New "How Airbnb Works" video (shot at 13 locations around world)

[brianchesky]

Fun facts (directly quoted) from Adam Lisagor, who made the video:

* All the locations are real Airbnb places.

* The pretty lady in the video is Venetia Pristavec, who does all the in-house video content for Airbnb, traveling around to different countries and interviewing hosts. She’s great.

* Where you see people, those are real Airbnb hosts.

* The site is neat, but you should download the iPhone app. It’s one of the best-designed, most beautiful and functional apps I’ve ever used.

* The cinematographer is my friend Rachel Morrison. She’s great.

* That villa with the credit card logos in the pool? It’s in Puerto Vallarta. The crew stayed there for a few days. It’s great.

* My side of the Scrabble board spells out “COOTYS RAT SEMEN”. Venetia’s spells “BEANS”. I won.

[jaybol]

Hi Brian, I met you when you stayed with my cousin Caitlin (using your own service!) in Denver back during the Democratic National Convention in 2008. It is really cool to see how much your company has grown since that time. Congrats! - Jason

[skunkworks]

Love the Sneakers reference.

[citricsquid]

Just to check, we read these as if it's Adam saying them?

[chrisbroadfoot]

Source: http://lonelysandwich.com/

[PStamatiou]

I spy Adam Lisagor.. or some similarly bearded man. He worked on Square and Birdhouse's videos.

Square: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBieYjxUj5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2_u2nMsgjg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSzsFAJAKHI .. wow square has a lot of videos

Birdhouse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8yRaWY1xV8&feature=playe...

[kes]

He also did these:

Jawbone's JAMBOX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgC3zjNH1oU&feature=playe...

Couch to 5k (iOS app): http://vimeo.com/15981967

[tlrobinson]

Yup, he produced the video: https://twitter.com/#!/lonelysandwich/status/230570589620838...

[cemregr]

Not only the videos are of very high caliber, he's very, very cute as well. Can't go wrong with that! :)

[guywithabike]

Yep. It's Adam.

[samd]

One of the most compelling things about AirBnB is the gorgeous photos of all those unique places. I don't know how they get them. Do they just have lots of hosts with amazing photography skills or do they send people out to take pictures?

[grinich]

Paying a pro photographer to come take a few shots of the place pays off immensely in the number of bookings. It's just good marketing.

[bradly]

You can request to have a professional photographer come out to your listing.

http://www.airbnb.com/info/photography

[jjcm]

I just used Airbnb for the first time last week. Had a pretty good experience with it. Stayed at a fellow HN'er's ( ngrandy ) place. A very pleasant experience overall, I'll probably keep using it in lieu of hotels when I travel.

The culture of the site is interesting in itself - it attracts people that don't mind having a stranger in their house. You really have to be a sociable person to allow that, and it shows in the personalities of the hosts (and guests). Makes for a very friendly and welcoming environment.

[ryanwaggoner]

Some more facts by video creator Adam Lisagor http://lonelysandwich.com/

I wonder how much something like this would cost?

[anemitz]

It passed the "my parents understood it test":) Great vid!

[ryandvm]

Great video - but man I must have trust issues; because there is no way I'd be letting someone stay in my place if I'm just out of town for the weekend.

[jeremydavid]

That's why they have the ebay-like "review" system. It works pretty well for the couch surfing websites, so I am sure it works well here too.

(but yes, I agree with you - I don't know how keen I'd be to leave someone the keys to my place while I'm out either)

[jeremydavid]

Beautiful video.

I might be moving to London for a few months, and the "stay for a month" line certainly persuaded me to take a look when I do.

[plaguedr]

Over the past year, I've kept Airbnb in mind while doing my travel planning. I've made numerous inquiries to book for multiple trips, but am always rejected. One example would be a trip to NYC I took two months ago. I sent out 10 inquires to hosts but they were all rejected. The typical response is a curt, "No longer available," but in all cases I filtered based on availability.

So, it's not as easy as this video implies. For me, it has been something of a headache and a time waster, which is unfortunate because I think their idea is excellent.

(Maybe it is easy if you're a hot hipster waif?)

[dsulli]

When I first heard the Airbnb idea - I was really skeptical. This is one of the cases where the actual implementation of the idea turned out better than the pure idea itself.

I've booked a couple of places through the site when I was traveling in California, and the result in both places was better than I would have expected.

[gucker]

I think it's a fantastic idea I just haven't had the hutzpah to actually book a place in someone else's home yet... yet.

[prayag]

I have been a couchsurfer for years and love the commmunity. airbnb seems to be exactly like couchsurfing except you have to pay to surf somebody's couch.

Comparing airbnb and couchsurfing experience would be a great exercise in understanding the altruism and economics of the internet and online communities.

[spacehaven]

Great video. At first I wondered "what does she do for a living?" then it inspired me: I work from home now. I'm going to seriously consider renting out my house and work from other people's homes instead.

[samratjp]

And the tipping point is reached :-) Congrats and hope the virality ensues!

[miah_]

Watched the video, its definitely interesting. Looks like a super commercial version of http://www.couchsurfing.org/.

[billpaetzke]

I rent an 1-bdrm apt in a small building (about 16-20 tenants) in Los Angeles, CA. It might be obvious if I am having a "guest" over every weekend I'm gone--or for longer trips (like 1-6 weeks traveling).

Would I need to get my landlord's permission? Or is it my right according to CA tenant law? Or somewhere in between?

[brandnewlow]

Great video, but wasn't it fiendishly expensive to make? I assume that means Airbnb is doing well?

[dshankar]

Great video - who made it?

[simonpreed]

Adam Lisagor (@lonelysandwich) - http://twitter.com/#!/lonelysandwich/status/2305705896208384...

[venetiap]

Adam Lisagor collaborated with the Airbnb team to make this super cool vid.

[elvirs]

how do they prevent renters from robbing the places?

[anonymouse1234]

awesome video!!! like, i kinda teared up at the end. really.

[elvirs]

nice to see startups produce great videos about service themselves not involving 'creative' studios that would add boring marketing taste