long as the place is in tact when I get home, I’ll call it a Win, win, win.
