35 Facts About Airbnb

Airbnb, Inc, based in San Francisco, California, operates an online marketplace focused on short-term homestays and experiences.

Airbnb was founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk, and Joe Gebbia.

Airbnb is a shortened version of its original name, AirBedandBreakfast.

Airbnb has been the subject of criticism for lack of regulations and enabling increases in home rents.

In October 2011, Airbnb established an office in London, its first international office.

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In November 2012, Airbnb opened an office in Sydney, its 11th office location, and announced plans to launch the service in Thailand and Indonesia.

In November 2012, Airbnb launched "Neighborhoods", a travel guide of 23 cities that helps travelers choose a neighborhood in which to stay based on certain criteria and personal preferences.

In July 2014, Airbnb revealed design revisions to the site and mobile app and introduced a new logo.

In March 2017, Airbnb raised $1 billion in funding, bringing total funding raised to more than $3 billion and valuing the company at $31 billion.

In November 2016, Airbnb launched "experiences", whereby users can use the platform to book activities.

In January 2017, along with serial entrepreneurs Gary Vaynerchuk, Ben Leventhal and Mike Montero, Airbnb led a $13 million investment in Resy, a restaurant reservation-booking app.

Airbnb first became profitable during the second half of 2016.

In March 2022, Airbnb suspended business in Russia and Belarus due to the sanctions resulting from the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The decision was made primarily because of strict COVID-19 restrictions in China as well as complicated and expensive laws and regulations that required Airbnb to send detailed information on guests to the Government of China, which can be used to track people.

Airbnb was accused of being too willing to provide this information, which led to the resignation of an Airbnb executive, who was a former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2019 after 6 months of working.

Airbnb had been accused of allowing listings on land owned by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a Chinese state-owned paramilitary entity sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act for involvement in the Uyghur genocide.

In November 2012, Airbnb acquired NabeWise, an online city guide that aggregates curated information for specified locations.

In December 2012, Airbnb announced the acquisition of Localmind, a location-based question and answer platform.

In September 2015, Airbnb acquired Vamo, and shut down the company, acquiring its employees.

In January 2019, Airbnb acquired Gaest, based in Aarhus, Denmark, which provides a platform for posting and booking venues for meetings and other events.

In November 2018, Airbnb announced that it would remove the approximately 200 "listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians".

On February 12, 2020, Airbnb was included on a list of companies operating in West Bank settlements involved in activities that "raised particular human rights concerns" published by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Airbnb was categorized under "the provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements".

In January 2021, Airbnb was criticized for allowing participants in the January 6 United States Capitol attack to book units on the platform in the Washington metropolitan area, despite most hotels in the vicinity of Capitol Hill banning far-right extremists.

Airbnb was one of the 15 leading sponsors of the 2022 Winter Olympics, held in Beijing, and was asked by human rights activists and groups to drop its sponsorship in March 2021 as part of diplomatic and activist boycotts over alleged human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party, in particular the Uyghur genocide.

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In 2014, linguist Mark Liberman criticized the extreme length of the legal agreements that Airbnb members are required to accept, with the site's terms of service, privacy policy, and other policies amounting to "55081 words, or about the size of a short novel, though much less readable".

In October 2020, Luca Poma, an Italian journalist and former advisor to the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, alleged in an article that a rental listed on Airbnb was actually operated by a company and not a private individual, circumventing European tax regulations.

Airbnb responded that the 1, 021 incidents reported are statistically insignificant compared to 260 million check-ins at the time and that the company tries to remedy any problems.

Airbnb closed some of the accounts and the FBI began an investigation in response to the report.

Airbnb closed the accounts, but Wandsworth Borough Council planning office took no action.

Many governments have passed laws requiring that Airbnb provide guest information so that local regulations can be enforced and hotel taxes are collected.

However, in May 2019, Airbnb agreed to turn over some anonymized information for approximately 17, 000 listings so that the city could pursue illegal rentals.

Airbnb refused to provide required information to the Belgian government, claiming the obligation to provide the information was not compatible with European Union law.

In March 2020, a subdistrict court ruling in the Netherlands found that Airbnb charging service fees to both the host and the guest was illegal and that the 30, 000 people who had rented as guests have a right for reimbursement if they file claims.

Airbnb filed countersuits in an attempt to gain clarity on the ruling.