60 Fun Facts About Airbnb

Airbnb is an abbreviation of the company's original name. What was it?

The founders shortened it in March 2009 to end confusion over air mattresses.

In which city did Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia first rent out air mattresses in October 2007?

They needed help paying rent, and a design conference had filled every hotel in town.

Which event, which had filled the city's hotels, prompted the founders' first air-mattress guests?

Both founders were industrial designers, so the attendees were their own tribe.

Who joined Chesky and Gebbia in February 2008 as chief technology officer and third co-founder?

He was Chesky's former roommate and is now the company's chief strategy officer.

What did the founders serve their first air-mattress guests for breakfast?

Chesky had just moved in with his RISD classmate Gebbia and could not cover his share of the rent.

On what date did the site Airbedandbreakfast.com launch?

It offered short-term rooms and breakfast to people who could not find a hotel.

To raise $30,000 in 2008, the founders sold boxes of cereal named after which two people?

Most of it sold at the Democratic National Convention, and the stunt caught Paul Graham's eye.

Which startup incubator took Airbnb into its winter 2009 session?

Founder Paul Graham gave them $20,000 for a 6% stake, which they spent flying to New York to meet users.

What stake did the incubator receive for its $20,000 investment?

By March 2009 the site had 10,000 users and 2,500 listings.

Why was the company name shortened to Airbnb.com in March 2009?

By then guests were renting whole rooms and homes, not just airbeds.

Which venture firm provided Airbnb's $600,000 seed round in April 2009?

Shares went for one cent each; Greylock and Sequoia followed with a $7.2 million Series A in 2010.

Which actor invested in Airbnb's $112 million round in July 2011 through A Grade Investments?

His partner Guy Oseary joined him alongside Andreessen Horowitz and Digital Sky Technologies.

TPG Capital's $450 million investment in April 2014 valued Airbnb at how much?

By March 2017 the valuation had reached $31 billion after more than $3 billion in total funding.

On what date did Airbnb go public, raising $3.5 billion on Nasdaq?

Hosts were offered $238 million of shares at $68 apiece.

At what price per share were Airbnb hosts offered stock in the IPO?

The company had been valued at just $18 billion in the pandemic-hit spring of 2020.

In April 2015 Airbnb became one of the first US companies to expand into which country after restrictions eased?

The move followed the Obama-era thaw in relations.

Which former US Attorney General was hired in 2016 to help craft Airbnb's anti-discrimination policy?

Guest photos are now hidden from hosts until a booking is accepted.

What did Airbnb call the product it launched in November 2016 for booking activities?

Two months later it led a $13 million investment in the restaurant-booking app Resy.

Airbnb's 2017 magazine, Airbnbmag, was co-published with which media company?

It launched in May 2017, the same year as the Resy investment.

In August 2017 Airbnb cancelled bookings and closed accounts of people attending which event?

It cited terms of service requiring members to accept people regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation.

Airbnb's collection of quality-vetted homes, announced in 2018, was branded Airbnb ___?

Beyond by Airbnb, a luxury vacation-rental tier, launched at the same time.

By October 2019, roughly how many guests were staying with Airbnb each night?

That same year its film division produced the documentary Gay Chorus Deep South, later sold to MTV.

Roughly how many employees did Airbnb lay off during the COVID-19 pandemic?

That was about a quarter of the workforce; the company also pledged $250 million to hosts hit by cancellations.

How much did Airbnb pledge to hosts to compensate for pandemic cancellations?

Bookings fell as much as 96% in some cities but rose in many rural areas.

Airbnb was a leading sponsor of which Olympic Games, ignoring calls from human rights groups to withdraw?

Activists cited China's persecution of Uyghurs.

When Airbnb quit mainland China in May 2022, roughly what share of its revenue did China represent?

Rules requiring detailed guest data to be sent to the government, plus lockdowns, drove the exit.

In June 2022 Airbnb made permanent a ban on what in its rentals?

It had been a temporary pandemic measure since August 2020, and enforcement technology followed that August.

Where did Airbnb open its first international office, in October 2011?

Paris, Milan, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Moscow and São Paulo followed in early 2012.

In which city did Airbnb establish its European headquarters in 2013?

Its 11th office, opened in November 2012, was in Sydney.

What working policy did Airbnb adopt for almost all employees in April 2022?

The company had cut a quarter of its staff two years earlier.

When do reviews become visible following a stay?

The system is meant to stop retaliatory reviews, though critics note reviews are not anonymous.

Which common travel-industry feature does Airbnb lack, partly due to few business customers?

Its 2014 partnership with expense-reporting service Concur was an early nod to business travel.

Airbnb.org was founded in 2012 with $6 million and how many shares of stock from Airbnb's founders?

It has housed people displaced by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, working with the International Organization for Migration.

Linguist Mark Liberman calculated in 2014 that Airbnb's terms and policies ran to about how many words?

'About the size of a short novel, though much less readable,' he said.

Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia both graduated from which college?

Chesky captained the hockey team, competed as a bodybuilder and designed the unofficial mascot, Scrotie.

In which New York town was Brian Chesky born in 1981?

Both his parents were social workers, and his first hobby was ice hockey.

Which sports franchise did Joe Gebbia buy a minority stake in during 2022?

He also joined Tesla's board that year and co-founded Samara, which builds accessory dwelling units.

Which Trump-administration cost-cutting body did co-founder Joe Gebbia join in February 2025?

He was later named the first Chief Design Officer of the National Design Studio.

Where did the third co-founder, the original CTO, study computer science?

As a teenager his web-hosting business served spammers and landed on the Spamhaus registry.

Besides chief strategy officer, which regional chairmanship did the third co-founder take in 2017?

His teenage web-hosting business once put him on a spam registry; he later gave $1 million to Boston Latin Academy.

How many days a year may a Paris host rent out their home on short-term platforms?

London and Ireland cap it at 90 days, Amsterdam at 30 nights.

Which European city has announced a total ban on short-term rentals from November 2028?

Palma de Mallorca has already banned them outright.

In New York City, rentals under how many days are prohibited unless the host is present?

Weehawken and West New York across the Hudson ban sub-30-day rentals entirely.

Japan caps short-term home rentals at how many days per year?

Singapore goes further: private-property rentals under three months are simply illegal.

Roughly how many West Bank settlement listings did Airbnb say it would remove in November 2018, before reversing?

After lawsuits it kept the listings and promised to donate profits to humanitarian groups.

Which country's court ruled in 2020 that Airbnb's fees on both host and guest were illegal?

Some 30,000 guests were told they could claim refunds; Airbnb countersued for clarity.

In June 2025 Airbnb signed a three-year sponsorship deal covering which tournaments?

It will offer 'official fan accommodation' for the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.

At which 2011 conference did Airbnb win the 'app' award?

A redesigned site, app and logo followed in July 2014.

How many users did Airbnb have by March 2009, with 2,500 listings?

The founders had just flown to New York on Y Combinator's money to meet hosts face to face.

Airbnb's original website was coded by its first CTO using which web framework?

Nathan Blecharczyk had moved in with Joe Gebbia after answering a Craigslist ad, and built the Airbed & Breakfast site in 2008.

The founders sold their 'Obama O's' and 'Cap'n McCain's' cereal at which 2008 event?

The stunt in Denver raised $30,000 and caught the eye of Paul Graham, who invited them into Y Combinator.

In September 2016 an investment led by Google Capital valued Airbnb at how much?

Silver Lake and Sixth Street later bought in at just $18 billion during the April 2020 pandemic slump.

Which capital allows short-term rentals for no more than 30 nights a year to groups of at most four?

Lisbon instead caps short-term rentals at 10% of the housing stock, and Rome makes platforms withhold a 21% rental income tax.

In which Canadian city are short-term rentals only allowed between June 10 and September 10?

Vancouver instead charges C$1,108 a year for a licence and requires the property to be the host's primary residence.

Airbnb opened its 11th office in November 2012 in which city?

The company announced plans to launch in Thailand and Indonesia at the same time, and opened in Singapore a month later.

Which former Apple retail chief joined Airbnb's board of directors in 2019?

Fellow independent directors have included former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault and former OpenTable CEO Jeff Jordan.

Which billionaires' philanthropic initiative did Brian Chesky join in June 2016?

In 2022 he also pledged $100 million to the Obama Foundation for a public-service scholarship programme.

What was Brian Chesky's first hobby as a child, and the sport he captained at RISD?

He was also a competitive bodybuilder at RISD and designed the school's unofficial mascot, Scrotie.

Which accessory dwelling unit startup, spun out of Airbnb in 2022, did Joe Gebbia co-found?

Samara began in 2016 as an Airbnb research and development unit before becoming independent.

In which US state was Joe Gebbia born and raised?

Born in Atlanta and raised in Lawrenceville, he later moved to San Francisco to design for Chronicle Books.