Building a community one traveler at a time

Our last post talked about Oliver Samwer and his marauding band of idea stealers.   One of those ideas is airbnb.

Crashing in someone’s pad used to mean you had no dough.   Now it means you’re on the fun, progressive, pennywise edge of travel.

If you think Airbnb (and all of it’s countless imitators) is successful because people can comfortably stay in big cities across the world for far less than big city hotel prices, you’d be right.

If you said it’s also successful because visitors get to see interesting unexpected neighborhoods and enjoy the quirky comforts of artsy (and sometimes downright crazy) apartments, you’d also be right.

But the key insight you may be missing is a craving for community in a digitally fractured world.

So much of what we do happens in the ether between faceless people with handles instead of names.  Any chance we can have to connect face to face with a stranger who becomes a real-world friend is invaluable.  That’s why staying in youth hostels made European travel that much more special.

Airbnb brings this benefit to life.  It enables two people to sit over coffee and talk. Make a connection.  Start to buold community.

Ironically enough, it’s all due to technology, beginning with a simple, brilliant idea, brought to life as only the internet could, sparked by one of the greatest of all travel-related questions:

Can I crash in your pad?